Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Homeland Security and Defense))--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2006. / Thesis Advisor(s): Ted Lewis. "March 2006." Includes bibliographical references (p.41-45). Also available online.

There is a perception amongst security professionals that the true scale of information security incidents is unknown due to under reporting. This potentially leads to an absence of sufficient empirical incident report data to enable informed risk assessment and risk management judgements. As a result, there is a real possibility that decisions related to resourcing and expenditure may be focussed only on what is believed to be occurring based on those incidents that are reported. There is also an apparent shortage of research into the subject of information security incident reporting. This research examines whether this assumption is valid and the potential reasons for such under reporting. It also examines the viability of re-using research into incident reporting conducted elsewhere, for example in the healthcare sector. Following a review of what security related incident reporting research existed together with incident reporting in general a scoping study, using a group of information security professionals from a range of business sectors, was undertaken. This identified a strong belief that security incidents were significantly under-reported and that research from other sectors did have the potential to be applied across sectors. A concept framework was developed upon which a proposal that incident reporting could be improved through the identification of Critical Success Factors (CSF’s). A Delphi study was conducted across two rounds to seek consensus from information security professionals on those CSF’s. The thesis confirms the concerns that there is under reporting and identifies through a Delphi study of information security professionals a set of CSF’s required to improve security incident reporting. An Incident Reporting Maturity Model was subsequently designed as a method for assisting organisations in judging their position against these factors and tested using the same Delphi participants as well as a control group. The thesis demonstrates a contribution to research through the rigorous testing of the applicability of incident reporting research from other sectors to support the identification of solutions to improve reporting in the information security sector. It also provides a practical novel approach to make use of a combination of CSF’s and an IRMM that allows organisations to judge where their level of maturity is set against each of the four CSF’s and make changes to strategy and process accordingly.

Vulnerabilities within software are the fundamental issue that provide both the means, and opportunity for malicious threat actors to compromise critical IT systems (Younis et al., 2016). Consequentially, the reduction of vulnerabilities within software should be of paramount importance, however, it is argued that software development practitioners have historically failed in reducing the risks associated with software vulnerabilities. This failure is illustrated in, and by the growth of software vulnerabilities over the past 20 years. This increase which is both unprecedented and unwelcome has led to an acknowledgement that novel and radical approaches to both understand the vulnerability discovery and disclosure system (VDDS) and to mitigate the risks associate with software vulnerability centred risk is needed (Bradbury, 2015; Marconato et al., 2012). The findings from this research show that whilst technological mitigations are vital, the social and economic features of the VDDS are of critical importance. For example, hitherto unknown systemic themes identified by this research are of key and include; Perception of Punishment; Vendor Interactions; Disclosure Stance; Ethical Considerations; Economic factors for Discovery and Disclosure and Emergence of New Vulnerability Markets. Each theme uniquely impacts the system, and ultimately the scale of vulnerability based risks. Within the research each theme within the VDDS is represented by several key variables which interact and shape the system. Specifically: Vender Sentiment; Vulnerability Removal Rate; Time to fix; Market Share; Participants within VDDS, Full and Coordinated Disclosure Ratio and Participant Activity. Each variable is quantified and explored, defining both the parameter space and progression over time. These variables are utilised within a system dynamic model to simulate differing policy strategies and assess the impact of these policies upon the VDDS. Three simulated vulnerability disclosure futures are hypothesised and are presented, characterised as depletion, steady and exponential with each scenario dependent upon the parameter space within the key variables.

M.Sc (Computer Science) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

There are an estimated 370 million culturally diverse Indigenous people worldwide. However, among this cultural diversity, there is one commonality that all Indigenous populations share; disparities across all dimensions of health indicators. Food access is one of primary indicators of health and despite this, Canada’s Indigenous population, especially in the North, remains overrepresented in household food insecurity statistics. This research aims at telling the story of one Northern community, Fort Providence, and the experiences around a school-based wild food program. It is written in the publishable paper format and is comprised of two papers. Drawing from approximately 25 weeks of ethnographic research, the first paper uses Homi Bhabha’s concept of Third Space to explain the unique way that Fort Providence youth navigate their local and global experiences. Using three tangible examples, I explain that the space where the local Dene practises interest with contemporary globalized influences creates a productive and empowering Third Space identity for youth. Drawing further on the ethnographic research, paper two gives a detailed description of the innovative land-based school programming that Deh Gah Elementary and Secondary School offers their students. I explain how the food systems in this community are integral to the overall health and vitality of the people. The six primary outcomes which emerged from engaging with community members display how the programming addresses community-wide cultural continuity and individual cultural identity. Together, these papers demonstrate how food systems are deeply embedded into the overall community health and well-being and exhibit the opportunities and positive impacts that land-based food education has for youth and communities.

Food insecurity and malnutrition have worsened despite numerous commitments by African governments and their leaders to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition as captured in the Sustainable Development Goals and Africa's Agenda 2063. Africa's 2014 Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods set out the need to increase agricultural expenditure to reduce food insecurity and malnutrition. However, analyses of the impact of public expenditure on agriculture in Africa have focused on poverty reduction and economic growth, with very little analysis of the impact on food security and nutrition. This study sought to fill this gap with respect to countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). A panel data analysis for the years 2000 to 2016 was employed using a fixed-effect generalised least squares estimation. Four food security indicators were used, namely, the average dietary energy supply adequacy; the prevalence of undernourishment; the prevalence of stunting; and per capita food production variability. The share of public agriculture expenditure in total public expenditure was used as a proxy for government expenditure on agriculture. The results showed that public expenditure on agriculture was associated with a significant positive impact on the average dietary energy supply adequacy and per capita food production variability. In the study, increased government expenditure on agriculture was associated with a decline in the prevalence of undernourishment over this period. There was no sufficient evidence to show that government agriculture expenditure on agriculture was associated with changes in the prevalence of stunting. The nine SADC countries included in the analysis need to put more effort into acting on their commitments, strengthening strategies to address the issue of food insecurity and malnutrition. The nine SADC countries need to promote nutrition-sensitive agriculture and the diversification of agricultural production to improve nutrition. They also need to increase the development and use of biofortified food crops. As food security is essentially a public good, public resources are needed to stimulate research and development, the adoption of technologies and practices and sharing the knowledge of the benefits of these practices among communities. / Dissertation (MSc Agric (Agric Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2021. / University of Pretoria Mastercard Foundation African Economic Research Consortium Collaborative Masters in Agricultural and Applied Economics (CMAAE) programme / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / MSc Agric (Agricultural Economics) / Unrestricted

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Social Work at the University Of Zululand, South Africa, 2013. / For many poor people globally, in particular in Sub-Saharan Africa, food security continues to be a challenge today. Ever rising poverty levels, an increase in the prevalence of the HIV/ AIDS pandemic, reduced rainfall accompanied by changing climatic patterns, environmental degradation, the complexities associated with urbanization, globalization as well as technology shift in the agricultural sector and capitalistic market economies all play a role in the food security crisis. This research has highlighted some of the factors that influence the food economy and related these to the household food security of poor rural dwellers. Achieving household food security for poor rural households requires an integrated approach in terms of poverty eradication as well as deliberate efforts with regards to food production and distribution within a framework of ecological integrity, with an aim of empowering the poor and ensuring that their household food security is guaranteed. The basic finding, and one which impacts directly on the household food security of residents of the Manguzi rural settlement, is that the majority of them consisted largely of households that depended on casual employment, and were therefore classified as poor. However, as a survival mechanism, some households with experience in agriculture from rural areas have resorted to home gardens, as well as initiated group gardens.

Dissertation submitted in the fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts in Development Studies in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2013. / The aim of this study was to explore how food security at household level is affected by lack of infrastructural and institutional services. This study particularly looks at how these constraints affect access to food and assess the availability institutional services such as the availability of extension services in Ntambanana. The study recommends that improved rural infrastructure and support services sustains food security as well as contributes to the improvement in the living conditions of rural households. The availability of infrastructure and institutional support in rural areas regarded as means of rural development which eliminate problems of access to food and other services. The study concluded that lack of infrastructural services such as poor storage facilities, roads, irrigation system and transport facilities that creates food insecurity in Ntambanana. The general findings of the study reveal that assessment and evaluation of policies that are based on rural development and food security is very important. These include improving communication amongst various stakeholders, creating an enabling environment for local businesses, ensuring the availability of facilities such as storage, communication and transport facilities. This study concludes that the cost effective ways to improve access to food is to assist local small scale businesses to earn cash through creating market for them and invest in infrastructure that lead to improving food security. The results reflect that socio – economic conditions play an important role in accessing food by looking the level of purchasing power in the community.

De nos jours, un grand nombre d’applications utilisent de grands graphes pour la modélisation de données du monde réel. Nous avons assisté, ces dernières années, à une très rapide croissance de ces graphes dans divers contextes ; à savoir, les réseaux sociaux, la bioinformatique, le web sémantique, les systèmes de gestion des données géographiques, etc. La gestion, l’analyse et l’interrogation de ces données constituent un enjeu très important et ont suscité un vaste intérêt dans la communauté des Bases de Données. L’objectif de cette thèse est de fournir des algorithmes efficaces pour l’indexation et l’interrogation des données dans les grands graphes. Nous avons proposé EUQLID, une technique d’indexation qui permet de répondre efficacement aux requêtes de calcul de distance dans les grands graphes orientés. L’efficacité de cette technique est dûe au fait qu’elle exploite des propriétés intéressantes des graphes du monde réel. En effet, nous proposons un algorithme basé sur une variante efficace du fameux algorithme 2-hop. Les résultats obtenus montrent que notre algorithme surpassent les approches existantes en terme de temps d’indexation, ainsi qu’en temps de réponse. En effet, il permet de calculer la distance entre deux noeuds en quelques centaines de millisecondes sur de très grands graphes. Nous proposons également un modèle de contrôle d’accès pour les réseaux sociaux qui permet aux utlisateurs de spécifier leurs poltiques de contrôle d’accès en se basant sur leurs relations sociales, et qui peut utiliser EUQLID pour passer à l’échelle. Nous décrivons Primates comme étant un prototype appliquant le modèle proposé. / In the last few years, we have been witnessing a rapid growth of networks in a wide range of applications such as social networking, bio-informatics, semantic web, road maps, etc. Most of these networks can be naturally modeled as large graphs. Managing, analyzing, and querying such data has become a very important issue, and, has inspired extensive interest within the database community. In this thesis, we address the problem of efficiently answering distance queries in very large graphs. We propose EUQLID, an efficient algorithm to answer distance queries on very large directed graphs. This algorithm exploits some interesting properties that real-world graphs exhibit. It is based on an efficient variant of the seminal 2-hop algorithm. We conducted an extensive set of experiments against state-of-the-art algorithms which show that our approach outperforms existing approaches and that distance queries can be processed within hundreds of milliseconds on very large real-world directed graphs. We also propose an access control model for social networks which can make use of EUQLID to scale on very large graphs. This model allows users to specify fine-grained privacy policies based on their relations with other users in the network. We describe and demonstrate Primates as a prototype which enforces the proposed access control model and allows users to specify their privacy preferences via a graphical user-friendly interface.

As the complexity of technology and information systems constantly increases, the human component becomes ever more prone to cybersecurity errors. Nevertheless, the existing information security policies created to prevent cybersecurity incidents show very little account of human behavior. This corresponds with the view of the neoclassical economics model that regards humans as rational agents who have perfect self-control and who make only rational choices when provided with adequate information. Behavioral economics introduced quantifiable irrationalities in the model, allowing for an explanation of why humans are often taking decisions that are not in their best interest. This dissertation comprises three studies that explore the influence of cognitive biases and heuristics in cybersecurity. Findings from Study 1 confirm that when presented with a large assortment of choices individuals are more likely to defer their decision than when presented with a small assortment of choices. Also, time constraints are acting as a moderator in the relationship between the number of choices and decision deferral caused by choice overload. Study 2 revealed that the level of fear of missing out is positively correlated with the level of social engineering vulnerability and a negative correlation of information security awareness with social engineering vulnerability was confirmed. Also, an analysis of the influence of information security awareness on the relationship between the level of fear of missing out and the level of social engineering vulnerability indicated a moderation effect. Study 3 emphasized the importance of integrating the habit concept into research on information systems security by revealing a positive correlation between the level of habits in daily life and the level of ISS compliance habits. Also, the study confirmed that ISS training participation is positively correlated with the level of ISS compliance habits strength.