Educational institutions are known to be at the heart of complex computing systems in any region in which they exist, especially in Africa. The existence of high end computing power, often connected to the Internet and to research network grids, makes educational institutions soft targets for attackers. Attackers of such networks are normally either looking to exploit the large computing resources available for use in secondary attacks or to steal Intellectual Property (IP) from the research networks to which the institutions belong. Universities also store a lot of information about their current students and staff population as well as alumni ranging from personal to financial information. Unauthorized access to such information violates statutory requirement of the law and could grossly tarnish the institutions name not to mention cost the institution a lot of money during post-incident activities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the information security practices that have been put in place by Research and Education Network of Uganda (RENU) member institutions to safeguard institutional data and systems from both internal and external security threats. The study was conducted on six member institutions in three phases, between the months of May and July 2011 in Uganda. Phase One involved the use of a customised quantitative questionnaire tool. The tool - originally developed by information security governance task-force of EDUCAUSE - was customised for use in Uganda. Phase Two involved the use of a qualitative interview guide in a sessions between the investigator and respondents. Results show that institutions rely heavily on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems and services and that all institutions had already acquired more than three information systems and had acquired and implemented some of the cutting edge equipment and systems in their data centres. Further results show that institutions have established ICT departments although staff have not been trained in information security. All institutions interviewed have ICT policies although only a few have carried out policy sensitization and awareness campaigns for their staff and students. / TeX

The capacity to engage in web services transactions on smartphones is growing as these devices become increasingly powerful and sophisticated. This capacity for mobile web services is being realised through mobile applications that consume web services hosted on larger computing devices. This thesis investigates the effect that end-to-end web services security has on the interoperability between mobile web services requesters and traditional web services providers. SOAP web services are the preferred web services approach for this investigation. Although WS-Security is recognised as demanding on mobile hardware and network resources, the selection of appropriate WS-Security mechanisms lessens this burden. An attempt to implement such mechanisms on smartphones is carried out via an experiment. Smartphones are selected as the mobile device type used in the experiment. The experiment is conducted on the Java Micro Edition (Java ME) and the .NET Compact Framework (.NET CF) smartphone platforms. The experiment shows that the implementation of interoperable, end-to-end, mobile web services security on both platforms is reliant on third-party libraries. This reliance on third-party libraries results in poor developer support and exposes developers to the complexity of cryptography. The experiment also shows that there are no standard message size optimisation libraries available for both platforms. The implementation carried out on the .NET CF is also shown to rely on the underlying operating system. It is concluded that standard WS-Security APIs must be provided on smartphone platforms to avoid the problems of poor developer support and the additional complexity of cryptography. It is recommended that these APIs include a message optimisation technique. It is further recommended that WS-Security APIs be completely operating system independent when they are implemented in managed code. This thesis contributes by: providing a snapshot of mobile web services security; identifying the smartphone platform state of readiness for end-to-end secure web services; and providing a set of recommendations that may improve this state of readiness. These contributions are of increasing importance as mobile web services evolve from a simple point-to-point environment to the more complex enterprise environment.

Traditionally, real-time communication, such as voice calls, has run on separate, closed networks. Of all the limitations that these networks had, the ability of malicious attacks to cripple communication was not a crucial one. This situation has changed radically now that real-time communication and data have merged to share the same network. The objective of this project is to investigate the securing of softswitches with functionality similar to Private Branch Exchanges (PBX) from malicious attacks. The focus of the project will be a practical investigation of how to secure ILANGA, an ASTERISK-based system under development at Rhodes University. The practical investigation that focuses on ILANGA is based on performing six varied experiments on the different components of ILANGA. Before the six experiments are performed, basic preliminary security measures and the restrictions placed on the access to the database are discussed. The outcomes of these experiments are discussed and the precise reasons why these attacks were either successful or unsuccessful are given. Suggestions of a theoretical nature on how to defend against the successful attacks are also presented.

The use of technology for competitive advantage has become a necessity, not only for corporate organisations, but for higher education institutions (HEIs) as well. Consequently, corporate organisations and HEIs alike must be equipped to protect against the pervasive nature of technology. To do this, they implement controls and undergo audits to ensure these controls are implemented correctly. Although HEIs are a different kind of entity to corporate organisations, HEI information technology (IT) audits are based on the same criteria as those for corporate organisations. The primary aim of this research, therefore, was to develop a set of IT control criteria that are relevant to be tested in IT audits for South African HEIs. The research method used was the Delphi technique. Data was collected, analysed, and used as feedback on which to progress to the next round of data collection. Two lists were obtained: a list of the top IT controls relevant to be tested at any organisation, and a list of the top IT controls relevant to be tested at a South African HEI. Comparison of the two lists shows that although there are some differences in the ranking of criteria used to audit corporate organisations as opposed to HEIs, the final two lists of criteria do not differ significantly. Therefore, it was shown that the same broad IT controls are required to be tested in an IT audit for a South African HEI. However, this research suggests that the risk weighting put on particular IT controls should possibly differ for HEIs, as HEIs face differing IT risks. If further studies can be established which cater for more specific controls, then the combined effect of this study and future ones will be a valuable contribution to knowledge for IT audits in a South African higher education context.

Millions of users world-wide are sharing content using Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks, such as Skype and Bit Torrent. While such new innovations undoubtedly bring benefits, there are nevertheless some associated threats. One of the main hazards is that P2P worms can penetrate the network, even from a single node and then spread rapidly. Understanding the propagation process of such worms has always been a challenge for researchers. Different techniques, such as simulations and analytical models, have been adopted in the literature. While simulations provide results for specific input parameter values, analytical models are rather more general and potentially cover the whole spectrum of given parameter values. Many attempts have been made to model the worm propagation process in P2P networks. However, the reported analytical models to-date have failed to cover the whole spectrum of all relevant parameters and have therefore resulted in high false-positives. This consequently affects the immunization and mitigation strategies that are adopted to cope with an outbreak of worms. The first key contribution of this thesis is the development of a susceptible, exposed, infectious, and Recovered (SEIR) analytical model for the worm propagation process in a P2P network, taking into account different factors such as the configuration diversity of nodes, user behaviour and the infection time-lag. These factors have not been considered in an integrated form previously and have been either ignored or partially addressed in state-of-the-art analytical models. Our proposed SEIR analytical model holistically integrates, for the first time, these key factors in order to capture a more realistic representation of the whole worm propagation process. The second key contribution is the extension of the proposed SEIR model to the mobile M-SEIR model by investigating and incorporating the role of node mobility, the size of the worm and the bandwidth of wireless links in the worm propagation process in mobile P2P networks. The model was designed to be flexible and applicable to both wired and wireless nodes. The third contribution is the exploitation of a promising modelling paradigm, Agent-based Modelling (ABM), in the P2P worm modelling context. Specifically, to exploit the synergies between ABM and P2P, an integrated ABM-Based worm propagation model has been built and trialled in this research for the first time. The introduced model combines the implementation of common, complex P2P protocols, such as Gnutella and GIA, along with the aforementioned analytical models. Moreover, a comparative evaluation between ABM and conventional modelling tools has been carried out, to demonstrate the key benefits of ease of real-time analysis and visualisation. As a fourth contribution, the research was further extended by utilizing the proposed SEIR model to examine and evaluate a real-world data set on one of the most recent worms, namely, the Conficker worm. Verification of the model was achieved using ABM and conventional tools and by then comparing the results on the same data set with those derived from developed benchmark models. Finally, the research concludes that the worm propagation process is to a great extent affected by different factors such as configuration diversity, user-behaviour, the infection time lag and the mobility of nodes. It was found that the infection propagation values derived from state-of-the-art mathematical models are hypothetical and do not actually reflect real-world values. In summary, our comparative research study has shown that infection propagation can be reduced due to the natural immunity against worms that can be provided by a holistic exploitation of the range of factors proposed in this work.

The use of Network Telescope systems has become increasingly popular amongst security researchers in recent years. This study provides a framework for the utilisation of this data. The research is based on a primary dataset of 40 million events spanning 50 months collected using a small (/24) passive network telescope located in African IP space. This research presents a number of differing ways in which the data can be analysed ranging from low level protocol based analysis to higher level analysis at the geopolitical and network topology level. Anomalous traffic and illustrative anecdotes are explored in detail and highlighted. A discussion relating to bogon traffic observed is also presented. Two novel visualisation tools are presented, which were developed to aid in the analysis of large network telescope datasets. The first is a three-dimensional visualisation tool which allows for live, near-realtime analysis, and the second is a two-dimensional fractal based plotting scheme which allows for plots of the entire IPv4 address space to be produced, and manipulated. Using the techniques and tools developed for the analysis of this dataset, a detailed analysis of traffic recorded as destined for port 445/tcp is presented. This includes the evaluation of traffic surrounding the outbreak of the Conficker worm in November 2008. A number of metrics relating to the description and quantification of network telescope configuration and the resultant traffic captures are described, the use of which it is hoped will facilitate greater and easier collaboration among researchers utilising this network security technology. The research concludes with suggestions relating to other applications of the data and intelligence that can be extracted from network telescopes, and their use as part of an organisation’s integrated network security systems

Thesis (MTech (Information Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / The aim of this research is to identify and explore the factors affecting information security compliance of information security policies and regulations, in a financial services organisation. The organisation has to comply with information security regulations and legislations by righteousness of its operations in light of the fact that any wrong doing together with misuse of data, are continually expanding. Corporate embarrassments comes about due to rupture of security, results in expanded thoughtfulness regarding corporate consistency. Legislature and policies have been set up to counter information security issues. This legislature and policies are not adequately addressing the compliance issues that arise, but are needed within organisations. Compliance targets are not met due to inconsistent guidelines that turns out to be significant in diminishing the financial position, reputation and security of information. This research further aims to explore whether employees comply with laws and regulations regarding information in an organisation. This is done in order to confirm whether governance and human factors play any significant part in compliance. The research is an exploratory study and specifically analyses the governance function and which stakeholders influence its operations in information compliance. The research investigates certain questions on organisational culture and the human factor, do influence employee’s compliance to laws and regulations. The objectives of the research are to investigate which factors, and how such factors influence compliance of information security policies and compliance with the goal of designing an integrated framework to assist in counteracting these findings. The research is underpinned by the Neo-institutional theory, Agency Theory and Rational choice theory. The Denison organisational cultural model and a framework proposed by von Solms are used as lenses to interpret the data of the research.

Orientador: Julio César López Hernández / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T09:36:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gouvea_ConradoPortoLopes_M.pdf: 1643588 bytes, checksum: 84895f14e5bab746796d6ca64e8287cf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: Redes de sensores sem fio têm se tornado populares recentemente e possuem inúmeras aplicações. Contudo, elas apresentam o desafio de como proteger suas comunicações utilizando esquemas criptográficos, visto que são compostas por dispositivos de capacidade extremamente limitada. Neste trabalho é descrita uma implementação eficiente em software, para redes de sensores sem fio, de duas tecnologias de criptografia pública: a Criptografia Baseada em Emparelhamentos (CBE) e a Criptografia de Curvas Elípticas (CCE). Nossa implementação foca a família de microcontroladores MSP430 de 16 bits, utilizada em sensores como o Tmote Sky e TelosB. Em particular, para a CBE, foram implementados algoritmos para o cálculo de emparelhamentos nas curvas MNT e BN sobre corpos primos; para a CCE, foi implementado o esquema de assinatura ECDSA sobre corpos primos para os níveis de segurança de 80 e 128 bits. As principais contribuições deste trabalho são um estudo aprofundado dos algoritmos de emparelhamentos bilineares e novas otimizações na aritmética de corpos primos para a MSP430, que consequentemente melhoram o desempenho dos criptossistemas de CBE e CCE em tal plataforma / Abstract: Wireless sensor networks have become popular recently and provide many applications. However, the deployment of cryptography in sensor networks is a challenging task, given their limited computational power and resource-constrained nature. This work presents an efficient software implementation, for wireless sensor networks, of two public-key systems: Pairing-Based Cryptography (PBC) and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). Our implementation targets the MSP430 microcontroller, which is used in some sensors including the Tmote Sky and TelosB. For the PBC, we have implemented algorithms for pairing computation on MNT and BN curves over prime fields; for the ECC, the signature scheme ECDSA over prime fields for the 80-bit and 128-bit security levels. The main contributions of this work are an in-depth study of bilinear pairings algorithms and new optimizations for the prime field arithmetic in the MSP430, which improves the running times of the PBC and ECC cryptosystems on the platform / Mestrado / Teoria da Computação / Mestre em Ciência da Computação

Orientador: Paulo Licio de Geus / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T08:33:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pereira_JoaoPortodeAlbuquerque_D.pdf: 3410336 bytes, checksum: b604fcebba7d50ce5939b35de40ce518 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: Os mecanismos de segurança empregados em ambientes de redes atuais têm complexidade crescente e o gerenciamento de suas configurações adquire um papel fundamental para proteção desses ambientes. Particularmente em redes de computadores de larga escala, os administradores de segurança se vêem confrontados com o desafio de projetar, implementar, manter e monitorar um elevado número de mecanismos, os quais possuem sintaxes de configuração heterogêneas e complicadas. Uma conseqüência dessa situação é que erros de configuração são causas freqüentes de vulnerabilidades de segurança. O presente trabalho oferece uma sistemática para o gerenciamento da configuração de sistemas de segurança de redes que corresponde especialmente às necessidades dos ambientes complexos encontrados em organizações atuais. A abordagem, construída segundo o paradigma de Gerenciamento Baseado em Modelos, inclui uma técnica de modelagem que trata uniformemente diferentes tipos de mecanismos e permite que o projeto de suas configurações seja executado de forma modular, mediante um modelo orientado a objetos. Esse modelo é segmentado em Subsistemas Abstratos, os quais encerram um grupo de mecanismos de segurança e outras entidades relevantes do sistema ¿ incluindo seus diferentes tipos de mecanismo e as inter-relações recíprocas entre eles. Uma ferramenta de software apóia a abordagem, oferecendo um diagrama para edição de modelos que inclui técnicas de visualização de foco e contexto. Essas técnicas são particularmente adaptadas para cenários de larga escala, possibilitando ao usuário a especificação de certa parte do sistema sem perder de vista o contexto maior no qual essa parte se encaixa. Após a conclusão da modelagem, a ferramenta deriva automaticamente parâmetros de configuração para cada mecanismo de segurança do sistema, em um processo denominado refinamento de políticas. Os principais resultados deste trabalho podem ser sumarizados nos seguintes pontos: (i) uma técnica de modelagem uniforme e escalável para o gerenciamento de sistemas de segurança em ambientes complexos e de larga escala; (ii) um processo para o projeto de configurações apoiado por uma ferramenta que inclui técnicas de foco e contexto para melhor visualização e manipulação de grandes modelos; (iii) uma abordagem formal para a validação do processo de refinamento de políticas / Abstract: The security mechanisms employed in current networked environments are increasingly complex, and their configuration management has an important role for the protection of these environments. Especially in large scale networks, security administrators are faced with the challenge of designing, deploying, maintaining and monitoring a huge number of mechanisms, most of which have complicated and heterogeneous configuration syntaxes. Consequently, configuration errors are nowadays a frequent cause of security vulnerabilities. This work offers an approach to the configuration management of network security systems specially suited to the needs of the complex environments of today¿s organizations. The approach relies upon the Model-Based Management (MBM) paradigm and includes a modelling framework that allows the design of security systems to be performed in a modular fashion, by means of an object-oriented model. This model is segmented into logical units (so-called Abstract Subsystems) that enclose a group of security mechanisms and other relevant system entities, offering a more abstract representation of them. In this manner, the administrator is able to design a security system¿including its different mechanism types and their mutual relations¿by means of an abstract and uniform modelling technique. A software tool supports the approach, offering a diagram editor for models, which includes focus and context visualization techniques. These techniques are particularly suitable to large scale scenarios, enabling a designer to precisely specify a given part of the system without losing the picture of the context to which this part belongs. After the model is complete, the tool automatically derives configuration parameters for each security mechanism in the system, in a process called policy refinement. The major results of this work can be summarised as follows: (i) definition of a uniform and scalable object-oriented modelling framework for the configuration management of large, complex network security systems; (ii) development of a configuration design process assistes by a tool that implements focus and context techniques to improve visualization and manipulation of large models; (iii) a formal validation approach of the policy refinement process / Doutorado / Doutor em Ciência da Computação

Orientadores: Eliane Martins, Ricardo de Oliveira Anido / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-14T04:24:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Morais_AndersonNunesPaiva.pdf: 1792317 bytes, checksum: e8304b24c7765a959814665bcaff15c8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Neste trabalho apresentamos uma proposta de geração de ataques para testes de protocolos de segurança. O objetivo é detectar vulnerabilidades de um protocolo, que um atacante pode explorar para causar falhas de segurança. Nossa proposta usa um injetor de falhas para emular um atacante que possui total controle do sistema de comunicação. Como o sucesso dos testes depende principalmente dos ataques injetados, nós propomos uma abordagem baseada em modelos para a geração de ataques. O modelo representa ataques conhecidos e reportados do protocolo sob teste. A partir deste modelo, cenários de ataque são gerados. Os cenários estão em um formato que é independente do injetor de falhas usado. Usando refinamentos e transformações, pode-se converter a descrição do cenário de ataque em scripts específicos do injetor de falhas. A proposta pode ser completamente apoiada por ferramentas de software. Nós ilustramos o uso da proposta com um estudo de caso, um protocolo de segurança para dispositivos móveis / Abstract: We present an attack injection approach for security protocols testing. The goal is to uncover protocol vulnerabilities that an attacker can exploit to cause security failures. Our approach uses a fault injector to emulate an attacker that has control over the communication system. Since the success of the tests depends greatly on the attacks injected, we propose a model-based approach for attack generation. The model represents reported known attacks to the protocol under test. From this model, attack scenarios are generated. The scenarios are in a format that is independent of the fault injector used. Using refinements and transformations, the abstract scenario specification can be converted to the specific fault injector scripts. The approach can be completely supported by tools. We illustrate the use of the approach in a case study, a security protocol for mobile devices / Universidade Estadual de Campi / Tolerancia a Falhas / Mestre em Ciência da Computação