Visible to the public Biblio

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2021-04-08
Igbe, O., Saadawi, T..  2018.  Insider Threat Detection using an Artificial Immune system Algorithm. 2018 9th IEEE Annual Ubiquitous Computing, Electronics Mobile Communication Conference (UEMCON). :297—302.
Insider threats result from legitimate users abusing their privileges, causing tremendous damage or losses. Malicious insiders can be the main threats to an organization. This paper presents an anomaly detection system for detecting insider threat activities in an organization using an ensemble that consists of negative selection algorithms (NSA). The proposed system classifies a selected user activity into either of two classes: "normal" or "malicious." The effectiveness of our proposed detection system is evaluated using case studies from the computer emergency response team (CERT) synthetic insider threat dataset. Our results show that the proposed method is very effective in detecting insider threats.
2017-09-27
Springall, Drew, Durumeric, Zakir, Halderman, J. Alex.  2016.  Measuring the Security Harm of TLS Crypto Shortcuts. Proceedings of the 2016 Internet Measurement Conference. :33–47.

TLS has the potential to provide strong protection against network-based attackers and mass surveillance, but many implementations take security shortcuts in order to reduce the costs of cryptographic computations and network round trips. We report the results of a nine-week study that measures the use and security impact of these shortcuts for HTTPS sites among Alexa Top Million domains. We find widespread deployment of DHE and ECDHE private value reuse, TLS session resumption, and TLS session tickets. These practices greatly reduce the protection afforded by forward secrecy: connections to 38% of Top Million HTTPS sites are vulnerable to decryption if the server is compromised up to 24 hours later, and 10% up to 30 days later, regardless of the selected cipher suite. We also investigate the practice of TLS secrets and session state being shared across domains, finding that in some cases, the theft of a single secret value can compromise connections to tens of thousands of sites. These results suggest that site operators need to better understand the tradeoffs between optimizing TLS performance and providing strong security, particularly when faced with nation-state attackers with a history of aggressive, large-scale surveillance.

2017-02-03
Quanyan Zhu, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Carol Fung, Raouf Boutaba, Tamer Başar, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  2012.  GUIDEX: A Game-Theoretic Incentive-Based Mechanism for Intrusion Detection Networks. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications. 30(11)

Traditional intrusion detection systems (IDSs) work in isolation and can be easily compromised by unknown threats. An intrusion detection network (IDN) is a collaborative IDS network intended to overcome this weakness by allowing IDS peers to share detection knowledge and experience, and hence improve the overall accuracy of intrusion assessment. In this work, we design an IDN system, called GUIDEX, using gametheoretic modeling and trust management for peers to collaborate truthfully and actively. We first describe the system architecture and its individual components, and then establish a gametheoretic framework for the resource management component of GUIDEX. We establish the existence and uniqueness of a Nash equilibrium under which peers can communicate in a reciprocal incentive compatible manner. Based on the duality of the problem, we develop an iterative algorithm that converges geometrically to the equilibrium. Our numerical experiments and discrete event simulation demonstrate the convergence to the Nash equilibrium and the security features of GUIDEX against free riders, dishonest insiders and DoS attacks

2017-01-23
Matthew Philippe, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Ray Essick, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaig, Geir Dullerud, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Raphael M. Jungers, Unveristy of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  2016.  Extremal Storage Functions and Minimal Realizations of Discrete-time Linear Switching Systems. 55th Conference on Decision and Control (CDC 2016).

We study the Lp induced gain of discretetime linear switching systems with graph-constrained switching sequences. We first prove that, for stable systems in a minimal realization, for every p ≥ 1, the Lp-gain is exactly characterized through switching storage functions. These functions are shown to be the pth power of a norm. In order to consider general systems, we provide an algorithm for computing minimal realizations. These realizations are rectangular systems, with a state dimension that varies according to the mode of the system. We apply our tools to the study on the of L2-gain. We provide algorithms for its approximation, and provide a converse result for the existence of quadratic switching storage functions. We finally illustrate the results with a physically motivated example.

2015-05-06
Conklin, W.A., Cline, R.E., Roosa, T..  2014.  Re-engineering Cybersecurity Education in the US: An Analysis of the Critical Factors. System Sciences (HICSS), 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on. :2006-2014.

The need for cyber security professionals continues to grow and education systems are responding in a variety of way. The US government has weighed in with two efforts, the NICE effort led by NIST and the CAE effort jointly led by NSA and DHS. Industry has unfilled needs and the CAE program is changing to meet both NICE and industry needs. This paper analyzes these efforts and examines several critical, yet unaddressed issues facing school programs as they adapt to new criteria and guidelines. Technical issues are easy to enumerate, yet it is the programmatic and student success factors that will define successful programs.