A general cloud firewall framework with dynamic resource allocation

Cloud is becoming a dominant computing platform. However, we see few work on how to protect cloud data centers. As a cloud usually hosts many different type of applications, the traditional packet level firewall mechanism is not suitable for cloud platforms in case of complex attacks. It is necessary to perform anomaly detection at the event level. Moreover, protecting objects are more diverse than the traditional firewall. Motivated by this, we propose a general framework of cloud firewall, which features event level detection chain with dynamic resource allocation. We establish a mathematical model for the proposed framework. Moreover, a linear resource investment function is proposed for economical dynamical resource allocation for cloud firewalls. A few conclusions have been extracted for the reference of cloud service providers and designers.

A good place to raise a family? Comparing parents, service-providers', and media perspectives of the inner and outer suburban areas of Melbourne

In Australia, the suburbs have historically been the favoured place to raise children. However this is being challenged both by social change and government policy encouraging innerurban renewal. We examined how inner-urban areas compare with more traditional suburban locations as places to raise a family. Recognising that there are many influences on perceptions of place, we included the opinions of parents, service-providers and the media in the two locations.

Research focused on two municipalities in Melbourne, one located >25km and the other <10km from the CBD. Themes were obtained and compared from in-depth interviews with parents, serviceproviders and analysis of municipality-specific and state-wide newspaper articles.

Service provision was the only theme common at all levels of analysis. For all other themes, differences occurred between perspectives of service-providers, media and parents, as well as between the two residential locations. These in-depth snapshots on the challenges and rewards of raising children in different urban locations can help inform government in planning healthy neighbourhoods that better serve the needs of contemporary Australian families.

Dynamic cloud service selection using an adaptive learning mechanism in multi-cloud computing

Cloud service selection in a multi-cloud computing environment is receiving more and more attentions. There is an abundance of emerging cloud service resources that makes it hard for users to select the better services for their applications in a changing multi-cloud environment, especially for online real time applications. To assist users to efficiently select their preferred cloud services, a cloud service selection model adopting the cloud service brokers is given, and based on this model, a dynamic cloud service selection strategy named DCS is put forward. In the process of selecting services, each cloud service broker manages some clustered cloud services, and performs the DCS strategy whose core is an adaptive learning mechanism that comprises the incentive, forgetting and degenerate functions. The mechanism is devised to dynamically optimize the cloud service selection and to return the best service result to the user. Correspondingly, a set of dynamic cloud service selection algorithms are presented in this paper to implement our mechanism. The results of the simulation experiments show that our strategy has better overall performance and efficiency in acquiring high quality service solutions at a lower computing cost than existing relevant approaches.

Service providers' experiences and needs in working with refugees in the Geelong region: a qualitative study

Service providers in Geelong, one of the priority locations for the resettlement of refugees in regional Australia, were interviewed to explore their perceptions of the health and wellbeing needs of refugees, and the capacity of service providers in a regional area to meet these. In all, 22 interviews were conducted with health and human service professionals in a range of organisations offering refugee-specific services, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) services in general, and services to the wider community, including refugees. The findings revealed that a more coordinated approach would increase the effectiveness of existing services; however, the various needs of refugees were more than could be met by organisations in the region at current resource levels. More staff and interpreting services were required, as well as professional development for staff who have had limited experience in working with refugees. It should not be assumed that service needs for refugees resettled in regional Australia will be the same as those of refugees resettled in capital cities. Some services provided in Melbourne were not available in Geelong, and there were services not currently provided to refugees that may be critical in facilitating resettlement in regional and rural Australia.

Security and privacy concerns for Australian SMEs cloud adoption: empirical study of metropolitan vs regional SMEs

New national infrastructure initiatives such as the National Broadband Network (NBN) allow small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Australia to have greater access to cost effective Cloud computing. However, the ability of Cloud computing to store data remotely and share services in a dynamic environment brings with it security and privacy concerns. Evaluating these concerns is critical to address the Cloud computing underutilisation issue and leverage the benefits of costly NBN investment. This paper examines the influence of privacy and security factors on Cloud adoption by Australian SMEs in metropolitan and regional area. Data were collected from 150 Australian SMEs (specifically, 79 metropolitan SMEs and 71 regional SMEs) and structural equation modelling was used for the analysis. The findings reveal that privacy and security factors do not significantly influence the decision-making of Australian SMEs in the adoption of Cloud computing. Moreover, the results indicate that Cloud computing adoption is not influenced by the geographical location (i.e., metropolitan or regional location) of the SMEs. The findings extend the current understanding of Cloud computing adoption by Australian SMEs. The results will be useful to SMEs, Cloud service providers and policy makers devising Cloud security and privacy policies.

Caregivers' Social Capital and Satisfaction with their Children's Service Providers

The authors examine children's access to and caregiver's satisfaction with organizations that provide leisure time activities for children on Saturdays. The authors argue that access and satisfaction are a function of familie's financial, cultural and social capital. Using data on 1,036 households in the Phoenix metropolitan area in 2003-04, the authors found that families' financial and cultural capital affected whether or not children participate din activities organized by organizations, but family ties to the organization directly (e.g., either worked there, volunteered, donated) resulted in caregivers being more satisfied with the services. The authors also found that the benefits of network closure (caregivers knowing the parents of other children on site) were greater the riskier the activities of the child (e.g., sports or cheerleading). Contrary to the authors expectations, having family or friends in the area did not affect caregiver's satisfaction with the child's provider.

Internet Service Providers Liability in Spain

The article focuses on the current situation of Spanish case law on ISP liability. It starts by presenting the more salient peculiarities of the Spanish transposition of the safe harbours laid down in the E-Commerce Directive. These peculiarities relate to the knowledge requirement of the hosting safe harbour, and to the safe harbour for information location tools. The article then provides an overview of the cases decided so far with regard to each of the safe harbours. Very few cases have dealt with the mere conduit and the caching safe harbours, though the latter was discussed in an interesting case involving Google’s cache. Most cases relate to hosting and linking safe harbours. With regard to hosting, the article focuses particularly on the two judgments handed down by the Supreme Court that hold an open interpretation of actual knowledge, an issue where courts had so far been split. Cases involving the linking safe harbour have mainly dealt with websites offering P2P download links. Accordingly, the article explores the legal actions brought against these sites, which for the moment have been unsuccessful. The new legislative initiative to fight against digital piracy – the Sustainable Economy Bill – is also analyzed. After the conclusion, the article provides an Annex listing the cases that have dealt with ISP liability in Spain since the safe harbours scheme was transposed into Spanish law.