Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 2000. Graduate Programme in Political Science. / Typescript. Title on certificate page: Engaging Prometheus : assessing the security/technology nexus in emerging industrial states. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 399-439). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ67910.

This thesis is centred on the question of the effect security technologies, and the imaginaries associated with them, have on the formation of the present security doxa. With a more nuanced understanding of technology as process, and the role of imagination reintroduced into the nexus, this thesis aims to enable an understanding of how technological security solutions are deployed in everyday life and how this contributes to a reformulating of politics in a world gripped by anxiety about an uncertain future. Of primary interest is the way in which seemingly mundane technologies can enter the dominant security narrative and achieve deployment in everyday life, not only as the prime solution to concerns of risk, but as something to actively be desired in themselves. A vital and understudied arena for the dissemination of specific imaginaries of mundane security tools as the ultimate solution to a risky future – as an end in and of themselves – are the spaces of promotion for such technologies. The centrepiece of promotion is found at the trade fairs and exhibitions where one can witness the marketing and sale of the ‘latest and greatest’ tech fixes from an ever increasing range of private sector security entrepreneurs whose living is made from promoting security. By offering both a mapping of the wider expansion and logic of the security fair world, and an ethnographic study of interactions within the exhibition walls of the International Fire and Security Exhibition and Conference (IFSEC) over the course of three years, this thesis makes it possible to develop a better understanding of both the makeup and relations between these elements, and expose these gatherings as more than just sites of commerce and consumption, and much more than simply a metaphor for the wider security world. Instead, they can be thought of as hotspots of intensive exchange of knowledge, new ideas and network building. Thus, this thesis aims to demonstrate how international trade fairs and exhibitions are more than just an ever more important means of distributing security technologies. It is not a question of the relationship between visitors and exhibitors, or the particular effectiveness of marketing strategies deployed by individual firms. It is about the underpinning logic of a particular mind-set regarding what it means to consume security as a commodity, and a specific imagining of a secured future with such solutions as the ultimate end-in-themselves and how these spaces are pivotal in the dissemination, propagation and reformulation of changing attitudes towards security.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1993. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 292-310).

In dynamic peer group communications, security has been in high demand by many applications in recent years. One of the more popular mechanisms to satisfy these security requirements is the group key scheme in which the group key is to be shared by each group communication participant. However, how to establish and manage the group key efficiently in order to protect such communications imposes new challenges - especially when such schemes are to be deployed on resource-limited networks such as Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs). The basic needs of such network settings require that the group key schemes must demonstrate not only high performance but also fault-tolerance. Furthermore, to encrypt group communication messages efficiently is essential. Therefore, it is anticipated that the contributions of this thesis will address the development of lightweight and high performance key management protocols for group communications while guaranteeing the same level of security as other approaches. These contributions are listed below: First, two efficient individual rekey schemes, in which most group members process one-way hash functions and other members perform Diffie-Hellman operations, are proposed to obtain performance efficiency. Second, a periodic batch rekey scheme is proposed to handle the out-of-sync problem resulting from individual rekeying schemes in cases where there is a high rate of group member requests for joining/leaving. Third, scalable maximum matching algorithms (M2) are designed to incorporate a tree-based group key generation scheme to forward the partial keys to other group members. Fourth, a hybrid group key management architecture is proposed as well to combine the advantages of centralized and contributory group key schemes. Fifth, a Fast Encryption Algorithm for Multimedia (FEA-M) is enhanced to overcome the vulnerabilities of its original solution and its former improved variant. Performance analyses and experimental results indicate that the proposed approaches reduce computational costs and communication overhead as compared to other popular protocols.

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Security is becoming an increasingly important issue for business, and with it comes the need for appropriate authentication; consequently, it is becoming gradually more important to develop secure e-commerce systems. Fraud via the web, identity theft, and phishing are raising concerns for users and financial organisations. In addition, current authentication methods, like passwords, have many problems (e.g. some users write them down, they forget them, or they make them easy to hack). We can overcome these drawbacks by using biometric authentication systems. Biometric systems are being used for personal authentication in response to the rising issue of authentication and security. Biometrics provide much promise, in terms of preserving our identities without the inconvenience of carrying ID cards and/or remembering passwords. This research is important because the securing of e-commerce transactions is becoming increasingly important. Identity theft, hacking and viruses are growing threats to Internet users. As more people use the Internet, more identity theft cases are being reported. This could harm not only the users, but also the reputation of the organisations whose names are used in these illegal acts. For example, in the UK, online banking fraud doubled in 2008 compared to 2007. More users took to e-shopping and online banking, but failed to take necessary protection. For non-western cultures, the figures for web security, in 2008, illustrated that Saudi Arabia was ranked ninth worldwide for users who had been attacked over the web. The above statistics reflect the significance of information security with e-commerce systems. As with any new technology, user acceptance of the new technology is often hard to measure. In this thesis, a study of user acceptance of biometric authentication systems in e-transactions, such as online banking, within Saudi society was conducted. It examined whether Saudis are practically willing to accept this technology. This thesis focuses upon Saudi Arabia, which has developing economy. It has achieved a rapid rate of growth, and therefore makes an interesting and unique case study. From an economist's point of view, Saudi Arabia is the powerhouse of the Middle East. It has the leading regional economy, and, even though it is still relatively young. It has a young and rapid growing population; therefore, this makes Saudi Arabia an attractive potential market for all kinds of e-commerce applications. Having said that, with more than half of population under the age of 30 are more to be expected to take the risk of accepting new technology. For this work, 306 Saudi participants were involved in the experiments. A laboratory experiment was created that actively tested a biometric authentication system in combination with a survey. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was adopted in the first experimental phase as the theoretical basis on which to develop the iv research framework, the model has proven its efficiency as a good predictor for the biometric authentication system. Furthermore, in a second experimental phase, the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) with moderating variables such as age, gender and education level was examined as a proposed conceptual framework to overcome the limitations of TAM. The aim of the study was to explore factors affecting users' acceptance of biometric authentication systems. The findings from Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analysis indicate that education level is a significant moderating factor, while gender and age do not record as significant. This thesis added new knowledge to this field and highlighted the importance of the perceptions of users regarding biometric security technologies. It helps determine the factors affecting the acceptance of biometric technology. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic study of this issue carried out by academic and non-biased researchers in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, the thesis presents security technology companies and developers of information security products with information to help in the determination of what is significant to their user base when taking into account the introduction of new secure systems and products.

In dieser Dissertation werden verschiedene Anforderungen an sicheres Cloud Computing untersucht. Insbesondere geht es dabei um die Analyse bestehender Forschungs- und Lösungsansätze zum Schutz von Daten und Prozessen in Cloud-Umgebungen und um die Bewertung ihrer Praxistauglichkeit. Die Basis für die Vergleichbarkeit stellen spezifizierte Kriterien dar, nach denen die untersuchten Technologien bewertet werden. Hauptziel dieser Arbeit ist zu zeigen, auf welche Weise technische Forschungsansätze verglichen werden können, um auf dieser Grundlage eine Bewertung ihrer Eignung in der Praxis zu ermöglichen. Hierzu werden zunächst relevante Teilbereiche der Cloud Computing Sicherheit aufgezeigt, deren Lösungsstrategien im Kontext der Arbeit diskutiert und State-of-the-Art Methoden evaluiert. Die Aussage zur Praxistauglichkeit ergibt sich dabei aus dem Verhältnis des potenziellen Nutzens zu den damit verbundene erwartenden Kosten. Der potenzielle Nutzen ist dabei als Zusammenführung der gebotenen Leistungsfähigkeit, Sicherheit und Funktionalität der untersuchten Technologie definiert. Zur objektiven Bewertung setzten sich diese drei Größen aus spezifizierten Kriterien zusammen, deren Informationen direkt aus den untersuchten Forschungsarbeiten stammen. Die zu erwartenden Kosten ergeben sich aus Kostenschlüsseln für Technologie, Betrieb und Entwicklung. In dieser Arbeit sollen die zugleich spezifizierten Evaluierungskriterien sowie die Konstellation der obig eingeführten Begriffe ausführlich erläutert und bewertet werden. Für die bessere Abschätzung der Eignung in der Praxis wird in der Arbeit eine angepasste SWOT-Analyse für die identifizierten relevanten Teilbereiche durchgeführt. Neben der Definition der Praktikabilitätsaussage, stellt dies die zweite Innovation dieser Arbeit dar. Das konkrete Ziel dieser Analyse ist es, die Vergleichbarkeit zwischen den Teilbereichen zu erhöhen und so die Strategieplanung zur Entwicklung sicherer Cloud Computing Lösungen zu verbessern.