Biblio

In recent years, with the rapid development of DNN, the algorithm complexity in a series of fields such as computer vision and natural language processing is increasing rapidly. FPGA-based DNN accelerators have demonstrated superior flexibility and performance, with higher energy efficiency compared to high-performance devices such as GPU. However, the computing resources of a single FPGA are limited and it is difficult to flexibly meet the requirements of high throughput and high energy efficiency of different computing scales. Therefore, this paper proposes a DNN implementation method based on the scalable heterogeneous FPGA cluster to adapt to different tasks and achieve high throughput and energy efficiency. Firstly, the method divides a single enormous task into multiple modules and running each module on different FPGA as the pipeline structure between multiple boards. Secondly, a task deployment method based on dichotomy is proposed to maximize the balance of task execution time of different pipeline stages to improve throughput and energy efficiency. Thirdly, optimize DNN computing module according to the relationship between computing power and bandwidth, and improve energy efficiency by reducing waste of ineffective resources and improving resource utilization. The experiment results on Alexnet and VGG-16 demonstrate that we use Zynq 7035 cluster can at most achieves ×25.23 energy efficiency of optimized AMD AIO processor. Compared with previous works of single FPGA and FPGA cluster, the energy efficiency is improved by 59.5% and 18.8%, respectively.

Because network nodes are transparent in media streaming applications, traditional networks cannot utilize the scalability feature of Scalable video coding (SVC). Compared with the traditional network, SDN supports various flows in a more fine-grained and scalable manner via the OpenFlow protocol, making QoS requirements easier and more feasible. In previous studies, a Ternary Content-Addressable Memory (TCAM) space in the switch has not been considered. This paper proposes a scalable QoS-aware multicast scheme for SVC streams, and formulates the scalable QoS-aware multicast routing problem as a nonlinear programming model. Then, we design heuristic algorithms that reduce the TCAM space consumption and construct the multicast tree for SVC layers according to video streaming requests. To alleviate video quality degradation, a dynamic layered multicast routing algorithm is proposed. Our experimental results demonstrate the performance of this method in terms of the packet loss ratio, scalability, the average satisfaction, and system utility.

Internet of Things (IoT) is penetrating into every aspect of our personal lives including our body, our home and our living environment which poses numerous security challenges. The number of heterogeneous connected devices is increasing exponentially in IoT, which in turn increases the attack surface of IoT. This forces the need for uniform, distributed security mechanism which can efficiently detect the attack at faster rate in highly scalable IoT environment. The proposed work satisfies this requirement by providing a security framework which combines Fog computing and Software Defined Networking (SDN). The experimental results depicts the effectiveness in protecting the IoT applications at faster rate

Deep neural networks (DNNs) have gained significant popularity in recent years, becoming the state of the art in a variety of domains. In particular, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) has recently been employed to train DNNs that realize control policies for various types of real-world systems. In this work, we present the whiRL 2.0 tool, which implements a new approach for verifying complex properties of interest for DRL systems. To demonstrate the benefits of whiRL 2.0, we apply it to case studies from the communication networks domain that have recently been used to motivate formal verification of DRL systems, and which exhibit characteristics that are conducive for scalable verification. We propose techniques for performing k-induction and semi-automated invariant inference on such systems, and leverage these techniques for proving safety and liveness properties that were previously impossible to verify due to the scalability barriers of prior approaches. Furthermore, we show how our proposed techniques provide insights into the inner workings and the generalizability of DRL systems. whiRL 2.0 is publicly available online.

Despite the functional success of deep neural networks (DNNs), their trustworthiness remains a crucial open challenge. To address this challenge, both testing and verification techniques have been proposed. But these existing techniques pro- vide either scalability to large networks or formal guarantees, not both. In this paper, we propose a scalable quantitative verification framework for deep neural networks, i.e., a test-driven approach that comes with formal guarantees that a desired probabilistic property is satisfied. Our technique performs enough tests until soundness of a formal probabilistic property can be proven. It can be used to certify properties of both deterministic and randomized DNNs. We implement our approach in a tool called PROVERO1 and apply it in the context of certifying adversarial robustness of DNNs. In this context, we first show a new attack- agnostic measure of robustness which offers an alternative to purely attack-based methodology of evaluating robustness being reported today. Second, PROVERO provides certificates of robustness for large DNNs, where existing state-of-the-art verification tools fail to produce conclusive results. Our work paves the way forward for verifying properties of distributions captured by real-world deep neural networks, with provable guarantees, even where testers only have black-box access to the neural network.

Security is a key component of the network. Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a refined form of traditional network management system. It is a new encouraging approach to design-build and manage networks. SDN decouples control plane (software-based router) and data plane (software-based switch), hence it is programmable. Consequently, it facilitates implementation of security based applications for the prevention of DOS attacks. Various solutions have been proposed by researches for handling of DOS attacks in SDN. However, these solutions are very limited in scope, complex, time consuming and change resistant. In this article, we have proposed a novel model driven framework i.e. MDAP (Model Based DOS Attacks Prevention) Framework. Particularly, a meta model is proposed. As tool support, a tree editor and a Sirius based graphical modeling tool with drag drop palette have been developed in Oboe designer community edition. The tool support allows modeling and visualization of simple and complex network topology scenarios. A Model to Text transformation engine has also been made part of framework that generates java code for the Floodlight SDN controller from the modeled scenario. The validity of proposed framework has been demonstrated via case study. The results prove that the proposed framework can effectively handle DOS attacks in SDN with simplicity as per the true essence of MDSE and can be reliably used for the automation of security based applications in order to deny DOS attacks in SDN.

The router's buffer size imposes significant impli-cations on the performance of the network. Network operators nowadays configure the router's buffer size manually and stati-cally. They typically configure large buffers that fill up and never go empty, increasing the Round-trip Time (RTT) of packets significantly and decreasing the application performance. Few works in the literature dynamically adjust the buffer size, but are implemented only in simulators, and therefore cannot be tested and deployed in production networks with real traffic. Previous work suggested setting the buffer size to the Bandwidth-delay Product (BDP) divided by the square root of the number of long flows. Such formula is adequate when the RTT and the number of long flows are known in advance. This paper proposes a system that leverages programmable switches as passive instruments to measure the RTT and count the number of flows traversing a legacy router. Based on the measurements, the programmable switch dynamically adjusts the buffer size of the legacy router in order to mitigate the unnecessary large queuing delays. Results show that when the buffer is adjusted dynamically, the RTT, the loss rate, and the fairness among long flows are enhanced. Additionally, the Flow Completion Time (FCT) of short flows sharing the queue is greatly improved. The system can be adopted in campus, enterprise, and service provider networks, without the need to replace legacy routers.

The ecosystem of the Internet of Things (IoT) continues growing now and covers more and more fields. One of these areas is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) which integrates sensors and actuators, business applications, open web applications, multimedia security systems, positioning, and tracking systems. Each of these components creates its own data stream and has its own parameters of the probability distribution when transmitting information packets. One such distribution, specific to the TrumpfTruPrint 1000 IIoT system, is the beta distribution. We described issues of the processing of such a data flow by an agent model of the \$5\textbackslashtextbackslashtimes5\$ NoC switch fabric. The concepts of modern telecommunication networks 5G/6G imply the processing of “small” data in the place of their origin, not excluding the centralized processing of big data. This process, which involves the transmission, distribution, and processing of data, involves a large number of devices: routers, multiprocessor systems, multi-core systems, etc. We assumed that the data stream is processed by a device with the network structure, such as NoC, and goes to its built-in router. We carried out a study how the average queues of the \$5\textbackslashtextbackslashtimes5\$ router change with changes in the parameters of a data stream that has a beta distribution.

Network security is of vital importance, and Information Technology admins must always be vigilant. But they often lack the expertise and skills required to harden the network properly, in with the emergence of security threats. The router plays a significant role in maintaining operational security for an organization. When it comes to information security, information security professionals mainly focus on protecting items such as firewalls, virtual private networks, etc. Routers are the foundation of any network's communication method, which means all the network information passes through the routers, making them a desirable target. The proposed automation of the router security hardening solution will immediately improve the security of routers and ensure that they are updated and hardened with minimal human intervention and configuration changes. This is specially focused on small and medium-sized organizations lacking workforce and expertise on network security and will help secure the routers with less time consumption, cost, and increased efficiency. The solution consists of four primary functions, initial configuration, vulnerability fixing, compliance auditing, and rollback. These focus on all aspects of router security in a network, from its configuration when it is initially connected to the network to checking its compliance errors, continuously monitoring the vulnerabilities that need to be fixed, and ensuring that the behavior of the devices is stable and shows no abnormalities when it comes to configuration changes.

The prevalence of memory corruption bugs in the past decades resulted in numerous defenses, such as stack canaries, control flow integrity (CFI), and memory-safe languages. These defenses can prevent entire classes of vulnerabilities, and help increase the security posture of a program. In this paper, we show that memory corruption defenses can be bypassed using speculative execution attacks. We study the cases of stack protectors, CFI, and bounds checks in Go, demonstrating under which conditions they can be bypassed by a form of speculative control flow hijack, relying on speculative or architectural overwrites of control flow data. Information is leaked by redirecting the speculative control flow of the victim to a gadget accessing secret data and acting as a side channel send. We also demonstrate, for the first time, that this can be achieved by stitching together multiple gadgets, in a speculative return-oriented programming attack. We discuss and implement software mitigations, showing moderate performance impact.

Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) networks provide high situational awareness and automation control for industrial control systems, whilst introducing a wide range of access points for cyber attackers. To address these issues, a line of machine learning or deep learning based intrusion detection systems (IDSs) have been presented in the literature, where a large number of attack examples are usually demanded. However, in real-world SCADA networks, attack examples are not always sufficient, having only a few shots in many cases. In this paper, we propose a novel few-shot learning based IDS, named FS-IDS, to detect cyber attacks against SCADA networks, especially when having only a few attack examples in the defenders’ hands. Specifically, a new method by orchestrating one-hot encoding and principal component analysis is developed, to preprocess SCADA datasets containing sufficient examples for frequent cyber attacks. Then, a few-shot learning based preliminary IDS model is designed and trained using the preprocessed data. Last, a complete FS-IDS model for SCADA networks is established by further training the preliminary IDS model with a few examples for cyber attacks of interest. The high effectiveness of the proposed FS-IDS, in detecting cyber attacks against SCADA networks with only a few examples, is demonstrated by extensive experiments on a real SCADA dataset.

Industry 4.0 or also known as the fourth industrial revolution poses a great cybersecurity risk for Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. Nowadays, lots of enterprises have turned into renewable energy and are changing the energy dependency to be on wind power. The SCADA systems are often vulnerable against different kinds of cyberattacks and thus allowing intruders to successfully and intrude exfiltrate different wind farm SCADA systems. During our research a future concept testbed of a wind farm SCADA system is going to be introduced. The already existing real-world vulnerabilities that are identified are later on going to be demonstrated against the test SCADA wind farm system.

The Linux kernel is implemented in C, an unsafe programming language, which puts the burden of memory management, type and bounds checking, and error handling in the hands of the developer. Hundreds of buffer overflow bugs have compromised Linux systems over the years, leading to endless layers of mitigations applied on top of C. In contrast, the D programming language offers automated memory safety checks and modern features such as OOP, templates and functional style constructs. In addition, interoper-ability with C is supported out of the box. However, to integrate a D module with the Linux kernel it is required that the needed C header files are translated to D header files. This is a tedious, time consuming, manual task. Although a tool to automate this process exists, called DPP, it does not work with the complicated, sometimes convoluted, kernel code. In this paper, we improve DPP with the ability to translate any Linux kernel C header to D. Our work enables the development and integration of D code inside the Linux kernel, thus facilitating a method of making the kernel memory safe.

This paper proposes a digital image compression-encryption scheme based on the theory of singular value decomposition, multiple chaos and Beta function, which uses SVD to compress the digital image and utilizes three way protections for encryption viz. logistic and Arnold map along with the beta function. The algorithm has three advantages: First, the compression scheme gives the freedom to a user so that one can select the desired compression level according to the application with the help of singular value. Second, it includes a confusion mechanism wherein the pixel positions of image are scrambled employing Cat Map. The pixel location is shuffled, resulting in a cipher text image that is safe for communication. Third the key is generated with the help of logistic map which is nonlinear and chaotic in nature therefore highly secured. Fourth the beta function used for encryption is symmetric in nature which means the order of its parameters does not change the outcome of the operation, meaning faithful reconstruction of an image. Thus, the algorithm is highly secured and also saving the storage space as well. The experimental results show that the algorithm has the advantages of faithful reconstruction with reasonable PSNR on different singular values.

Image hash regimes have been widely used for authenticating content, recovery of images and digital forensics. In this article we propose a new algorithm for image haunting (SSL) with the most stable key points and regional features, strong against various manipulation of content conservation, including multiple combinatorial manipulations. In order to extract most stable keypoint, the proposed algorithm combines the Speed Up Robust Features (SURF) with Saliency detection. The keyboards and characteristics of the local area are then combined in a hash vector. There is also a sperate secret key that is randomly given for the hash vector to prevent an attacker from shaping the image and the new hash value. The proposed hacking algorithm shows that similar or initial images, which have been individually manipulated, combined and even multiple manipulated contents, can be visently identified by experimental result. The probability of collision between hacks of various images is almost nil. Furthermore, the key-dependent security assessment shows the proposed regime safe to allow an attacker without knowing the secret key not to forge or estimate the right havoc value.

The Internet of Vehicles (IoV) can offer safe and comfortable driving experiences with the cooperation communications between central servers and cache-enabled road side units (RSUs) as edge severs, which also can provide high-speed, high-quality and high-stability communication access for vehicle users (VUs). However, due to the huge popular traffic volume, the burden of backhaul link will be seriously enlarged, which will greatly degrade the service experience of the IoV. In order to alleviate the backhaul load of IoV network, in this paper, we propose an asynchronous coded caching strategy composed of two phases, i.e., content placement and asynchronous coded transmission. The asynchronous request and request deadline are closely considered to design our asynchronous coded transmission algorithm. Also, we derive the close-form expression of average backhaul load under the nonuniform demands of IoV users. Finally, we formulate an optimization problem of minimizing average backhaul load and obtain the optimized content placement vector. Simulation results verify the feasibility of our proposed strategy under the asynchronous situation.

A program is said to be isochronous if its running time does not depend on classified information. The programming languages literature contains much work that transforms programs to ensure isochronicity. The current state-of-the-art approach is a code transformation technique due to Wu et al., published in 2018. That technique has an important virtue: it ensures that the transformed program runs exactly the same set of operations, regardless of inputs. However, in this paper we demonstrate that it has also a shortcoming: it might add out-of-bounds memory accesses into programs that were originally memory sound. From this observation, we show how to deliver the same runtime guarantees that Wu et al. provide, in a memory-safe way. In addition to being safer, our LLVM-based implementation is more efficient than its original inspiration, achieving shorter repairing times, and producing code that is smaller and faster.

This Innovative Practice full paper describes a technical innovation for scalable teaching of cybersecurity hands-on classes using interactive learning environments. Hands-on experience significantly improves the practical skills of learners. However, the preparation and delivery of hands-on classes usually do not scale. Teaching even small groups of students requires a substantial effort to prepare the class environment and practical assignments. Further issues are associated with teaching large classes, providing feedback, and analyzing learning gains. We present our research effort and practical experience in designing and using learning environments that scale up hands-on cybersecurity classes. The environments support virtual networks with full-fledged operating systems and devices that emulate realworld systems. The classes are organized as simultaneous training sessions with cybersecurity assignments and learners' assessment. For big classes, with the goal of developing learners' skills and providing formative assessment, we run the environment locally, either in a computer lab or at learners' own desktops or laptops. For classes that exercise the developed skills and feature summative assessment, we use an on-premises cloud environment. Our approach is unique in supporting both types of deployment. The environment is described as code using open and standard formats, defining individual hosts and their networking, configuration of the hosts, and tasks that the students have to solve. The environment can be repeatedly created for different classes on a massive scale or for each student on-demand. Moreover, the approach enables learning analytics and educational data mining of learners' interactions with the environment. These analyses inform the instructor about the student's progress during the class and enable the learner to reflect on a finished training. Thanks to this, we can improve the student class experience and motivation for further learning. Using the presented environments KYPO Cyber Range Platform and Cyber Sandbox Creator, we delivered the classes on-site or remotely for various target groups of learners (K-12, university students, and professional learners). The learners value the realistic nature of the environments that enable exercising theoretical concepts and tools. The instructors value time-efficiency when preparing and deploying the hands-on activities. Engineering and computing educators can freely use our software, which we have released under an open-source license. We also provide detailed documentation and exemplary hands-on training to help other educators adopt our teaching innovations and enable sharing of reusable components within the community.

Modern technologies for searching viruses, cloud-edge computing, and also federated algorithms and machine learning architectures are shown. The architectures for searching malware based on the xor metric applied in the design and test of computing systems are proposed. A Federated ML method is proposed for searching for malware, which significantly speeds up learning without the private big data of users. A federated infrastructure of cloud-edge computing is described. The use of signature analysis and the assertion engine for searching malware is shown. The paradigm of LTF-computing for searching destructive components in software applications is proposed.

Natural Language Processing is being used in every field of human to machine interaction. Database queries although have a confined set of instructions, but still found to be complex and dedicated human resources are required to write, test, optimize and execute structured query language statements. This makes it difficult, time-consuming and many a time inaccurate too. Such difficulties can be overcome if the queries are formed dynamically with standard procedures. In this work, parsing, lexical analysis, synonym detection and formation processes of the natural language processing are being proposed to be used for dynamically generating SQL queries and optimization of them for fast processing with high accuracy. NLP parsing of the user inputted text for retrieving, creation and insertion of data are being proposed to be created dynamically from English text inputs. This will help users of the system to generate reports from the data as per the requirement without the complexities of SQL. The proposed system will not only generate queries dynamically but will also provide high accuracy and performance.

In today's world, there is rapid progress in the field of artificial intelligence and image captioning. It becomes a fascinating task that has saw widespread interest. The task of image captioning comprises image description engendered based on the hybrid combination of deep learning, natural language processing, and various approaches of machine learning and computer vision. In this work authors emphasize on how the model generates a short description as an output of the input image using the functionalities of Deep Learning and Natural Language Processing, for helping visually impaired people, and can also be cast-off in various web sites to automate the generation of captions reducing the task of recitation with great ease.

This paper contains analysis of methods of increasing the information protection from unauthorized access using a multifactor authentication algorithm; figuring out the best, most efficient and secure method of scanning biometric data; development of a method to store and compare a candidate’s and existisng system user’s information in steganographic space. The urgency of the work is confirmed by the need to increase information security of special infocommunication systems with the help of biometric information and protection of this information from intruders by means of steganographic transformation.

SMS (Short Message Service)-based authentication is widely used as a simple and secure multi-factor authentication, where OTP (One Time Password) is sent to user’s mobile phone via SMS. However, SMS authentication is vulnerable to Password Reset Man in the Middle Attack (PRMitM). In this attack, the attacker makes a victim perform password reset OTP for sign-up verification OTP. If the victim enters OTP to a malicious man-in-the-middle site, the attacker can overtake the victim’s account.We find new smartphone useful functions may increase PR-MitM attack risks. SMS push notification informs us an arrival of message by showing only beginning of the message. Hence, those who received SMS OTP do not notice the cautionary notes and the name of the sender that are supposed to show below the code, which may lead to be compromised. Auto-fill function, which allow us to input authentication code with one touch, is also vulnerable for the same reason.In this study, we conduct a user study to investigate the effect of new smartphone functions incurring PRMitM attack.

In the growth of financial industries, the electronic payments system is a newest topic, which is to be replaced in the near future by electronic or online transaction. With the advancement of the technology, there is a strong need to build and enforce safe authentication schemes to protect user sensitive information against security threats. Protection is becoming increasingly important for companies today, and so the need for authentication is more essential than before. In single-factor authentication, there are many security problems such as password schemes. Additionally, invaders will try various ways of stealing passwords including, dictionary attacks, brute force attack, password divination, shoulder surfing, etc. This paper provides a multi-authentication system for electronic payments to address the problem. The proposed technique here combines password, biometric and OTP verification for a more reliable user authentication using a multi-factor authentication. The proposed system has three phases, namely: registration phase, an authentication phase, and transaction phase. Our proposed approach has been found to boost security efficacy for various forms of assault and authentication layers dependent on password based attacks.

Cloud Computing is a technology which provides flexibility through scalability. Like, Cloud computing, nowadays, Fog computing is considered more revolutionary and dynamic technology. But the main problem with the Fog computing is to take care of its security as in this also person identification is done by single Sign-In system. To come out from the security problem raised in Fog computing, an innovative approach has been suggested here. In the present paper, an approach has been proposed that combines different biometric techniques to verify the authenticity of a person and provides a complete model that will be able to provide a necessary level of verification and security in fog computing. In this model, several biometric techniques have been used and each one of them individually helps extract out more authentic and detailed information after every step. Further, in the presented paper, different techniques and methodologies have been examined to assess the usefulness of proposed technology in reducing the security threats. The paper delivers a capacious technique for biometric authentication for bolstering the fog security.