Wireless broadcast encryption based on smart cards

Wireless broadcasting is an efficient way to broadcast data to a large number of users. Some commercial applications of wireless broadcasting, such as satellite pay-TV, desire that only those users who have paid for the service can retrieve broadcast data. This is often achieved by broadcast encryption, which allows a station securely to broadcast data to a dynamically changing set of privileged users through open air. Most existing broadcast encryption schemes can only revoke a pre-specified number of users before system re-setup or require high computation, communication and storage overheads in receivers. In this paper, we propose a new broadcast encryption scheme based on smart cards. In our scheme, smart cards are used to prevent users from leaking secret keys. Additionally, once an illegally cloned smart card is captured, our scheme also allows tracing of the compromised smart card by which illegal smart cards are cloned, and can then revoke all cloned smart cards. The new features of our scheme include minimal computation needs of only a few modular multiplications in the smart card, and the capability to revoke up to any number of users in one revocation. Furthermore, our scheme is secure against both passive and active attacks and has better performance than other schemes.

Disastrous events and destination image

Many disastrous events worldwide have impacted on the image of tourist destinations. The subsequent downturn in tourism numbers and tourism spending has been directly blamed on those events. Arrival numbers and hotel occupancy rates have shown an immediate downturn following disastrous events in recent years. A comprehensive crisis management plan should incorporate guidelines to manage the return to the pre-disaster stage and re-positioning of the destination to re-establish its image.

The destination image models discussed in the literature, to date, have not included crisis management as one of the important considerations for a destination. This paper advocates changes to tourism destination image models that recognise the importance of crisis management and its subsequent impact on destination image. Tourism industry planners and marketers need to have access to reliable theoretical frameworks that incorporate all aspects of destination image to guide strategy formulation. The suggested improved model incorporating crisis management status - the preparedness for and the ability to deal with a disaster at any level - is more likely to provide this opportunity.

Smart RFID reader protocol for malware detection

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a remote identification technique promises to revolutionize the way a specific object use to identify in our industry. However, large scale implementation of RFID sought for protection, against Malware threat, information privacy and un-traceability, for low cost RFID tag. In this paper, we propose a framework to provide privacy for tag data and to provide protection for RFID system from malware. In the proposed framework, malware infected tag is detected by analysing individual component of the RFID tag. It uses sanitization technique for analysing individual component. Here authentication based shared unique parameters is used as a method to protect privacy. This authentication protocol will be capable of handling forward and backward security and identifying rogue reader better than existing protocols. Using this framework, the RFID system will be protected from malware and the privacy of the tag will be ensured as well.

Dynamic privacy assessment in a smart house environment using multimodal sensing

Surveillance applications in private environments such as smart houses require a privacy management policy if such systems are to be accepted by the occupants of the environment. This is due to the invasive nature of surveillance, and the private nature of the home. In this article, we propose a framework for dynamically altering the privacy policy applied to the monitoring of a smart house based on the situation within the environment. Initially the situation, or context, within the environment is determined; we identify several factors for determining environmental context, and propose methods to quantify the context using audio and binary sensor data. The context is then mapped to an appropriate privacy policy, which is implemented by applying data hiding techniques to control access to data gathered from various information sources. The significance of this work lies in the examination of privacy issues related to assisted-living smart house environments. A single privacy policy in such applications would be either too restrictive for an observer, for example, a carer, or too invasive for the occupants. We address this by proposing a dynamic method, with the aim of decreasing the invasiveness of the technology, while retaining the purpose of the system.