Publications

Australian Teen Voices on Age Verification and Age Assurance Measures

Woodley G, See HW, O'Neill B, Green L, Staksrud E, Haskell-Dowland PS

Policy & Internet, Volume 17, Issue 4

Age verification and age assurance technologies, including biometrics, facial recognition software and digital identification, have been explored as potential measures to restrict access of young people to social media and sexually explicit media (SEM), including pornography. However, there is...

Real-world continuous smartwatch-based user authentication

Al-Naffakh N, Clarke NL, Li F, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Computer Journal, Vol. 68, Iss. 1

User authentication is often regarded as the 'gatekeeper' of cyber security. It has, however, long suffered from significant usability issues that have resulted in research focussing upon frictionless and transparent biometric approaches. Activity-based user authentication—a technique...

Examination of Traditional Botnet Detection on IoT-Based Bots

Woodiss-Field A, Johnstone M, Haskell-Dowland PS

Sensors, Vol. 24, Iss. 3, pp1027

A botnet is a collection of Internet-connected computers that have been suborned and are controlled externally for malicious purposes. Concomitant with the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), botnets have been expanding to use IoT devices as their attack vectors. IoT devices utilise specific...

Energy-Efficient Covert Wireless Communication Through Probabilistic Jamming

Lu X, Huang Y, Yan S, Yang W, Haskell-Dowland PS

IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, Vol. 12, Iss. 5, pp932-936

In this work, we propose a novel energy-efficient covert wireless communication scheme through probabilistic jamming, where a jammer probabilistically transmits artificial noise (AN) with variable power against a warden’s detection. For the proposed scheme, the closed-form expressions for the...

Establishment and mapping of heterogeneous anomalies in network intrusion datasets

Riddell L, Ahmed M, Haskell-Dowland PS

Connection Science, Volume 34, Issue 1, pp2755-2783

Anomaly detection in the scope of network security aims to identify network instances for the unexpected and unique, with various security operations employing such techniques to facilitate effective threat detection. However, many systems have been designed based on the absolute mapping of attacks...

Biometric Security: A Novel Ear Recognition Approach Using a 3D Morphable Ear Model

Mursalin M, Ahmed M, Haskell-Dowland PS

Sensors, 22, 8988, DOI: 10.3390/s22228988

Biometrics is a critical component of cybersecurity that identifies persons by verifying their behavioral and physical traits. In biometric-based authentication, each individual can be correctly recognized based on their intrinsic behavioral or physical features, such as face, fingerprint, iris, and...

Anomaly Detection in Cybersecurity Datasets via Cooperative Co-evolution-based Feature Selection

Rashid BANM, Ahmed M, Sikos L, Haskell-Dowland PS

ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems, Issue 3, No. 29, pp 1–39

Anomaly detection from Big Cybersecurity Datasets is very important; however, this is a very challenging and computationally expensive task. Feature selection (FS) is an approach to remove irrelevant and redundant features and select a subset of features, which can improve the machine learning...

ECU-IoHT: A dataset for analyzing cyberattacks in Internet of Health Things

Ahmed M, Byreddy S, Nutakki A, Sikos L, Haskell-Dowland PS

Ad Hoc Networks, Vol. 121, ISSN 1570-8705

In recent times, cyberattacks on the Internet of Health Things (IoHT) have continuously been growing, and so it is important to develop robust countermeasures. However, there is a lack of publicly available datasets reflecting cyberattacks on IoHT, mainly due to privacy concerns. This paper...

An Energy-Efficient and Secure Data Inference Framework for Internet of Health Things: A Pilot Study

Kang J, Dibaei M, Luo G, Yang W, Haskell-Dowland PS, Zheng X

Sensors, Vol. 21, No. 1: 312

Privacy protection in electronic healthcare applications is an important consideration, due to the sensitive nature of personal health data. Internet of Health Things (IoHT) networks that are used within a healthcare setting have unique challenges and security requirements (integrity,...

Cooperative co‑evolution for feature selection in Big Data with random feature grouping

Rashid BANM, Ahmed M, Sikos L, Haskell-Dowland PS

Journal of Big Data, 7, 107

A massive amount of data is generated with the evolution of modern technologies. This high throughput data generation results in Big Data, which consist of many features (attributes). However, irrelevant features may degrade the classification performance of machine learning (ML) algorithms. Feature...

No Soldiers Left Behind: An IoT-based Low-Power Military Mobile Health System Design

Kang J, Yang W, Dermody G, Ghasemian M, Adibi S, Haskell-Dowland PS

IEEE Access, ISSN: 2169-3536, Vol. 8, pp201498-201515

There has been an increasing prevalence of ad-hoc networks for various purposes and applications. These include Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) and Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN) which have emerging applications in health monitoring as well as user location tracking in emergency settings....

A Novel Penalty-Based Wrapper Objective Function for Feature Selection in Big Data using Cooperative Co-Evolution

Rashid BANM, Ahmed M, Sikos L, Haskell-Dowland PS

IEEE Access, Vol.8, pp150113 - 150129

The rapid progress of modern technologies generates a massive amount of high-throughput data, called Big Data, which provides opportunities to find new insights using machine learning (ML) algorithms. Big Data consist of many features (also called attributes); however, not all these are necessary or...

Intelligent Building Systems: Security and Facility Professionals' Understanding of System Threats, Vulnerabilities and Mitigation Practice

Brooks D, Coole M, Haskell-Dowland PS

Security Journal, Vol. 33 No.2, pp244–265

Intelligent Buildings or Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS) are becoming common in buildings, driven by the commercial need for functionality, sharing of information, reduced costs and sustainable buildings. The facility manager often has BACS responsibility; however, their focus is...

A Survey of Distributed Certificate Authorities in MANETs

Chaudhry J, Saleem K, Haskell-Dowland PS, Miraz M

Annals of Emerging Technologies in Computing (AETiC),, vol. 2, iss. 3, pp11-18

A Certificate Authority (CA) provides the critical authentication and security services for Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) which are used for the Internet and wired networks. In MANETs (wireless and ad hoc) there is an inability to offer a centralized CA to provide these security services. Recent...

Behavioral Profiling for Transparent Verification in Cloud Storage Services

Al-Bayati B, Clarke NL, Haskell-Dowland PS, Li F

Journal of Information Warfare, pp88-105

Security is still the most sensitive issue in cloud storage services as services remain accessible to users for prolonged periods following an initial (usually simple) authentication. This issue has led to an increased vulnerability to potential attacks and sensitive customer information being...

Literature Studies on Security Warnings Development

Zaaba ZF, Furnell SM, Dowland PS

International Journal on Perceptive and Cognitive Computing, Vol 2, Iss 1, pp8-18

Security warnings are intended to alert users about the possibility of events that may compromise their protection. They encounter security warnings on daily basis in many situations when dealing with their computer. However, prior studies have shown that users often have difficulty in understanding...

A toolkit approach to information security awareness and education

Korovessis P, Furnell SM, Papadaki M, Haskell-Dowland PS

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice, Vol. 2017, Iss. 2, Art. 5, ISSN: 2472-2707

In today's business environment where all operations are enabled by technology, information security has become an established discipline as more and more businesses realize its value. The human component has been recognized to have an important role in information security since the only way...

A Comprehensive Evaluation of Feature Selection for Gait Recognition Using Smartwatches

Al-Naffakh N, Clarke NL, Dowland PS, Li F

International Journal for Information Security Research, Volume 6, Issue 3

Activity recognition that recognises who a user is by what they are doing at a specific point of time is attracting an enormous amount of attention. Whilst previous research in activity recognition has focused on wearable dedicated sensors (body worn sensors) or using a smartphone's sensors...

The impact of security and its antecedents in behaviour intention of using e-government services

Alharbi N, Papadaki M, Haskell-Dowland PS

Journal of Behaviour and Information Technology, ISSN: 0144-929X, Vol 36, Iss 6, pp620-636

One of the main challenges associated with e-government adoption is lack of security. Thus, the aim of this research is to investigate the role of security in e-government adoption by integrating security, trust and privacy with the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2). In...

Graphical One-Time Password (GOTPass): A usability evaluation

Alsaiari H, Papadaki M, Dowland PS, Furnell SM

Information Security Journal: a Global Perspective, ISSN: 1939-3547, Vol 25, Iss 1-3, pp94-108

Complying with a security policy often requires users to create long and complex passwords to protect their accounts. However, remembering such passwords is difficult for many and may lead to insecure practices, such as choosing weak passwords or writing them down. In addition, they are vulnerable...

Adaptive Behavioral Profiling for Identity Verification in Cloud Computing: A Model and Preliminary Analysis

Al-Bayati B, Clarke NL, Dowland PS

GSTF Journal on Computing (JOC), ISSN:2251-3043, Vol. 5, Iss.1, pp21-28

In the past few years, cloud computing has become a new paradigm for hosting and delivering services over the Internet. Customers can directly access the resources (hardware and software) of cloud computing services over the Internet without the need to have specific knowledge about the resources....

Secure Graphical One Time Password (GOTPass): An Empirical Study

Alsaiari H, Papadaki M, Dowland PS, Furnell SM

Information Security Journal: A Global Perspective, 24, pp207-220

The traditional text-based password has been the default security medium for years; however, the difficulty of memorizing secure strong passwords often leads to insecure practices. A possible alternative solution is graphical authentication, which is motivated by the fact that the capability of...

Security Factors Influencing End Users' Adoption of E-Government

Alharbi N, Papadaki M, Dowland PS

Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transaction (JITST), Volume 3, Issue 4, pp320-328

The use of e-government has increased in recent years, and many countries now use it to provide high quality services to their citizens. Thus, a number of studies have investigated user acceptance of e-government via the use of adoption models, such as the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of...

Investigating the Viability of Multifactor Graphical Passwords for User Authentication

Jali MZ, Furnell SM, Dowland PS

Information Security Journal: A Global Perspective, 00:1–12, ISSN: 1939-3555, Published online: 18 Apr 2014

Authentication using images (i.e., graphical passwords) is claimed to be one of the alternatives for overcoming weaknesses in the traditional username and password authentication. This paper reports on the study to explore the feasibility of combining two graphical password methods for better...

Active authentication for mobile devices utilising behaviour profiling

Li F, Clarke NL, Papadaki M, Dowland PS

International Journal of Information Security, Volume 13, Issue 3, pp229-244, ISSN:1615-5262

With nearly 6 billion subscribers around the world, mobile devices have become an indispensable component in modern society. The majority of these devices rely upon passwords and personal identification numbers as a form of user authentication, and the weakness of these point-of-entry techniques is...

Misuse Detection for Mobile Devices Using Behaviour Profiling

Li F, Clarke NL, Papadaki M, Dowland PS

International Journal of Cyber Warfare & Terrorism, Volume 1, Issue 1, pp43-55, ISSN: 1947-3435

Mobile devices have become essential to modern society; however, as their popularity has grown, so has the ...

Massively Multi-Player Online Role Playing Games: What’s the Risk?

Sanders B, Dowland PS, Atkinson S, Furnell SM

Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, vol. 3, no. 3, ISSN: 1941-8477

Some may argue that the proliferation of personal computers together with the widespread use of the Internet has brought many benefits to society. The popularity of the internet and its associated online services continues to grow at an exponential rate and consequently, so does the number of...

Online Addiction: A Cultural Comparison of Privacy Risks in Online Gaming Environments

Sanders B, Dowland PS, Atkinson S, Zahra D, Furnell SM, Papadaki M

Journal of Multimedia Processing Technologies, vol. 1, no. 3, September, pp181-193, ISSN: 0976-4127

In this paper we investigated the levels of addiction and personal data disclosure within Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game environments (MMORPG’s). The study made use of an online survey, a combination of a six point behavioural addiction framework, Self Determination Theory and...

Assessing image-based authentication techniques in a web-based environment

Jali MZ, Furnell SM, Dowland PS

Information Management & Computer Security, Vol.18, Iss.1, pp43-53

The purpose of this paper is to assess the usability of two image-based authentication methods when used in the web-based environment. The evaluated approaches involve clicking secret points within a single image (click-based) and remembering a set of images in the correct sequence (choice-based).

An automated framework for managing security vulnerabilities

Alayed A, Furnell SM, Zhao D, Dowland PS

Information Management & Computer Security, vol. 13, no. 2, pp156-166

This paper aims to look at unpatched software which represents a significant problem for internet-based systems, with a myriad malware incidents and hacker exploits taking advantage of vulnerable targets. Unfortunately, vulnerability management is a non-trivial task, and is complicated by an...

A long-term trial of alternative user authentication technologies

Furnell SM, Papadopoulos I, Dowland PS

Information Management and Computer Security, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp178-190

Modern IT systems have a continued requirement for reliable user authentication at login. However, the majority of systems are still using username/password combinations, in spite of a variety of recognised weaknesses. Identifies the need for improved login authentication, and investigates the...

A prototype tool for information security awareness and training

Furnell SM, Gennatou M, Dowland PS

International Journal of Logisitics Information Management, vol. 15, no. 5, pp352-357

Information systems security is a critical issue for all organisations with a significant dependence upon information technology. However, it is a requirement that is often difficult to address, particularly within small organisations, as a result of a lack of resources and expertise. This paper...

An experimental comparison of secret-based user authentication technologies

Irakleous I, Furnell SM, Dowland PS, Papadaki M

Information Management and Computer Security, vol. 10, no. 3, pp100-108

Information systems security is a critical issue for all organisations with a significant dependence upon information technology. However, it is a requirement that is often difficult to address, particularly within small organisations, as a result of a lack of resources and expertise. This paper...

Security analysers: Administrator Assistants or Hacker Helpers?

Furnell SM, Chiliarchaki P, Dowland PS

Information Management and Computer Security, vol. 9, no.2, pp93-101

Security analyser tools provide a means of automatically identifying, and potentially exploiting, vulnerabilities within computer systems and networks. Although such tools are useful to system administrators, in order to highlight and overcome weaknesses in protection, they are also of assistance...

Authentication and Supervision: A survey of user attitudes

Furnell SM, Dowland PS, Illingworth HM, Reynolds PL

Computers & Security, vol. 19, no. 6, pp529-539

User authentication is a vital element in ensuring the secure operation of IT systems. In the vast majority of cases, this role is fulfilled by the password, but evidence suggests that this approach is easily compromised. Whilst many alternatives exist, particularly in the form of biometric...

A conceptual architecture for real-time intrusion monitoring

Furnell SM, Dowland PS

Information Management and Computer Security, vol. 8, no. 2, pp65-74

The detection and prevention of authorised activities, by both external parties and internal personnel, is an important issue within IT systems. Traditional methods of user authentication and access control do not provide comprehensive protection and offer opportunities for compromise by various...

Computer Crime and Abuse: A Survey of Public Attitudes and Awareness

Dowland PS, Furnell SM, Illingworth HM, Reynolds PL

Computers & Security, vol. 18, no. 8, pp715-726

In recent years, a number of surveys have indicated a significant escalation in reported incidents of computer crime and abuse. This rise is coupled with increasing attention to the issue in the mass media, which has the effect of heightening public perceptions of problems with IT and may represent...

Dissecting the 'Hacker Manifesto'

Furnell SM, Dowland PS, Sanders P

Information Management and Computer Security, vol.7, no.2 pp69-75

Twelve years ago, a text was written within the hacking community which is widely referred to as the 'Hacker Manifesto'. This text, and the opinions that it offers, have since been widely embraced by the hacker community and the document is referenced from numerous sites on the Internet. ...

A Physically Unclonable Function Authentication Protocol to Secure IEEE C37.118 Communications

Griffiths T, Ahmed M, Haskell-Dowland PS

Proceedings of the 25th European Conference on Cyber Warfare & Security (ECCWS 2026), Nottingham, UK, 29-30 June

This paper outlines the need for security on the smart grid, specifically for Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) and Phasor Data Concentrators (PDCs). These devices are targeted due to their criticality to the smart grid and the insecure communication protocols used. Common attacks on these devices...

On Relaying Strategies in Multi-Hop Covert Wireless Communications

Yu X, Yan S, Hu J, Haskell-Dowland PS, Han Y, Ng DWK

IEEE International Conference on Communications, pp666-672, DOI: 10.1109/ICC45855.2022.9838514

Multi-hop transmissions are desirable in realizing large-scale long-distance covert wireless communications, since a single-hop transmission cannot fully satisfy the covertness requirement even with high transmit power. Against this background, this work compares amplify-and-forward (AF) and...

Towards Evaluating the Effectiveness of Botnet Detection Techniques

Woodiss-Field A, Johnstone M, Haskell-Dowland PS

International Conference on Ubiquitous Security (UBISEC 2021), pp 292-308 (published 2022), Springer, DOI: 10.1007/978-981-19-0468-4_22

Botnets are a group of compromised devices taken over and commanded by a malicious actor known as a botmaster. In recent years botnets have targeted Internet of Things (IoT) devices, significantly increasing their ability to cause disruption due to the scale of the IoT. One such IoT-based botnet was...

IoT Threat Detection Advances, Challenges and Future Directions

Karie NM, Sahri NM, Haskell-Dowland PS

2020 Workshop on Emerging Technologies for Security in IoT (ETSecIoT), 21-21 April, Sydney, Australia

It is predicted that, the number of connected Internet of Things (IoT) devices will rise to 38.6 billion by 2025 and an estimated 50 billion by 2030. The increased deployment of IoT devices into diverse areas of our life has provided us with significant benefits such as improved quality of life and...

Hybrid Routing for Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attack Detection in IoT Networks

Kang J, Fahd K, Venkatraman S, Trujillo-Rasua R, Haskell-Dowland PS

2019 29th International Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (ITNAC), ISBN: 978-1-7281-3674-5, pp. 1-6

Affordable and expandable low power networks such as 5G and Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) in the public and private network areas have improved network bandwidth capacities and processing performance. Internet of Things (IoT) technologies are increasing in popularity with numerous...

Building a Better Micro:Bit IDE – Teaching Computer Science

Ellis M, Thompson G, Haskell-Dowland PS

INTED2020 Proceedings of the 14th International Technology, Education and Development Conference, Valencia, Spain, 2-4 March, ISBN: 978-84-09-17939-8, pp8425-8433

There are a plethora of online websites and unplugged materials for people who want to learn how to code. From Scratch in the early years to the more recent (relatively) Massive Open Online Courses, there are many sources of educational and training oriented materials to assist individuals who want...

The Hop Portal Snowglobe Architecture: Making Virtual Reality Functional

Chady T, Haskell-Dowland PS

INTED2020 Proceedings of the 14th International Technology, Education and Development Conference, Valencia, Spain, 2-4 March, ISBN: 978-84-09-17939-8, pp8395-8403

Navigation in Virtual Reality is a complex experience which depends on the aesthetic, objectives and interactivity of the content. Nevertheless, one can still make distinctions with regards to how one may navigate between Virtual Reality experiences. ...

Good guidance or mistaken misdirection: Assessing the quality of password advice

Furnell SM, Haskell-Dowland PS

Proceedings of the Annual Information Institute Conference, 2020 Information Institute Las Vegas Conference

Modern websites often require users to create accounts in order to utilise services or store information. With password leaks appearing on an almost daily basis and being widely publicised, it is reasonable to assume that users should be adopting appropriate practices to secure their accounts and...

Addressing STEM Geek Culture Through Peer Learning

Vasileiou I, Haskell-Dowland PS

EDULEARN19 Proceedings, pp5289-5293, Palma, Mallorca, Spain

STEM is generally considered to be a male-dominated environment. The geek culture that often leads to social issues, and the gender imbalance that leads to fewer girls choosing a STEM subject, are becoming important topics of research. Peer learning has been widely used across the world to support...

From Model B To Micro:Bit – Teaching Computer Science

Ellis M, Thompson G, Haskell-Dowland PS

Proceedings of EDULEARN19 Conference, pp2725-2731, Palma, Mallorca, Spain

In the early 1980’s, the UK British Broadcasting Company (BBC), in partnership with the Acorn Computer company designed and released the BBC Micro computer. With a specific focus on the educational sector and accompanying television series, the BBC/Acorn introduced a (relatively) cost-effective...

Design Principles and Guidelines for Targeted Security Awareness

Mahmoud N, Furnell SM, Haskell-Dowland PS

Proceedings of the Annual Information Institute Conference, March 26-28, Las Vegas, USA, ISBN: 978-1-935160-19-9

Key aspects that weaken users’ ability to use security are often related to the difficulty of comprehending the features/notifications within the interfaces of applications, inconsistency in the interfaces, and not receiving appropriate guidance or adequate security information. This often leads...

Misuse Detection in a Simulated IaaS Environment

Al-Bayati B, Clarke NL, Haskell-Dowland PS, Li F

1st International Workshop on Emerging Technologies for Authorization and Authentication, ISBN: 978-3-030-04371-1, pp103-115

Cloud computing is an emerging technology paradigm by offering elastic computing resources for individuals and organisations with low cost. However, security is still the most sensitive issue in cloud computing services as the service remains accessible to anyone after initial simple authentication...

Continuous identity verification in cloud storage services using behavioural profiling

Al-Bayati B, Clarke NL, Haskell-Dowland PS, Li F

17th European Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security ECCWS 2018, 28-29 June, ISBN: 978-1-911218-85-2, pp1-10

Cloud storage services have become immensely popular because they enable users to remotely store their data over the Internet. However, this has led to a lack of physical control to protect their information with an increasing vulnerability to potential attacks. Well-known service providers...

Transparent Authentication: Utilising Heart Rate for User Authentication

Enamamu T, Clarke NL, Haskell-Dowland PS, Li F

International Conference for Internet Technology and Secured Transactions (ICITST-2017) , pp283-289, ISBN:978-1-9083-207-97

There has been exponential growth in the use of wearable technologies in the last decade with smart watches having a large share of the market. Smart watches were primarily used for health and fitness purposes but recent years have seen a rise in their deployment in other areas. Recent smart watches...

Body Temperature Authentication for Secure Smartwatch to Smart Device Communication

Enamamu T, Clarke NL, Haskell-Dowland PS, Li F

Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computing, Networking and Informatics (ICCNI 2017) , ISBN: 978-1-5090-4643-0, pp1-7

The advancement of smart devices has led to a steep rise in wearable devices of which smart watches are increasingly gaining popularity in the wearable technology market. Most smart watches have evolved from their first generation to their present generation with increased functionality and...

Unobtrusive Gait Recognition Using Smartwatches

Al-Naffakh N, Clarke NL, Li F, Haskell-Dowland PS

International Conference of the Biometrics Special Interest Group (BIOSIG), 20-22 September, Darmstadt, Germany, pp211-218, ISBN 978-3-88579-664-0, 10.23919/BIOSIG.2017.8053523

Gait recognition is a technique that identifies or verifies people based upon their walking patterns. Smartwatches, which contain an accelerometer and gyroscope have recently been used to implement gait-based biometrics. However, this prior work relied upon data from single sessions for both...

Towards Targeted Security Awareness Raising

Mahmoud N, Furnell SM, Haskell-Dowland PS

Proceedings of the Annual Information Institute Conference, 18-20 April, Las Vegas, USA, ISBN: 978-1-935160-18-2

Users are frequently cited as being the weakest link in the information security chain. However, in many cases they are ill-positioned to follow good practice and make the necessary decisions. Part of the reason here is that, even if security awareness, training and/or education have been provided,...

Teleoperation of mobile robots over wireless internet

Dorigo M, Harriehausen-Mühlbauer B, Stengel I, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Internet Technologies and Applications, ITA 11; Wrexham, Wales; United Kingdom, ISBN:978-094688168-0, pp145-151

There are thousands of applications where a mobile robot has to be manually teleoperated over wireless internet connections. This paper presents a concept on how mobile robots can be controlled remotely over the Internet from anywhere in the world and feedback such as full HD resolution video and...

Nonvisual Presentation, Navigation and Manipulation of Structured Documents on Mobile and Wearable Devices

Dorigo M, Harriehausen-Mühlbauer B, Stengel I, Dowland PS

International Conference on Computers for Handicapped Persons, ISBN: 978-3-319-08595-1, pp383-390

There are a large number of highly structured documents, for example: newspaper articles, scientific, mathematical or technical literature. As a result of inductive research with 200 blind and visually impaired participants, a multi-modal user interface for non-visual presentation, navigation and...

Activity Recognition using wearable computing

Al-Naffakh N, Clarke NL, Dowland PS, Li F

11th International Conference for Internet Technology and Secured Transactions (ICITST), pp. 189-195, Barcelona, Spain

A secure, user-convenient approach to authenticate users on their mobile devices is required as current approaches (e.g., PIN or Password) suffer from security and usability issues. Transparent Authentication Systems (TAS) have been introduced to improve the level of security as well as offer...

Increasing eLearning Engagement Using Mobile Technologies

Triantafyllidis A, Clarke NL, Dowland PS, Vranopoulos G

9th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI2016), 14-16 November, Seville, Spain, pp8644-8653, ISBN: 978-84-617-5895-1, ISSN: 2350-1095

Web-based Learning Management Systems (LMS) have their way into the methods that students, lecturers and generally the education community communicates, stores, shares and collaborates. Although technically they seem to provide an ideal environment for deploying constructive eLearning activities,...

The Value of the Biometrics in Invigilated E-Assessments

Ketab S, Clarke NL, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the the 8th Annual International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, Barcelona, Spain, 4-6 July, ISBN: 978-84-608-8860-4, ISSN: 2340-1117

Over the last decade, e-learning has played an important role in education. The growing number of users (70 million students and 1.2 million teachers across 7.5 million courses) has given rise to a major concern over protecting them from misuse; the most significant of the potential misuse is the...

A Review of Graphical Authentication Utilising a Keypad Input Method

Alsaiari H, Papadaki M, Dowland PS, Furnell SM

Proceedings of The 8th Saudi Students Conference, January 31 - February 1, pp359-374

The traditional password has long been the most widely used authentication mechanism in spite of its well-known flaws. In order to address these flaws, researchers have utilised images or drawings as a potential alternative. In this paper, we consider the attributes of several graphic-based...

E-Invigilation of E-Assessments

Ketab S, Clarke NL, Dowland PS

Proceedings of INTED2015 Conference 2nd-4th March 2015, Madrid, Spain, ISBN: 978-84-606-5763-7

Over the last ten years, e-learning has played a vital role in education. A leading Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) reports a user base of 70 million students and 1.2 million teachers across 7.5 million courses. Whilst e-learning has introduced flexibility and remote/distance-based learning,...

Security challenges of e-government adoption based on end users' perspective

Alharbi N, Papadaki M, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the 9th International Conference for Internet Technology and Secured Transactions (ICITST 2014), London, UK, pp78-82, ISBN: 978-1-908320-39-1

In recent years, many countries have used e-government to provide high quality services to their citizens. Thus, a number of studies have investigated user acceptance of e-government through the use of adoption models, such as the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model....

Alternative Graphical Authentication for Online Banking Environments

Alsaiari H, Papadaki M, Dowland PS, Furnell SM

Proceedings of the Eighth International Symposium on Human Aspects of Information Security & Assurance (HAISA 2014), Plymouth, UK, July 8-9, pp122-136, ISBN: 978-1-84102-375-5

Many financial institutes tend to implement a secure authentication mechanism through the utilization of the One-Time-Password (OTP) technique. The use of a hardware security token to generate the required OTP has been widespread. Despite the fact that this method provides a fairly high level of...

Connected In-Car Multimedia: Qualities Affecting Composability of Dynamic Functionality

Knirsch A, Wietzke J, Moore R, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the Tenth International Network Conference (INC 2014), Plymouth, UK, July 8-9, pp81-93, ISBN: 978-1-84102-373-1

In-Car Multimedia systems have become a fundamental part of a car's human-machine interface. Recent developments within the domain of mobile consumer electronics create demands for flexible functionality by use of after-market applications, also within the automotive sector. Further, current...

Nonvisual Presentation and Navigation within the Structure of Digital Text-Documents on Mobile Devices

Dorigo M, Harriehausen-Mühlbauer B, Stengel I, Dowland PS

7th International Conference, UAHCI 2013, Las Vegas, NV, USA, July 21-26, ISBN: 978-3-642-39193-4, pp311-320

This paper introduces a novel concept for an assistive technology in support of blind and visually impaired persons for nonvisual presentation and navigation within the structure of digital text-documents on mobile devices (smart phones, internet tablets, etc.) which enables them to get a fast...

Learning management systems in higher education: a faculty perspective

Triantafyllidis A, Clarke NL, Dowland PS

6th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI2013), Madrid, Spain, ISBN: 978-84-616-3847-5, pp5120-5130

The use of the Internet and the Web have gradually made their way into the methods that students, lecturers and generally the education community communicates, stores, shares and collaborates. Indeed, it has arguably become the norm rather than the alternative. As an alternative to traditional...

Learning management systems in higher education: a student perspective

Triantafyllidis A, Clarke NL, Dowland PS

5th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI2012), Madrid, Spain, ISBN: 978-84-616-0763-1, pp4046-4055

The Internet and especially the Web have effectively become the default mechanism for information dissemination, collaboration, communication and storage. Higher education institutions have started to make use of these technologies by implementing web based Learning Management Systems (LMS). Their...

E-Invigilator: A Biometric-Based Supervision System for e-Assessments

Clarke NL, Dowland PS, Furnell SM

The International Conference on Information Society (i-Society 2013), Toronto, Canada, 24-26 June

The creation of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) have revolutionized the online delivery of learning materials, from traditional lectures slides through to podcasts, blogs and wikis. However, such advances in how we assess such learning have not evolved – with physical attendance at proctored...

Survey: improving document accessibility from the blind and visually impaired user's point of view

Dorigo M, Harriehausen-Mühlbauer B, Stengel I, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Applications and Services, pp129-135, 978-3-642-21656-5

There are thousands of digital documents available on the internet, but many of them are not accessible for blind and visually impaired people. To find out what is of importance as to the reading of text and the navigation within documents from the user’s point of view, a survey has been conducted...

Assessing the usability of application level security warnings

Zaaba ZF, Furnell SM, Dowland PS, Stengel I

Eleventh Annual Security Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, US, 11-13 April

This paper investigates users’ understanding of security messages that can be encountered on a daily basis whilst using their computer. An experimental study was conducted that made use of a custom-built program designed to capture security messages and examine users’ views regarding the...

Multifactor Graphical Passwords: An Assessment of End-User Performance

Jali MZ, Furnell SM, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the 7th International Conference of Information Assurance & Security (IAS2011), Melaka, Malaysia, 5-8 December 2011. IEEE 978-1-4577-2153-3

This paper reports on the usability study carried out to assess the feasibility of combining two graphical password methods for better security. The methods involved clicking on the image (i.e. click-based) and selecting a series of images (i.e. choice-based). A graphical password prototype was...

Quantifying the effect of graphical password guidelines for better security

Jali MZ, Furnell SM, Dowland PS

Future Challenges in Security and Privacy for Academia and Industry (SEC 2011), Lucerne, Switzerland, 7-9 June 2011. Volume 354/2011, Springer-Verlag, pp80-91

Authentication using images or graphical passwords is one of the possible alternatives for traditional authentication based upon passwords. This study aims to investigate the practicality of giving guidelines or advice to users before they start choosing their image passwords, the effectiveness of...

Resource Management for Multicore Aware Software Architectures of In-Car Multimedia Systems

Knirsch A, Wietzke J, Moore R, Dowland PS

Lecture Notes in Informatics (LNI) - Proceedings, Series of the Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI), Volume P-192, 9th Workshop Automotive Software Engineering, INFORMATIK 2011: Informatik schafft Communities, 4.–7. October 2011, Berlin, p216, ISBN: 978-3-88579-286-4, (full text is available online)

With increasing hardware capabilities the demands on the functionality of user centric systems continuously expand. The next generation of automotive embed- ded systems is going to make use of multicore hardware architectures, which strongly enhances the computational power. This means a movement...

Emerging risks in massively multiplayer online role playing games

Sanders B, Atkinson S, Dowland PS, Furnell SM, Papadaki M

EU Kids Online Conference, Friday 23 September, New Academic Building LSE

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG’s) are highly ...

Behaviour Profiling for Transparent Authentication for Mobile Devices

Li F, Clarke NL, Papadaki M, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the 10th European Conference on Information Warfare and Security (ECIW), Tallinn, Estonia 7-8 July, pp307-314

Since the first handheld cellular phone was introduced in 1970s, the mobile phone has changed significantly both in terms of popularity and functionality. With more than 4.6 billion subscribers around the world, it has become a ubiquitous device in our daily life. Apart from the traditional...

End-User Perception and Usability of Information Security

Zaaba ZF, Furnell SM, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on Human Aspects of Information Security & Assurance (HAISA 2011), London, UK, ISBN: 978-1-84102-284-0, pp97-107

This paper investigates users’ understanding of security features and application and examines ...

Online Addiction: Privacy Risks in Online Gaming Environments

Sanders B, Chen V, Zahra D, Dowland PS, Atkinson S, Papadaki M, Furnell SM

Proceedings of the International Conference on Management of Emergent Digital EcoSystems (MEDES), October 26-29, Bangkok, Thailand

In this paper we investigated the levels of addiction and personal data disclosure within Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game environments (MMORPG's). The study made use of an online survey which embraced a combination of a six point behavioural addiction framework, Self...

Behaviour Profiling on Mobile Devices

Li F, Clarke NL, Papadaki M, Dowland PS

International Conference on Emerging Security Technologies, 6-8 September, Canterbury, UK, pp77-82

Over the last decade, the mobile device has become a ubiquitous tool within everyday life. Unfortunately, whilst the popularity of mobile devices has increased, a corresponding increase can also be identified in the threats being targeted towards these devices. Security countermeasures such as AV...

Implications and Risks of MMORPG Addiction: Motivations, Emotional Investment, Problematic Usage and Personal Privacy

Sanders B, Dowland PS, Furnell SM

Proceedings of the South African Information Security Multi-Conference (SAISMC 2010), Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 17-18 May, ISBN: 978-1-84102-256-7, pp61-73

The omnipresence of technology combined with the widespread embrace of online communication has undoubtedly created a subculture of ‘always on’. Indeed, experts have revealed that online interaction and information invokes a ‘dopamine squirt’ similar in effect to that of narcotics abuse. ...

A Critical Evaluation of an Online Peer Assessment System (OPAS)

Clarke NL, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI 2009), 16-18th November, Madrid, Spain

The method of assessing knowledge and understanding can vary, with new approaches being developed periodically. Although traditional methods such as exams, essays and oral presentations still form the backbone to many undergraduate assessment programmes, much focus is being given to newer techniques...

Evaluating Web-Based User Authentication using Graphical Techniques

Jali MZ, Furnell SM, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Human Aspects of Information Security & Assurance (HAISA 2009), Athens, Greece, ISBN: 978-1-84102-231-4, pp108-118

Graphical techniques are one of the many alternatives proposed to address the weaknesses in the conventional authentication based upon username and passwords. In this paper, two methods of graphical technique, namely ‘click-based’ and ‘choice-based’ are studied in term of their usability for...

An Assessment of People’s Vulnerabilities in Relation to Personal and Sensitive Data

Sanders B, Dowland PS, Furnell SM

Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Human Aspects of Information Security & Assurance (HAISA 2009), Athens, Greece, ISBN: 978-1-84102-231-4, pp50-60

Social engineering refers to a number of techniques that are used to exploit human vulnerabilities and manipulate people into breaking normal security procedures. Evidence suggests that this problem is rapidly increasing and cyber criminals are using a magnitude of different avenues to reach their...

Service-Oriented Architecture: Performance Issues and Approaches

Swientek M, Bleimann U, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the Seventh International Network Conference (INC2008), Plymouth, UK, 8-10 July, pp261-269

The introduction of a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) can affect performance in a negative way. This exacerbates the application of SOA to systems for bulk data processing. This paper describes specific aspects of Service-Oriented Architectures that impact performance particularly. It discusses...

A practical usability evaluation of security features in end-user applications

Furnell SM, Katsabas D, Dowland PS, Reid F

Proceedings of the 22nd IFIP International Information Security Conference (IFIP SEC 2007), Sandton, South Africa, 14-16 May, pp. 205-216

The presentation and usability of security features can represent a significant impediment to effective protection for end-user systems. In order to investigate the nature and level of problems that can be encountered during attempts to use security within standard end-user applications, this paper...

Considering the Usability of End-User Security Software

Furnell SM, Jusoh A, Katsabas D, Dowland PS

Proceedings of 21st IFIP International Information Security Conference (IFIP SEC 2006), Karlstad, Sweden, 22-24 May, pp307-316

Security features can now be found in a variety of end-user applications. However, the extent to which such features can actually be understood and used by the target audience is often undermined by poor attention to human-computer interaction factors. This paper considers the problem, and...

Using Human Computer Interaction principles to promote usable security

Katsabas D, Furnell SM, Dowland PS

Proceedings of Fifth International Network Conference (INC 2005), July 5-7, Samos, Greece, pp235-242

Faced with an increasing range of attacks, the appropriate use of available security features in computer systems and applications is becoming ever more necessary. However, although many applications provide ways in which users can protect themselves against threats, the design and implementation of...

Identifying the security requirements for virtual university environments

Ruiz VC, Furnell SM, Phippen AD, Dowland PS, Stengel I, Bleimann U

Proceedings of the Fourth Security Conference 2005, Las Vegas, USA, 30-31 March

Virtual universities (VUs) are meant to provide a new learning model for students and a way to study away from traditional facilities. Security is now regarded as a high priority within computer systems, and has been increasingly introduced to the public over the years. Many new technologies have...

Survey of Wireless Access Point Security

Voisin M, Ghita BV, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the Fourth Security Conference 2005, Las Vegas, USA, 30-31 March

The development of wireless networks has introduced a number of security issues inherent to the communication medium and to the different security approaches available. While WEP encryption is widely accepted as insecure, it remains one of the easiest to use and most widespread wireless security...

PassImages : an alternative method of user authentication

Charruau D, Furnell SM, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the ISOneWorld 2005, Las Vegas, USA, 30 March - 1 April,

This paper presents an assessment of an alternative to the predominant password and ...

A Long-term Trial of Keystroke Profiling using Digraph, Trigraph and Keyword Latencies

Dowland PS, Furnell SM

Proceedings of IFIP/SEC 2004 - 19th International Conference on Information Security, Toulouse, France, 23-26 August, pp275-289

A number of previous studies have investigated the use of keystroke analysis as a means of authenticating users' identities at the point of initial login. By contrast, relatively little research has focused upon the potential of applying the technique for identity verification during the...

A Correlation Framework for Continuous User Authentication Using Data Mining

Singh H, Furnell SM, Dowland PS, Lines BL, Kaur S

Proceedings of the Fourth International Network Conference (INC 2004), Plymouth, UK, 6-9 July 2004, pp237-245

The ever-increasing security breaches by both external and internal intruders highlight the lack of security measures in many current systems. Extensive work has been carried out to address this problem, for example by enhancing the initial login stage in order to overcome the security flaws of...

Improving Security Awareness And Training Through Computer-Based Training

Furnell SM, Warren A, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the WISE Conference, Monterey, USA, July, pp287-301

Security awareness is a critical issue for all organisations that depend upon information technology. However, significant survey evidence suggests that the issue is often given inadequate attention in modern organisations, leading to problems through security incidents. This paper considers...

Assessing IT Security Culture: System Administrator and End-User

Finch J, Furnell SM, Dowland PS

Proceedings of ISOneWorld Conference 2003, Las Vegas, USA, April 23-25, CD Only

Appropriate understanding and acceptance of IT security should now be regarded as an essential requirement within any modern business. Although a number of previous studies have been published that assess organizational attitudes, the respondents have typically been IT administrators or top-level...

Critical awareness ? The problem of monitoring security vulnerabilities

Furnell SM, Alayed A, Barlow I, Dowland PS

Proceedings of European Conference on Information Warfare and Security, 8-9 July 2002, Brunel, UK, pp85-92

Security vulnerabilities are known problems that frequently affect operating systems, Internet servers and application programs from numerous vendors. The paper examines the scale of the problem, referencing advisory sources such as CERT/CC, BugTraq and CVE. Although it is relatively easy to...

Keystroke Analysis as a Method of Advanced User Authentication and Response

Dowland PS, Furnell SM, Papadaki M

Proceedings of IFIP/SEC 2002 - 17th International Conference on Information Security, Cairo, Egypt, 7-9 May, pp215-226

There has been significant interest in the area of keystroke analysis to support the authentication of users, and previous research has identified three discrete methods of application; static, periodic dynamic and continuous dynamic analysis. This paper summarises the approaches and metrics arising...

A Preliminary Investigation of User Authentication Using Continuous Keystroke Analysis

Dowland PS, Singh H, Furnell SM

Proceedings of the IFIP 8th Annual Working Conference on Information Security Management & Small Systems Security, Las Vegas, 27-28 September

There has been significant research in to the provision of reliable initial-login user authentication, however there is still a need for continuous authentication during a user session. This paper presents a series of results from the preliminary statistical analysis of multi-application keystroke...

Investigating and Evaluating Behavioural Profiling and Intrusion Detection Using Data Mining

Singh H, Furnell SM, Lines BL, Dowland PS

Proceedings of International Workshop on Mathematical Methods, Models and Architectures for Computer Networks Security, St. Petersburg, Russia, 21-23 May

The continuous growth of computer networks, coupled with the increasing number of people relying upon information technology, has inevitably attracted both mischievous and malicious abusers. Such abuse may originate from both outside an organisation and from within, and will not necessarily be...

A Generic Taxonomy for Intrusion Specification and Response

Furnell SM, Magklaras GB, Papadaki M, Dowland PS

Proceedings of Euromedia 2001, Valencia, Spain, 18-20 April

The paper presents a preliminary description of an intrusion taxonomy to aid the development of a generic intrusion specification and response platform. Existing intrusion taxonomies are assessed in order to derive a suitable classification of incidents that would be both detectable and addressable...

Promoting security awareness and training within small organisations

Furnell SM, Gennatou M, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the First Australian Information Security Management (AISM) Workshop, Geelong, Australia, 7 November

Information systems security is a critical issue for all organisations with a significant dependence upon information technology. However, it is a requirement that is often difficult to address, particularly within small organisations, as a result of a lack of resources and expertise. This paper...

A conceptual intrusion monitoring architecture and thoughts on practical implementation

Dowland PS, Furnell SM

Proceedings of the World Computer Congress 2000, 21-25 August

The paper presents a conceptual description of the Intrusion Monitoring System (IMS) architecture, which is designed to facilitate detection of system penetration and other anomalous activity in a networked environment. The architecture is based upon eight functional elements, distributed between a...

Enhancing Operating System Authentication Techniques

Dowland PS, Furnell SM

Proceedings of the Second International Network Conference (INC 2000), Plymouth, UK, pp253-261, 3-6 July

The need for enhanced user authentication has been evident for some time; but has not been addressed at the operating system level to any degree. Whilst all mainstream operating systems offer some level of user identification and authentication, this is generally based on the username/password...

Developing tools to support online distance learning

Furnell SM, Evans MP, Dowland PS

Proceedings of EUROMEDIA 2000, Antwerp, Belgium, 8-10 May

This paper considers the emerging concept of Online Distance Learning (ODL), which utilises Internet and the World Wide Web technologies to deliver educational courses to remote students. Many authors have conjectured that ODL has the potential to revolutionise educational provision, facilitating,...

Information Security and Privacy – Challenges and Outlook

Furnell SM, Haskell-Dowland PS, et al. (multiple authors)

Advancing Research in Information and Communication Technology, pp 383-401, ISBN: 978-3-030-81700-8

The ongoing demand for new and faster technologies continues to leave consumers and business users to face the constant challenge of updating systems and software. This unrelenting pace of technological evolution has not always been matched with a commensurate focus on security and privacy matters....

E-mail Security: A Pocket Guide

Furnell SM, Dowland PS

IT Governance Publishing, ISBN: 978-1849280969, pp108

Don't let an email cause an information security incident at your company - buy this pocket guide today! Your business relies on email for its everyday dealings with partners, suppliers and customers. While email is an invaluable form of communication, it also represents a potential threat to...

User Authentication Technologies

Clarke NL, Dowland PS, Furnell SM

in Securing Information and Communications Systems: Principles, Technologies, and Applications. S.M.Furnell, S.K.Katsikas, J.Lopez and A.Patel (Eds), Artech House, ISBN 978-1-59693-228-9, pp35-59

This chapter introduces the principles of user authentication technology. It begins by examining the need for reliable identification and authentication of users, and introducing the three primary foundations of authentication techniques (i.e. something the user knows, has or is). Subsequent...

Security Concepts, Services, and Threats

Dowland PS, Furnell SM

in Securing Information and Communications Systems: Principles, Technologies, and Applications. S.M.Furnell, S.K.Katsikas, J.Lopez and A.Patel (Eds), Artech House, ISBN 978-1-59693-228-9, pp5-20

This chapter provides a baseline introduction to the concepts of IT security, as well as providing a background on the need for protection from an organizational perspective. It begins by providing examples of incidents, statistics indicating the scale and nature of the problem and a number of cases...

ICT Systems Security and Privacy Protection

Janicke H, Futcher L, Sarker I, Thomson KL, Haskell-Dowland PS

Springer, 9-11 June, Perth, Australia, pp587, ISBN: 978-3-032-27992-7

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 41st IFIP International Conference on ICT Systems Security and Privacy Protection, SEC 2026, held in Perth, Australia, during June 9–11, 2026. The 39 full papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 164 submissions....

Cybersecurity Teaching in Higher Education

Sikos L, Haskell-Dowland PS

Springer, pp139, ISBN: 978-3-031-24216-8

This book collects state-of-the-art curriculum development considerations, training methods, techniques, and best practices, as well as cybersecurity lab requirements and aspects to take into account when setting up new labs, all based on hands-on experience in teaching cybersecurity in higher...

Cybersecurity for Smart Cities

Ahmed M, Haskell-Dowland PS

Springer, ISBN: 978-3-031-24945-7

Ensuring cybersecurity for smart cities is crucial for a sustainable cyber ecosystem. Given the undeniable complexity of smart cities, fundamental issues such as device configurations and software updates should be addressed when it is most needed to fight cyber-crime and ensure data privacy. This...

Next-Generation Enterprise Security and Governance

Ahmed M, Moustafa N, Barkat A, Haskell-Dowland PS

Routledge, pp288, ISBN 9780367639624

Internet is making our daily life as digital as possible and this new era is called the Internet of Everything (IoE). The key force behind the rapid growth of the Internet is the technological advances of enterprises. The digital world we live in is facilitated by these enterprises’ advances and...

Secure Edge Computing: Applications, Techniques and Challenges

Ahmed M, Haskell-Dowland PS

CRC Press, 304pp, ISBN: 9780367464141

The internet is making our daily life as digital as possible and this new era is called the Internet of Everything (IoE). Edge computing is an emerging data analytics concept that addresses the challenges associated with IoE. More specifically, edge computing facilitates data analysis at the edge of...

Advances in Communications, Electronics, Networks, Robotics and Security Volume 13

Dowland PS

Plymouth University, ISBN: 978-1-326-72810-6, pp160

This book is the thirteenth in a series presenting research papers arising from MSc/MRes research projects undertaken by students of the School of Computing and Mathematics at Plymouth University. The publications in this volume are based upon research projects that were undertaken during the...

Advances in Communications, Computing, Electronics, Networks, Robotics and Security Volume 12

Dowland PS

Plymouth University, ISBN: 978-1-326-72586-0, pp172

This book is the twelfth in a series presenting research papers arising from MSc/MRes research projects undertaken by students of the School of Computing and Mathematics at Plymouth University. The publications in this volume are based upon research projects that were undertaken during the 2013/14...

Proceedings of the Eleventh International Network Conference (INC 2016)

Alekseev S, Dowland PS, Ghita BV, Schneider O

Frankfurt, Germany, 19-21 July, ISBN: 978-1-84102-410-3, pp192

This book contains the proceedings of the Eleventh International Network Conference (INC 2016), which was held in Frankfurt, Germany, in July 2016. A total of 30 papers were accepted for inclusion in the conference. The main topics of the book include: Network Technologies; Mobile and Wireless...

Advances in Communications, Computing, Networks and Security Volume 11

Dowland PS

Plymouth University, ISBN: 978-184102-374-8, pp144

This book is the eleventh in a series presenting research papers arising from MSc/MRes research projects undertaken by students of the School of Computing and Mathematics at Plymouth University. The publications in this volume are based upon research projects that were undertaken during the 2012/13...

Proceedings of the Tenth International Network Conference (INC 2014)

Dowland PS, Furnell SM, Ghita BV

Plymouth, 8-10 July, ISBN: 978-1-84102-373-1, pp197

This book contains the proceedings of the Tenth International Network Conference (INC 2014), which was held in Plymouth, UK, in July 2014. A total of 13 papers were accepted for inclusion in the conference (with a further three papers included in these proceedings from the Ninth International...

Advances in Communications, Computing, Networks and Security Volume 10

Dowland PS, Furnell SM

Plymouth University, ISBN: 978-184102-358-8, pp229

This book is the tenth in a series presenting research papers arising from MSc/MRes research projects undertaken by students of the School of Computing and Mathematics at Plymouth University. ...

Proceedings of the Ninth International Network Conference (INC 2012)

Botha RA, Dowland PS, Furnell SM

Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 11-12 July, ISBN: 9781841023151, pp238

This book contains the proceedings of the Ninth International Network Conference (INC2012), which was held in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in July 2012. A total of 20 papers were accepted for inclusion in the conference, and they are presented here in four themed chapters. The main topics of the...

Advances in Communications, Computing, Networks and Security Volume 9

Dowland PS, Furnell SM

Plymouth University, ISBN: 978-184102-320-5, pp217

This book is the ninth in a series presenting research papers arising from MSc/MRes research projects undertaken by students of the School of Computing and Mathematics at Plymouth University. ...

Advances in Communications, Computing, Networks and Security Volume 8

Dowland PS, Furnell SM

Plymouth University, ISBN: 978-1-84102-293-2, pp293

This book is the eighth in a series presenting research papers arising from MSc/MRes research projects undertaken by students of the School of Computing and Mathematics at Plymouth University. ...

Proceedings of the Seventh Collaborative Research Symposium on Security, E-learning, Internet and Networking (SEIN 2011)

Dowland PS, Grout VM, Humm B, Knahl MH

Plymouth University, ISBN: 978-1-84102-295-6, pp117

This book presents the Proceedings of the Seventh Collaborative Research Symposium on Security, E-learning, Internet and Networking, hosted by Furtwangen University of Applied Sciences, Germany, on the 27-29th October 2011. All authors are researchers from Plymouth University; University of Applied...

Advances in Communications, Computing, Networks and Security Volume 7

Dowland PS, Furnell SM

Plymouth University, ISBN: 978-1-84102-283-3, pp285

This book is the seventh in a series presenting research papers arising from ...

Advances in Communications, Computing, Networks and Security 6

Dowland PS, Furnell SM

University of Plymouth, ISBN: 978-1-84102-258-1, pp321

This book is the sixth in a series presenting research papers arising from MSc/MRes research projects undertaken by students of the School of Computing, Communications and Electronics at the University of Plymouth. These one year masters courses include a significant period of full-time project...

Proceedings of the Sixth Collaborative Research Symposium on Security, E-learning, Internet and Networking (SEIN 2010)

Dowland PS, Humm B, Knahl MH

University of Plymouth, ISBN: 978-1-84102-269-7, pp81

This book presents the Proceedings of the Sixth Collaborative Research Symposium on Security, E-learning, Internet and Networking, hosted by the University of Plymouth, UK, on the 25-26th November 2010. All authors are researchers from the University of Plymouth, University of Applied Sciences...

Proceedings of the Eighth International Network Conference (INC 2010)

Bleimann U, Dowland PS, Furnell SM, Schneider O

Heidelberg, Germany, 8-10 July, ISBN: 978-1-84102-259-8, pp413

Proceedings of the 11th IFIP TC 11.1 Working Conference on Information Security Management

Dowland PS, Furnell SM

Richmond, Virginia on 16-17 October, ISBN: 978-3-901882-31-9, pp127

Advances in Communications, Computing, Networks and Security 5

Dowland PS, Furnell SM

University of Plymouth, ISBN: 978-1-84102-257-4, pp323

This book is the fifth in a series presenting research papers arising from MSc/MRes research projects undertaken by students of the School of Computing, Communications and Electronics at the University of Plymouth. These one year masters courses include a significant period of full-time project...

Proceedings of the Fifth Collaborative Research Symposium on Security, E-learning, Internet and Networking (SEIN 2009)

Bleimann U, Dowland PS, Furnell SM, Grout VM

University of Plymouth, ISBN: 978-1-84102-236-9, 223pp

Proceedings of the Fourth Collaborative Research Symposium on Security, E-learning, Internet and Networking (SEIN 2008)

Bleimann U, Dowland PS, Furnell SM, Grout VM

University of Plymouth, ISBN: 978-1-84102-196-6, 215pp

Proceedings of the 7th International Network Conference (INC 2008)

Dowland PS, Furnell SM

University of Plymouth, ISBN: 978-1-84102-188-1, 289pp

Advances in Networks, Computing and Communications 4

Dowland PS, Furnell SM

University of Plymouth, ISBN: 978-1-84102-180-5, pp304

This book is the fourth in a series presenting research papers arising from MSc/MRes research projects undertaken by students of the School of Computing, Communications and Electronics at the University of Plymouth. These one year masters courses include a significant period of full-time project...

Advances in Networks, Computing and Communications 3

Dowland PS, Furnell SM

University of Plymouth, ISBN: 978-1-8410-2179-9, pp277

This book is the third in a series presenting research papers arising from MSc/MRes research projects undertaken by students of the School of Computing, Communications and Electronics at the University of Plymouth. These one year masters courses include a significant period of full-time project...

Proceedings of the Third Collaborative Research Symposium on Security, E-learning, Internet and Networking (SEIN 2007)

Bleimann U, Dowland PS, Furnell SM

University of Plymouth, ISBN: 978-1-8410-2173-7, 273pp

Proceedings of the 6th International Network Conference (INC 2006)

Furnell SM, Dowland PS

University of Plymouth, ISBN 1-84102-157-1, 428pp

Security Management, Integrity, and Internal Control in Information Systems

Dowland PS, Furnell SM, Thuraisingham B, Wang XS

Springer, ISBN 0-387-29826-6. 373pp

Advances in Network and Communications Engineering 2

Furnell SM, Dowland PS

University of Plymouth, ISBN: 1-84102-140-7, pp191

This book presents a series of research papers arising from MSc/MRes Network Systems Engineering and MSc/MRes Communications Engineering & Signal Processing research projects undertaken at the University of Plymouth. These one year masters courses include a significant period of full-time...

Proceedings of the 8th Annual Scientific Conference (Euromedia 2003)

Furnell SM, Dowland PS

Eurosis, ISBN 90-77301-01-5, 222pp

Proceedings of the 5th International Network Conference (INC 2005)

Furnell SM, Dowland PS, Kormentzas G

University of the Aegean & University of Plymouth, ISBN 978-1-84102-272-7, 576pp

Proceedings of the 4th International Network Conference (INC 2004)

Furnell SM, Dowland PS

University of Plymouth, ISBN 1 84102 125 3, 592pp

Proceedings of the 3rd International Network Conference (INC 2002)

Furnell SM, Dowland PS

University of Plymouth, ISBN 1-84102-105-9, 638pp

3D Facial Recognition and Eye Tracking

Ketab S, Clarke NL, Dowland PS

The Postgraduate Society Conference, 16th March 2016, Plymouth University

In this study, the focus has been on the development of a more secure, flexible, transparent and continuous authentication mechanism for e-assessments. ...

E-invigilation of E-Assessments

Ketab S, Clarke NL, Dowland PS

The Postgraduate Society Conference, 19th March, Plymouth University

Over the last ten years, e-learning has played a very important role in education. A leading Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), reports having 70 million students, 1.2 million teachers across 7.5 million courses. Whilst e-learning has introduced flexibility and remote/distance-based learning, there...

Enhancing Intrusion Response in Networked System

Papadaki M, Furnell SM, Dowland PS, Lines BL, Reynolds PL

Poster presentation at Britain's Younger Engineers in 2002, House of Commons, London, 9 December

Non-Intrusive Subscriber Authentication for 3G Mopbile System

Clarke NL, Dowland PS, Furnell SM, Reynolds PL, Rodwell PM

Poster presentation at Britain's Younger Engineers in 2001, House of Commons, London, 3 December

Advanced Authentication and Intrusion Detection Technologies

Dowland PS, Furnell SM, Magklaras GB, Papadaki M, Reynolds PL, Rodwell PM, Singh H

Poster presentation at Britain's Younger Engineers in 2000, House of Commons, London, 4 December

Want to break free from big tech? 'Self‑hosting' could be the answer

Hampton N, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 28 July

Self-hosting is a general catch-all term for taking control of your own data. It comes in many flavours.

Australian scam victims could get rapid $3,000 refunds. Yet in the UK, it’s more like $160,000

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 1 June

The median scam in Australia last year cost $400 – so a rapid refund of up to $3,000 sounds generous. But take a closer look and it starts to look oddly low.

Police equipment can be tracked via Bluetooth. What about your phone, watch and headphones?

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 4 May

Unless you go completely offline, you cannot completely eliminate the risk of being tracked.

The social media ban is just the start of Australia’s forthcoming restrictions – and teens have legitimate concerns

Woodley G, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 11 December

A host of other restrictions will affect social media use in the coming months. Our research shows teens worry about them – and will find a way around them.

Iran’s internet blackout left people in the dark. How does a country shut down the internet?

Ahmed M, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 24 June

If a government wants to shut down the internet, it really can – the technical capability is there.

What’s the difference between passwords and passkeys? It’s not just the protection they provide

Haskell-Dowland PS, Vasileiou I

The Conversation, 24 October

Passkeys are stronger than passwords by design. But they have other benefits too.

Data centres are guzzling up too much electricity. Can we make them more efficient?

Haskell-Dowland PS, Ghita BV

The Conversation, 29 July

Between AI and bingeing TV shows, we’re using more data than ever – and data centres are power hungry. Thankfully, there are some ways to optimise their power usage.

We still don’t know the extent of the MediSecure breach, but watch out for these potential scams

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 21 May

A data breach has affected the digital prescription company MediSecure. While investigations continue, cyber criminals will likely use this event for new scam campaigns.

Australia will trial ‘age assurance’ tech to bar children from online porn. What is it and will it work?

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 2 May

The Australian government will test tools to shield kids from inappropriate material online. Even though there’s no one easy fix, these checks could help.

How risky is it to give card details over the phone and how do I reduce the chance of fraud?

Haskell-Dowland PS, Vasileiou I

The Conversation, 23 November

It’s legal for a merchant to get your card details over the phone – but it can still be risky. Here’s what you need to know to stay safe.

What is LockBit, the cybercrime gang hacking some of the world’s largest organisations?

Medbury J, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 17 November

Prolific and highly profitable, LockBit provides ransomware as a service. Aspiring cybercriminals sign up to the scheme, and the group takes a cut. Here’s how it works.

Has the cyberattack on DP World put Australia’s trade at risk? Probably not … this time

Macau F, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 13 November

A cyberattack on one of Australia’s biggest port operators has highlighted the potential vulnerability of the global economy.

Optus blackout explained: what is a ‘deep network’ outage and what may have caused it?

Haskell-Dowland PS, Gregory MA, Ahmed M

The Conversation, 8 November

Optus suffered one of the largest telecommunications outages in Australian history today. Here are the factors that can cause such events.

Most data lives in the cloud. What if it lived under the sea?

Haskell-Dowland PS, McMahon K

The Conversation, 27 October

Could the data centres that power the internet be moved to the bottom of the ocean? It’s not as crazy as it sounds.

Meta just copped a A$1.9bn fine for keeping EU data in the US. But why should users care where data are stored?

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 24 May

Meta now faces some A$4 billion in fines related to breaches of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulations.

A cancer centre is the latest victim of cyber attacks. Why health data hacks keep happening

Ahmed M, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 8 May

While some cyber criminals have previously avoided schools and health-care organisations, it seems these are now fair game.

Google and Microsoft are bringing AI to Word, Excel, Gmail and more. It could boost productivity for us – and cybercriminals

Ahmed M, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 21st March

The new tools are expected to free up space for workers by helping out with tedious and repetitive task. Here’s how it will work.

Big Tech is firing employees by the thousands. Why? And how worried should we be?

Collins N, Volkheimer J, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 25th January

The numbers are less concerning when viewed in the bigger picture.

Why Alexa is not your friend

Collins N, Volkheimer J, Haskell-Dowland PS

Information Age, 11 January

She works for Amazon and her job is to sell.

Medibank won’t pay hackers ransom. Is it the right choice?

Ahmed M, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 8th November

A well-known cybercrime group has threatened to release the data should the ransom not be paid.

Apple’s PassKeys update could make traditional passwords obsolete

Haskell-Dowland PS, Furnell SM

The Conversation, 12th September

The advice for years has been to use password managers. But even these don’t completely eliminate the risk of being compromised.

iRobot’s Roomba will soon be owned by Amazon, which raises privacy questions

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 9th August

In the development of ever smarter homes, Amazon could soon have access to the maps of our houses created and stored by Roomba vacuums.

Today’s Google outage was brief but disconcerting

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 9th August

Google’s brief disappearance from the internet felt, for many, like an almost-apocalyptic moment.

Amazon just took over a primary healthcare company for a lot of money. Should we be worried?

Ahmed M, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 27th July

One Medical provides primary healthcare services to people across the US.

5 big trends in Australians getting scammed

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 7th July

Scam techniques that rely on human nature are increasingly being executed via technology. Here are five that recorded big increases in 2021.

The iPhone turns 15: a look at the past (and future) of one of the 21st century’s most influential devices

Vasileiou I, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 29th June

Despite its ‘innovator’ status, Apple usually wasn’t the first one to offer groundbreaking new features. But it knew how to adopt existing features in groundbreaking ways.

Goodbye Internet Explorer. You won’t be missed (but your legacy will be remembered)

Ahmed M, Malik I, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 16th June

Explorer came at the dawn of the public internet. For millions of people, it will always be their first experience of the World Wide Web.

Budget 2022: $9.9 billion towards cyber security aims to make Australia a key ‘offensive’ cyber player

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 30th March

The funds are allocated across a ten-year period, with most of the money redirected from defence spending.

Is Russia really about to cut itself off from the internet? And what can we expect if it does?

Ahmed M, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 10th March

The Kremlin is pushing for a quick migration of all Russian websites and services to be hosted within the country. It could be the first stage of a larger disconnection.

The hacker group Anonymous has waged a cyber war against Russia. How effective could they actually be?

Medbury J, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 1st March

There’s an alleged global network of cyber activists operating under the Anonymous name. Knowing who is responsible for what will become increasingly difficult as more cyber attacks happen.

As Russia wages cyber war against Ukraine, here’s how Australia (and the rest of the world) could suffer collateral damage

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 25th February

These days sophisticated malware can spread like wildfire, thanks to transnational businesses and organisations providing bridges across countries.

This New Year, why not resolve to ditch your dodgy old passwords?

Haskell-Dowland PS, Cranor L

The Conversation, 3rd January

Start 2022 by improving your password hygiene. Ideally you can use a password manager, but at the very least make sure your financial, social and work accounts each has their own strong, unique login.

500,000 or 20,000? How to estimate the size of a political rally properly

Abu-Khalaf J, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 1st December

Image recognition algorithms, military satellites, and mobile data networks can all help estimate crowd sizes. But the underlying maths still comes down to a basic formula: density multiplied by area.

Facebook wants AI to find your keys and understand your conversations

Abu-Khalaf J, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 21st October

Facebook’s Ego4D project will help computers see the world from your point of view - for better or worse.

Being bombarded with delivery and post office text scams? Here’s why — and what can be done

Vasileiou I, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 22nd September

Australians are being bombarded with ‘missed parcel’ SMS messages that aren’t as they seem…

‘What is my IP address?’ Explaining one of the world’s most Googled questions

Haskell-Dowland PS, Ghita BV

The Conversation, 15th September

IP addresses serve a similar function to postal addresses. Postal addresses allow our mail to circulate, while IP addresses allow network traffic to move around the internet.

Is Google getting worse? Increased advertising and algorithm changes may make it harder to find what you’re looking for

Ahmed M, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 1st September

More advertising and 'smarter' search algorithms are changing how Googling works.

How does the Pegasus spyware work, and is my phone at risk?

Haskell-Dowland PS, Musotto R

The Conversation, 21st July

It's reported the Pegasus spyware can capture a user's keystrokes, intercept communications, track their device and tap into their camera and microphone.

Is Australia a sitting duck for ransomware attacks? Yes, and the danger has been growing for 30 years

Haskell-Dowland PS, Woodward A

The Conversation, 14th July

The first ransomware attack, in 1988, was a crude effort involving virus-laden floppy disks. But in the decades since, the sophistication of malware, and the money reaped by criminals, has skyrocketed.

Holding the world to ransom: the top 5 most dangerous criminal organisations online right now

Musotto R, O'Shea B, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 7th July

The recent attack on software supplier Kaseya has been labelled as the biggest global ransomware attack on record.

Cyber Cold War? The US and Russia talk tough, but only diplomacy will ease the threat

Ibrahim A, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 25th June

At this month's summit, US President Joe Biden warned his counterpart Vladimir Putin of reprisals against 'persistent malicious cyber-attacks'. But it will take more than posturing to end the stand-off.

‘We have filed a case under your name’: beware of tax scams — they’ll be everywhere this EOFY

Haskell-Dowland PS, Collins N

The Conversation, 18 June

As winter draws in, Australians don't just have to prepare for tax time — they must also be on the watch for scams.

How rain, wind, heat and other heavy weather can affect your internet connection

Kang J, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 10 June

When the weather gets wild, your internet connection can suffer. But other users are as much to blame as the wind and rain.

Fastly global internet outage: why did so many sites go down — and what is a CDN, anyway?

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 8 June

To understand what happened, you need to know what a CDN (content delivery network) is, and how crucial they are to the smooth running of the internet.

What is ‘Other’ in my iPhone storage, why is it taking up so much space and how do I clear it?

Haskell-Dowland PS, Szewczyk P

The Conversation, 26 May

The most effective solution is also the most radical.

Remember, Apple AirTags and ‘Find My’ app only work because of a vast, largely covert tracking network

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 17 May

AirTags promise to help find your lost wallet or bag. But at worst, they could be used for stalking, and at best they involve signing up to a global tracking network most users aren't truly aware of.

Apple’s new ‘app tracking transparency’ has angered Facebook. How does it work, what’s all the fuss about, and should you use it?

Haskell-Dowland PS, Hampton N

The Conversation, 28 April

Apple's latest iPhone operating system lets you opt out of having your online habits tracked by the apps you use. That's a big part of Facebook's business model, but don't expect a privacy revolution.

Facebook data breach: what happened and why it’s hard to know if your data was leaked

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 6 April

More than 500 million people's details were compromised. The records include various combinations of name, email, gender, date of birth, location, relationship status and employer.

Holding the news to ransom? What we know so far about the Channel 9 cyber attack

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 30th March

It's still too early to say who attacked Channel Nine, disrupting its live broadcasts over the weekend. But fingers have been pointed at Russian state actors using a tactic nicknamed 'wiperware'.

How to encourage cyber-safe behaviour at work without becoming the office grouch

Collins N, Volkheimer J, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 26 February

If you're reluctant to share your password, or broadcast a team password in Slack in a groupchat, your instincts are correct. But mocking those who 'do the wrong thing' is unlikely to help.

The Christmas gifts that keep giving (your data away) — and how to prevent this

Haskell-Dowland PS, Furnell SM

The Conversation, 5th January

Many of us will have received new gadgets this festive season. But how can we ensure these are set up safely? And what's the best way to discard of old devices being replaced?

Australian hospitals are under constant cyber attack. The consequences could be deadly

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 18th November

Last week, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) issued warnings to Australian health-care providers that it had observed an increase in cyber incidents targeting the sector.

Robot take the wheel: Waymo has launched a self-driving taxi service

Kang J, Ahmed M, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 15th October

The age of autonomous vehicles is edging closer to reality with the launch of a driverless taxi service in the USA.

Airports, ATMs, hospitals: Microsoft Windows XP leak would be less of an issue, if so many didn’t use it

O'Shea B, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 30th September

The outdated Microsoft operating system was recently dumped online in a huge leak. Hackers can now scour it for bugs to exploit.

Trump’s TikTok deal explained: who is Oracle? Why Walmart? And what does it mean for our data?

Haskell-Dowland PS, Collins N

The Conversation, 22nd September

Plot twists in the TikTok saga continue to emerge daily, with a proposed deal to secure its future in the US now in doubt. Here's what it means for TikTok users — and for geopolitics.

A computer can guess more than 100,000,000,000 passwords per second. Still think yours is secure?

Haskell-Dowland PS, O'Shea B

The Conversation, 15th September

One website dedicated to tracking stolen passwords suggests there are details of currently more than 10 billion compromised accounts available online.

A storm in a TikTok

Haskell-Dowland PS

East Asia Forum, 30 August

US President Donald Trump's 6 August executive order aims to force the sale of Chinese service TikTok to a US-based company within 45 days of the order (since extended to 90 days), with both Microsoft and Oracle in discussions for a takeover and amid demands for the US Treasury to receive a...

Face masks and facial recognition will both be common in the future. How will they co-exist?

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 7th September

With face masks now compulsory or recommended in various parts of the country, how are facial recognition systems functioning?

Microsoft's takeover would be a win for TikTok and tech giants – not users

Haskell-Dowland PS, O'Shea B

The Conversation, 3rd August

If a new deal between Microsoft and ByteDance goes through, the Chinese company may withdraw ownership of its TikTok operations in not only the US – but also Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

China could be using TikTok to spy on Australians, but banning it isn’t a simple fix

Haskell-Dowland PS, Kang J

The Conversation, 8 July

In an age of isolation, video sharing platform TikTok has emerged as a bonding force for many. But recent headlines allege the service, owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance, is feeding users’ data to the Chinese Communist Party.

How safe is COVIDSafe? What you should know about the app's issues, and Bluetooth-related risks

Kang J, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 7 May

From conflicts with specialised medical devices, through to unresolved problems with iPhone functionality, COVIDSafe is in need of updates. A major one may come within the next few weeks.

ANU will invigilate exams using remote software, and many students are unhappy

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 24 April

The Australian National University is turning to digital proctoring to replace the role of a walking invigilator. But who watches the proctor, what are the risks, and what data will be collected?

Cyber threats at home: how to keep kids safe while they’re learning online

Haskell-Dowland PS, Vasileiou I

The Conversation, 24 April

Just as office workers need to be aware of cyber risks when setting up a home office, parents need to think about the increased exposure their children will face to cyber threats at home.

Crashing the party: beware the cyber risks of virtual meet-up apps like Houseparty

Ahmed M, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 15 April

Apps like Houseparty and Netflix Party are helping people stay in touch with friends - but do these apps have cyber dangers that we need to be aware of?

How to boost your internet speed when everyone is working from home

Kang J, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 2 April

With #StayAtHome and social distancing now becoming a way of life, an increasing number of people are relying on the internet for work, education and entertainment. This has placed greater demand on our network infrastructure, reducing the bandwidth available for each user, and is leaving people...

Restricting underage access to porn and gambling sites: a good idea, but technically tricky

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 10 March

Accessing gambling and pornography sites may well get harder in Australia, if plans for mandatory age-verification go ahead. But there are already technical workarounds for determined web users.

Don't die wondering: apps may soon be able to predict your life expectancy, but do you want to know?

Kang J, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 16 January

Predicting life expectancy remains in the realm of science fiction, but it may soon be possible. Are we prepared for such information? And who else would benefit from this knowledge?

Aerial threat: why drone hacking could be bad news for the military

Ahmed M, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 8 October

Drones are now an integral part of defence force capability, from intelligence gathering to unmanned theatre engagement. But what happens if our own technology is turned against us?

PayID data breaches show Australia’s banks need to be more vigilant to hacking

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 18 September

PayID has been misused and compromised in various ways since its 2018 launch. The system deals only in 'incoming' payments, not outgoing ones – but that doesn't mean users are safe from cyber crime.

Apple iPhones could have been hacked for years – here’s what to do about it

Sikos L, Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 5 September

The news that malware can invade iPhones and other Apple devices via the Safari web browser has damaged Apple's reputation for security. But you can fix the problem by updating your phone's software.

Three ways the "NotPetya" cyberattack is more complex than WannaCry

Haskell-Dowland PS

The Conversation, 30th June

Mayhem, not money, seems to be the ultimate aim of the latest attack unleashed on computer networks around the world.

Using student analytics to improve the student experience and underpin success at university

Dowland PS

Professionals in International Education, June 27

Student data in the form of exam results has been used in the past to evaluate the performance of individual departments within universities and student outcomes. Today universities are taking this one step further, using real-time data on student attendance, frequency of access to the...

Adapting to analytics

Dowland PS

Education Technology & Wildfire Comms, 2 June 2014

Data analytics is being used by marketing companies to help pitch products to consumers, but how can data collected by systems such as Cengage Learning's MindTap on the online activity of students, be used to help improve the student experience at university?

Collecting data on students: is it useful to know which books they've read?

Dowland PS

The Guardian Higher Education Network , 29 April 2014

Monitoring progress through the analysis of grades has long been the norm, but how useful is it to know which books students have read, how often they come to class and when they contact their tutors?

Firewall Rulebase Analysis Tool

Jain P, Dowland PS

Advances in Communications, Computing, Networks and Security Volume 10, ISBN: 978-1-84102-358-8, pp96-103

Research has shown that majority of network penetration attacks is likely because of poor implementation of firewalls; which are actually meant to protect the network at perimeter. The Firewall Rulebase Analysis Tool analyses the inapt firewall rules and helps you defend against penetration attacks....

Evaluation of Current E-Safety Software

Latif Z, Dowland PS

Advances in Communications, Computing, Networks and Security Volume 8, ISBN: 978-1-84102-293-2, pp76-87

Filtering and blocking products are being marketed for the home users as a way of keeping their children safe on the internet. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of such products a framework was designed. The framework was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of five filtering products in...

Operational Business Intelligence – A Key to Just-in-Time Decision Making (JDM)

Saeed B, Knahl MH, Frey-Luxemburger M, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the Seventh Collaborative Research Symposium on Security, E-learning, Internet and Networking (SEIN 2011), Furtwangen, Germany, ISBN: 978-1-84102-295-6, pp77-87

Everyone either business organization or individual wants to get the result, report or feedback on daily business operations as quickly as possible and no one want to wait for hours, days, weeks or months. This leads to agility and agility in Business Intelligence (BI) leads to operational BI. The...

Investigating Options of Securing Web Application

Meemeskul T, Dowland PS

Advances in Communications, Computing, Networks and Security 5, ISBN: 978-1-84102-257-4, pp267-273

This research paper represents and explains the web application's major vulnerability as well as displaying easy functions to secure web applications. In the background it shows the brief internet threat report. The approach is based on the assumption of 'Network Good – Application...

Investigating, Implementing and Evaluating Client-Side Keystroke Analysis User Authentication for Web Sites

Hocking C, Dowland PS

Advances in Communications, Computing, Networks and Security 5, ISBN: 978-1-84102-257-4, pp126-134

In today's electronic information society security is certainly the challenge of the 21st century. Driven by the need to counteract ever more determined cyber criminals, focus is turning upon biometric security as a means of ensuring protection and privacy of the most sensitive information. ...

Implementing a Visual Network Management Console

Agbai OC, Dowland PS

Advances in Communications, Computing, Networks and Security 5, ISBN: 978-1-84102-257-4, pp89-98

Network management is implemented using a variety of tools. It delivers an automated method of managing network devices and resources. It controls the performance and availability of network services. The aim of this research is to demonstrate that a set of network monitoring tools can be used to...

Web-Based Plankton Data Visualisation

Ho TT, Dowland PS

Advances in Communications, Computing, Networks and Security 6, ISBN: 978-1-84102-258-1, pp285-293

This paper briefly presents the findings from a project to build a web-based system to draw abundance maps, visualising plankton data from the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey undertaken by the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS). The system implements a rich client...

Implementation of the Least Privilege Principle on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Linux

Scalbert L, Dowland PS

Advances in Communications, Computing, Networks and Security 6, ISBN: 978-1-84102-258-1, pp226-233

The least privilege principle can solve some of the problems in Operating System security. It consists of running programs with only the needed rights for the operations expected from them. Thus, the unexpected actions on a program such as an attack are blocked. This paper compares its current...

An Assessment of People's Vulnerabilities in Relation to Personal and Sensitive Data

Sanders B, Dowland PS

Advances in Communications, Computing, Networks and Security 6, ISBN: 978-1-84102-258-1, pp124-134

Standards bodies and industry organisations spend a considerable amount of time, effort and money on the development and deployment of next generation solutions that address network security issues. However it is becoming increasingly apparent that people are in fact the main weakness with regards...

CentOS Linux 5.2 and Apache 2.2 vs. Microsoft Windows Web Server 2008 and IIS 7.0 when Serving Static and PHP Content

Moore DJ, Dowland PS

Advances in Communications, Computing, Networks and Security 6, ISBN: 978-1-84102-258-1, pp92-97

This research paper intends to find out which operating system and web server is faster when hosting static and PHP generated content. The results could potentially sway end users who are not sure of which web server they would like to use with static and PHP content. The feud between Microsoft...

Network Security, Guidelines to Build a Security Perimeter for SMEs

Godon S, Dowland PS

Advances in Communications, Computing, Networks and Security 6, ISBN: 978-1-84102-258-1, pp40-47

Network Security is becoming a significant problem for SME administrators. Lack of time, small budget and limited expertise are some of the common issues faced today by most small and medium companies. This paper addresses this problem by proposing a simplified method for securing the network...

System Design for Embedded Automotive Systems

Vergata S, Wietzke J, Schütte A, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the Sixth Collaborative Research Symposium on Security, E-learning, Internet and Networking (SEIN 2010), Plymouth, UK, ISBN: 978-1-84102-269-7, pp53-60

These days, a modern car will be a complete office, lounge and chauffeur system, composed from different systems, that incorporate themselves into an on board automotive cluster system. This will behave like one component and offer a customized user interface. To facilitate the system development of...

An Approach for Structuring Heterogeneous Automotive Software Systems by use of Multicore Architectures

Knirsch A, Wietzke J, Moore R, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the Sixth Collaborative Research Symposium on Security, E-learning, Internet and Networking (SEIN 2010), Plymouth, UK, ISBN: 978-1-84102-269-7, pp19-30

The significance of software within modern cars increases continuously. A manufacturer’s competitive advantage relies more and more on compelling functionalities provided to the passengers. This raises the pressure on software architects of electronic automotive components. The successful...

A SOA Middleware for High-Performance Communication

Swientek M, Humm B, Bleimann U, Dowland PS

Proceedings of the Fifth Collaborative Research Symposium on Security, E-learning, Internet and Networking (SEIN 2009), Darmstadt, Germany, ISBN: 978-1-84102-236-9, pp123-133

Systems for bulk data processing are often implemented as batch processing systems. While this type of processing in general delivers high throughput, it cannot provide near-time processing of data. Message-based solutions such an ESB are able to provide near-time processing but cannot provide high...

Online Gaming: An Emerging Avenue for Exploitation?

Sanders B, Dowland PS, Furnell SM

Proceedings of the Fifth Collaborative Research Symposium on Security, E-learning, Internet and Networking (SEIN 2009), Darmstadt, Germany, ISBN: 978-1-84102-236-9, pp29-42

Some may argue that the proliferation of personal computers together with the widespread use of the Internet has brought many benefits to society. The popularity of the Internet and its associated online services continues to grow at an exponential rate and consequently, so does the number of...

A Survey of User Opinions and Preference Towards Graphical Authentication

Jali MZ, Furnell SM, Dowland PS, Reid F

Proceedings of the Fourth Collaborative Research Symposium on Security, E-learning, Internet and Networking (SEIN 2008), Wrexham, UK, ISBN: 978-1-84102-196-6, pp11-20

User authentication is a process of proving a user’s identity to the services or systems that they wish to use. The traditional way of using authentication is the combination of username and password. This paper presents a study carried out to investigate users’ opinions and preferences towards...

Web-based Plankton Data Visualisation

Aung TY, Dowland PS

Advances in Network & Communication Engineering 4, ISBN: 978-1-84102-180-5, pp173-181

Data visualisation over the Internet is a challenging task for web developers. North Sea plankton database is available to the scientists, researchers and students all over the world by using the WinCPR software. However, users need to download the WinCPR software to use the plankton database. The...

Information Security Awareness & Training

Al-Ghatam H, Dowland PS

Advances in Network & Communication Engineering 4, ISBN: 978-1-84102-180-5, pp157-163

This paper identifies users’ weaknesses regarding information security awareness, based on a survey which was conducted to assess security awareness. The survey showed that it is often the actions of users which makes them vulnerable, and that many are aware of the problems but continue to...

A guide for small and medium enterprise of implementing security and firewall system

Zhang R, Dowland PS

Advances in Network & Communication Engineering 4, ISBN: 978-1-84102-180-5, pp146-153

The aims of project were try to produce training tools to assist network administrators with limited specialist security knowledge in the selection, installation and configuration of firewall systems. The project collected customer’s expectation data by questionnaire and real companies’...

VoIP Security Threats and Vulnerabilities

Rizvi SMA, Dowland PS

Advances in Network & Communication Engineering 4, ISBN: 978-1-84102-180-5, pp114-122

This paper presents the assessment of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) security threats and vulnerabilities along with current security technologies and security patterns. Although these threats and vulnerabilities are mentioned in many research papers but they are still need to be acknowledged...

The Art of Network Monitoring

Mohyuddin A, Dowland PS

Advances in Network & Communication Engineering 4, ISBN: 978-1-84102-180-5, pp100-105

This research paper focuses on different types of Network Monitoring techniques and putting micro level details on various elements that contribute to a good network monitoring platform. There are thousand of network monitoring systems available in the market; it is hard to conclude which system is...

Implementing Network Monitoring Tools

Asiwe VC, Dowland PS

Advances in Network & Communication Engineering 4, ISBN: 978-1-84102-180-5, pp3-10

One very vital tool for networks is the network monitoring tool. These tools are part of the network because of their role in allowing administrators to observe and analyse the network at any time. This observation and analysis are fundamental to the smooth running of the network because they aid in...

Social Engineering: A growing threat, with diverging directions

Chelleth JV, Furnell SM, Papadaki M, Pinkney G, Dowland PS

Advances in Network & Communication Engineering 3, pp179-184

The age old problem of social engineering is still a threat that does not receive due attention. Due to the advancements in information technology and the explosion of the Internet, attackers have many more avenues to pursue social engineering attacks. Inadequate efforts to educate employees and...

Security and Risk Analysis of VoIP Networks

Feroz S, Dowland PS

Advances in Network & Communication Engineering 3, pp83-89

This paper address all major issues related to VoIP security, and provides detailed technical information about VoIP. The focus of this paper is to highlight, discuss and introduce security issues relating to VoIP networks given the expansion in the usage of VoIP within large corportations. This...

Implementing a network operations centre management console: Netmates

Bali R, Dowland PS

Advances in Network & Communication Engineering 3, pp75-82

Network Management & Intrusion Detection Systems (NMIDS) are an important part of any network security architecture. They provide a layer of defense which monitors network traffic for predefined suspicious activity or patterns, and alert system administrators when potential hostile traffic is...

Design of an Architecture for Wireless Community Networks

Perry A, Dowland PS

Advances in Network & Communication Engineering 2, pp93-101

Approaches to Establishing IT Security Culture

Langue C, Furnell SM, Dowland PS

Advances in Network & Communication Engineering 2, pp43-48

Passimages : An Alternative Method of User Authentication

Charruau D, Furnell SM, Dowland PS

Advances in Network & Communication Engineering 2, pp3-10

Security Analysis Tools - Do They Make Any Difference?

Bolakis S, Furnell SM, Dowland PS

Advances in Network & Communication Engineering, pp29-37