Biblio

The area of military operations is presently a peculiar, heterogenic environment providing the decision-makers with varied data and information on the potential or the real enemy. However the vast number and diversity of the available information does not facilitate the decision process. The achievement of information advantage in line with the rule: the first to notice, the first to understand and the first to act depends among other things on the proper information processing. In the theory of Electronic Warfare, the processing of information about the electronic objects of the enemy emitting electromagnetic energy is realized by Signals Intelligence. The fastest processing of information in the information system of Signals Intelligence is presently provided by cybernetic environment. The construction of an information processing system in the cybernetic environment of Signals Intelligence is thus a very complex task. The article presents theoretical basis of information processing in cybernetic environment of Signals Intelligence based on research carried out by the authors. The article can be described as the added value since it presents and clarifies a complex concept of cybernetic environment of Signal Intelligence. Moreover, it provides a new definition of information process as a system of operations on intelligence information and data. It also presents the stages of information process as well as the structure of information processing process. In the further part it shows the factors and elements of the cybernetic environment of Signals Intelligence isolated in the process of research. The document provides a perspective for the processing of information in the cybernetic environment of Signals Intelligence, it fills the gap in research on information processing in the cybernetic environment of Signals Intelligence as well as assures strong theoretical basis and provides an incentive for further research on the information processing in the cybernetic environment of Signals Intelligence.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of domain highlighting in helping users identify whether webpages are legitimate or spurious.

Background: As a component of the URL, a domain name can be overlooked. Consequently, browsers highlight the domain name to help users identify which website they are visiting. Nevertheless, few studies have assessed the effectiveness of domain highlighting, and the only formal study confounded highlighting with instructions to look at the address bar. 

Method: Two phishing detection experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 was run online: Participants judged the legitimacy of webpages in two phases. In phase one, participants were to judge the legitimacy based on any information on the webpage, whereas phase two they were to focus on the address bar. Whether the domain was highlighted was also varied.  Experiment 2 was conducted similarly but with participants in a laboratory setting, which allowed tracking of fixations.

Results: Participants differentiated the legitimate and fraudulent webpages better than chance. There was some benefit of attending to the address bar, but domain highlighting did not provide effective protection against phishing attacks. Analysis of eye-gaze fixation measures was in agreement with the task performance, but heat-map results revealed that participants’ visual attention was attracted by the domain highlighting.

Conclusion: Failure to detect many fraudulent webpages even when the domain was highlighted implies that users lacked knowledge of webpage security cues or how to use those cues.

Application: Potential applications include development of phishing-prevention training incorporating domain highlighting with other methods to help users identify phishing webpages. 

To evaluate the effectiveness of domain highlighting in helping users identify whether Web pages are legitimate or spurious. As a component of the URL, a domain name can be overlooked. Consequently, browsers highlight the domain name to help users identify which Web site they are visiting. Nevertheless, few studies have assessed the effectiveness of domain highlighting, and the only formal study confounded highlighting with instructions to look at the address bar. We conducted two phishing detection experiments. Experiment 1 was run online: Participants judged the legitimacy of Web pages in two phases. In Phase 1, participants were to judge the legitimacy based on any information on the Web page, whereas in Phase 2, they were to focus on the address bar. Whether the domain was highlighted was also varied. Experiment 2 was conducted similarly but with participants in a laboratory setting, which allowed tracking of fixations. Participants differentiated the legitimate and fraudulent Web pages better than chance. There was some benefit of attending to the address bar, but domain highlighting did not provide effective protection against phishing attacks. Analysis of eye-gaze fixation measures was in agreement with the task performance, but heat-map results revealed that participants’ visual attention was attracted by the highlighted domains. Failure to detect many fraudulent Web pages even when the domain was highlighted implies that users lacked knowledge of Web page security cues or how to use those cues. Potential applications include development of phishing prevention training incorporating domain highlighting with other methods to help users identify phishing Web pages.

Security of a computer system has been traditionally related to the security of the software or the information being processed. The underlying hardware used for information processing has been considered trusted. The emergence of hardware Trojan attacks violates this root of trust. These attacks, in the form of malicious modifications of electronic hardware at different stages of its life cycle, pose major security concerns in the electronics industry. An adversary can mount such an attack with an objective to cause operational failure or to leak secret information from inside a chip-e.g., the key in a cryptographic chip, during field operation. Global economic trend that encourages increased reliance on untrusted entities in the hardware design and fabrication process is rapidly enhancing the vulnerability to such attacks. In this paper, we analyze the threat of hardware Trojan attacks; present attack models, types, and scenarios; discuss different forms of protection approaches, both proactive and reactive; and describe emerging attack modes, defenses, and future research pathways.