Memory corruption attacks pose a significant threat to the security of embedded devices with limited resources that lack basic protection mechanisms. Control Flow Integrity (CFI) is a promising technique to mitigate these attacks by ensuring that the program’s control flow adheres to a predetermined set of rules. In this project, we propose a CFI solution tailored for embedded devices based on combining a type-based approach for indirect branches with a shadow stack approach to protect return addresses. Our solution targets the ARM Cortex-M33 architecture and is evaluated on various applications that are adequate for low-end devices, including embedded cryptographic primitives and a real-time operating system. Our solution provides a high level of security, allowing for a 99.99% reduction in attacks using the average reduction metric (AIR). However, we acknowledge that the performance overhead may be a concern for some use cases. The evaluation of our Control Flow Integrity (CFI) implementation shows that it incurs a performance overhead ranging between 7% and 81%, with a relatively small size overhead of around 3%. Therefore, we propose that the use of adequate architectural models could help reduce the performance overhead while still maintaining good security guarantees. Our study highlights the trade-off between security and performance in CFI implementations and provides insights into potential areas for improvement. / Minneskorruptionsattacker utgör ett betydande hot mot säkerheten för inbyggda enheter med begränsade resurser som saknar grundläggande skyddsmekanismer. Kontrollflödesintegritet (CFI) är en lovande teknik för att mildra dessa attacker genom att säkerställa att programkontrollen följer en förutbestämd uppsättning regler. I detta projekt föreslår vi en CFI-lösning anpassad för inbyggda enheter som bygger på en kombination av en typbaserad metod för indirekta grenar med en skuggstackmetod för att skydda returadresser. Vår lösning riktar sig mot ARM Cortex-M33-arkitekturen och utvärderas på olika applikationer som är lämpliga för lågpresterande enheter, inklusive inbyggda kryptografiska grundläggande funktioner och ett realtidsoperativsystem. Vår lösning erbjuder en hög säkerhetsnivå och möjliggör en minskning av attacker med 99,99% enligt genomsnittsmätningsmetoden (AIR). Vi erkänner dock att prestandaöverhuvud kan vara en oro i vissa användningsfall. Utvärderingen av vår CFI-implementering visar att den medför en prestandaöverhuvud som varierar mellan 7% och 81%, med en relativt liten storleksöverhuvud på cirka 3%. Därför föreslår vi att användningen av lämpliga arkitekturmodeller kan bidra till att minska prestandaöverhuvudet samtidigt som goda säkerhetsgarantier bibehålls. Vår studie belyser avvägningen mellan säkerhet och prestanda i CFI-implementeringar och ger insikter om potentiella områden för förbättring.

The department of Radiation Sciences at Umeå University has obtained an old linear accelerator, intended for educational purposes. The goal of this thesis was to find proper reinforced radiation protection in an intended bunker (a room with thick concrete walls), to ensure that the radiation outside the bunker falls within acceptable levels. The main method was with the use of Monte Carlo-simulations. To properly simulate the accelerator, knowledge of the energy distribution of emitted radiation was needed. For this, a novel method for spectra determination, using several depth dose measurements including off-axis, was developed. A method that shows promising results in finding the spectra when measurements outside the primary beam are included. The found energy spectrum was then used to simulate the accelerator in the intended bunker. The resulting dose distribution was visualized together with 3D CAD-images of the bunker, to easily see in which locations outside the bunker where the dose was high. An important finding was that some changes are required to ensure that the public does not receive too high doses of radiation on a public outdoor-area that is located above the bunker. Otherwise, the accelerator is only allowed to be run 1.8 hours per year. A workaround to this problem could be to just plant a thorn bush, covering the dangerous area of radius 3m. After such a measure has been taken, which is assumed in the following results, the focus moves to the radiation that leaks into the accelerator’s intended control room, which is located right outside the bunker’s entrance door. The results show that the accelerator is only allowed to be run for a maximum of 6.1 or 3.3 hours per year (depending on the placement of the accelerator in the room), without a specific extra reinforced radiation protection consisting mainly of lead bricks. With the specific extra protection added, the accelerator is allowed to be run 44 or 54 hours per year instead, showing a distinct improvement. However, the dose rate to the control room was still quite high, 13.7 μGy/h or 11.2 μGy/h, compared to the average dose received by someone living in Sweden, which is 0.27 μGy/h. Therefore, further measures are recommended. This is however a worst case scenario, since the leakage spectrum from the accelerator itself was simulated as having the same energy spectrum as the primarybeam at 0.1 % of the intensity, which is the maximum leakage dose according to the specifications for the accelerator. This is probably an overestimation of the intensity. Also, the energy spectra of the leakage is probably of lower energy than the primary beam in at least some directions. Implementing more knowledge of the leak spectra in future work, should therefore result in more allowed run hours for the accelerator.

Effektiviteten av automatiserade reningsprocesser inom avloppsreningsverk beror ytterst på kvaliteten av de mätdata som fås från installerade instrument. Givarfel påverkar verkens styrning och är ofta anledningen till att olika reglerstrategier fallerar. Idag saknas standardiserade riktlinjer för hur instrumenteringsarbetet på svenska reningsverk bör organiseras vilket ger begränsade förutsättningar för reningsverken att resurseffektivt nå sina utsläppskrav. Mycket forskning har gjorts på att optimera olika reglerstrategier men instrumentens roll i verkens effektivitet har inte givits samma uppmärksamhet. Syftet med detta examensarbete har varit att undersöka hur instrumentering på reningsverk kan organiseras och struktureras för att säkerställa mätdata av god kvalitet och att undersöka effekter av givarfel på reningsprocessen. Inom arbetet genomfördes en litteraturstudie där instrumentering på reningsverk under-söktes. Effekter av givarfel på reningsprocessen undersöktes genom att simulera en fördenitrifikationsprocess i Benchmark Simulation Model no. 2 där bias och drift implementerades i olika givare. Simuleringar visade att positiva bias (0,10–0,50 mg/l) i en ammoniumgivare inom en kaskadreglering bidrar till att öka luftförbrukningen med cirka 4–25 %. Vidare resulterade alla typer av fel i DO-givare i den sista aeroba bassängen i en markant större påverkan på reningsprocessen än samma fel i DO-givare i någon av de tidigare aeroba bassängerna. Om den sista aeroba bassängen är designad för att hålla lägre syrehalter är DO-givaren i den bassängen den viktigaste DO-givaren att underhålla. Positiva bias (200–1 000 mg/l) i TSS-givare som används för att styra uttaget av överskottsslam bidrog till kraftiga ökningar av mängden ammonium med cirka 29–464 % i utgående vatten. Negativ drift i DO-givare visade att stora besparingar i luftningsenergi, cirka 4 %, var möjliga genom ett mer frekvent underhåll av DO-givarna. Huruvida ett instrument lider av ett positivt eller negativt givarfel, bias eller drift, kommer att påverka hur mycket och i vilken mån reningsprocessen påverkas. Studien av givarfel visade att effekten av ett positivt eller ett negativt fel varierade och att effekten på reningsprocessen inte var linjär. Effekten av givarfel på reningsprocessen kommer i slutändan att bero på den implementerade reglerstrategin, inställningar i regulatorerna och på den styrda processen. / The effectiveness of automated treatment processes within wastewater treatment plants ultimately depend on the quality of the measurement data that is given from the installed sensors. Sensor faults affect the control of the treatment plants and are often the reason different control strategies fail. Today there is a lack of standardized guidelines for how to organize and work with online sensors at Swedish wastewater treatment plants which limits the opportunities for treatment plants to reach their effluent criteria in a resource efficient manner. Much research has been done on ways to optimize control strategies but the role of sensors in the efficiency of the treatment plants has not been given the same level of attention. The purpose of this thesis has been to examine how instrumentation at wastewater treatment plants can be organized and structured to ensure good quality measurement data and to examine how sensor faults affect the treatment process. Within the thesis a literature study was conducted where instrumentation at wastewater treatment plants was examined. The effects of sensor faults were examined by simulating a pre-denitrification process in Benchmark Simulation Model no. 2 where off-sets (biases) and drift where added to measurements from different implemented sensors. The simulations showed that positive off-sets (0.10–0.50 mg/l) in an ammonium sensor within a cascaded feedback-loop adds to the energy consumption used for aeration by roughly 4-25%. It could further be shown that all types of faults in a DO sensor in the last aerated basin had significantly larger effect on the treatment process than the same fault in any of the other DO sensors in the preceding basins. If the last aerated basin is designed to have low DO concentrations the DO sensor in that basin is the most important DO sensor to maintain. Positive off-sets (200–1 000 mg TSS/l) in suspended solids sensors used for control of waste activated sludge flow contributed to large increases of ammonia, by 29-464%, in effluent waters. Negative drift in DO sensors showed that significant savings in aeration energy, roughly 4%, was possible to achieve with more frequent maintenance. Whether a sensor is affected by a positive or a negative fault, be it off-set or drift, will affect how much and in what way the treatment process will be affected. The study of sensor faults showed that the effect of a positive or a negative fault varied and that the effect on the treatment process was not linear. The effect of a sensor fault on the treatment process will ultimately depend on the implemented control strategy, settings in the controllers and on the controlled process.

An evaluation of how sensitive some ATLAS searches for new physics are to a new beyond standard model (BSM) vector-like quark (VLQ) and a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson (pNGB) scalar. This was done by simulating a signal containing these new particles and making a recast of it onto existing verified ATLAS searches for new physics at center-of-mass (CM) energy of 13 TeV (Run 2) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Signals for recasting were tailored such that their final states would be appropriate in relation to each respective ATLAS search in order to use the same selection criteria as applied in the existing searches. The results are summarized in the form of significances (Z) for each masspoint of the new top-partner and S particle. Significances did not show any expectiation of excluding any masspoint in the examined mass range for the recasts at 95% CL. This suggests that a dedicated search for these particles in the considered masspoints would be required.