Academic-Papers

Organizations continue to struggle with policies and processes to effectively secure their infrastructure to protect their information assets and intellectual property. In recent years, we have seen the increase of cyber-attacks and breaches to the point that they have become common news worldwide. As systems have grown in complexity with increased capacity to store large amounts of data, so to has the appeal of targeting such systems by cyber criminals. Traditional approaches of defense including signature-based detection, behavioral-based detection, and defense in depth strategies are not enough to protect against advanced distributed attacks and zero-day attacks. Current technologies used to detect traffic, whether packet-based, time-based, or behavior-based, can provide some level of defense. Unfortunately, however as our tools and techniques improve, so too do the accuracy and advancements in sophisticated attackers. ...

The purpose of business continuity planning is to ensure continued operations of an organization in the event of a catastrophic event, whether this may be a natural disaster or something more sinister. In recent years, we have seen the increase of cyber-attacks and breaches to the point that they have become common news worldwide. As systems have grown in complexity and capacity to store large amounts of data, so too has the appeal of targeting such systems by cyber criminals. In order to meet these challenges head on, business organizations must adapt and implement a comprehensive business continuity plan. Cerullo and Cerullo (2004) describe a business continuity plan as dynamic and evolving as the business environment changes and its dependency on advanced technology changes. They go on to describe three interdependent objectives which include identification of major risks, development of a plan to mitigate or reduce impact of risks, and testing and training. While there is no single recipe to the ideal continuity plan, stakeholders across the organization must play a role in building out a framework for business continuity management that can be used to mitigate major risks while maintaining ‘business as usual’ in the event of a disaster. ...

This article provides an overview of four different data sources used in various forensics investigations. The first source includes system log files containing system logs within the operating system as well as an overview of some tools that can be used in order to effectively understand these logs. File systems are also discussed including the effectiveness of metadata and their overall relevance to an investigation or analysis. The third source involves intrusion detection and prevention systems that give a greater overview of traffic at the network layer. Finally, the most volatile of data sources, memory is examined in depth along with the impact such data may have on an investigation. ...

This article summarizes and analyzes discussion from two different articles on the subjects of DNS Rebinding and the use of contextual signatures with Intrusion Detection Systems. DNS Rebinding is type of attack that was first documented in the mid 1990s. Since then it has become more prevalent through vulnerabilities inherent the way information is transmitted to and from a typical web browser using JavaScript. This topic is covered in depth along with the various methods of DNS rebinding, vulnerabilities and mitigations efforts. ...

Denial of Service (Dos) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks have continued to prove to be one of the most challenging threats in modern times. While DoS has been around for some time, the methods used and practices of distributed botnets and automated scripts have continued to grow in sophistication. This paper survey’s three peer reviewed papers in the areas of Denial of Service Detection, Prevention and Mitigation. Each of these sections provide a rationale for the publication selected along with an overview of the proposed techniques and / or application solutions. Each section concludes by highlighting some benefits and drawbacks for each proposed technique. Additional supporting research has been carried out contribute to this overall paper as outlined in the references section at the end. ...

The Internet has brought us a wealth of conveniences and everyday tools that we could not live without and more importantly a dependency that we cannot break. In the workplace the Internet has become a part of our day to day lives. We rely on instant communication with our co-workers, friends and colleagues as well as access to a multitude of information at our fingertips. Children from younger ages are becoming more involved with computers and technology in a trend will continue as the Internet of Things evolves around us in every day appliances. Unfortunately, with all these convenience come challenges and risks that we need to deal with. ...

Curriculum Mapping is the process of documenting lessons, activities and assessment methods used within different grade levels and classes in an educational institution. Expeditionary Learning (EL) is a style of teaching that involves the students in experiences and problem-solving activities. This paper explores the intersection of these two educational theories and addresses how pedagogical goals are met/not met by designing for both. It also addresses how the research of Heidi Hayes Jacobs (2004) affect efforts to design for and support this intersection. ...

Backwards design is a methodology used to develop curriculum, which promotes the identification of learning results at the start of the design process. Wiggins and McTighe defined this term as part of their Understanding by Design (UbD) framework. Backwards design is not a new concept, it has been around for a long time and this paper explores some of the underlying research behind Wiggins and McTighe’s work. Backwards design promotes a focus on teaching for understanding and learning, as well as designing the curriculum in way that meets learning goals while aligning results with state requirements. (McTighe & Wiggins, 2012). Often within education, learning goals are set first, before considering the assessment strategies that will be used to measure students’ understanding. Without considering the results that are expected of a student, the chances of goals and assessment aligning with required results, or outputs are greatly diminished. ...

In recent years news stories have highlighted the increasing rate of cybercriminal activity targeting both private organizations and government entities. Cases from mischievous amateur hackers managing to exploit basic vulnerabilities, to more advanced security breaches carried out by expert criminal hackers and cybercrime organizations overseas, have grabbed the attention of the media. ...

“We are moving into a new era of mobile computing, one that promises greater variety in applications highly improved usability, and speedier networking.” Godwin-Jones (2008). This statement rings true for the past five years where mobile computing has seen a massive explosion in growth. ...