cyber security research at aub

AUB Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Imad H. Elhajj American University of Beirut

Electrical and Computer [email protected]

ITU-T Study Group 17February 2012

Cyber Security Research at AUB


Macro


Micro


Nano


Offices & Lab

Play


AUB (Founded in 1866)


Electrical and Computer Engineering

AUB 7,500 students 73-acre Campus

ECE 620 Undergraduate students 50 Graduate students 26 Full-time faculty members Opportunities for graduate students and

collaboration


Security Group At AUB

Dr. Ayman Kayssi Dr. Ali Chehab Dr. Imad Elhajj 3 PhD Students 12 MS Students 10 Undergraduate Students


Areas of Research

Wireless mobile networks Energy aware Internet Industrial Cloud Misc: VANETs, RFID, wireless sensor

networks, body sensor networks


Research Relevance to ITU-T SG17 Questions

QUESTIONS TITLEQ 1/17 Telecommunications systems security project Q 4/17 Cybersecurity Q 6/17 Security aspects of ubiquitous telecommunication

services Q 7/17 Secure application services Q 8/17 Service oriented architecture security

Q 10/17 Identity management architecture and mechanisms Q 11/17 Directory services, Directory systems, and public-

key/attribute certificates

http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/studygroups/com17/sg17-q1.html











Wireless Mobile Network Security


Wireless Signaling: Vulnerabilities, Detection and Mitigation

TELUS corporation funded research


Signaling


Signaling Research

1) Developing a detection algorithm for unusual signaling activities originating from a wireless device

2) Devising granular mitigation techniques3) Effects of signaling on the backbone


Energy Aware


Security Using Mobile Devices

• Security functions are energy consuming• Human perception limitations reduce security

requirements• “the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy

dog” requires 44 bytes of storage capacity in textual format

• Same sentence requires 3000 bytes of data when it is spoken and encoded by G.729 encoder


Audio Experiment


G.711

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 700

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

E3VoIP2 N=15 Average N=15 SRTP

Packets

mill

isec

onds


Internet Security


IP Spoofing Detection

Round Trip Time to Improve Hop Count Filtering


Thwarting Cache Poisoning Attacks in DNS

Decrease the success probability of DNS spoofing and cache poisoning by preventing man-in-the-middle attacks

Provide a backward compatible and simple security solution with low computation and communication overhead

Target the different DNS query interaction models Employ an efficient Identity-Based Encryption key

management scheme that relieves the different DNS interacting entities from the burden and complexities of traditional public-key infrastructures


Secure Delay-Tolerant Communications in the Presence of Oppressive Governments

Develop a secure delay-tolerant network system – Enable citizens to communicate freely in an

environment where public communication methods, are intercepted and used by the authorities to monitor civilian activities.

The proposed system is composed of several disconnected zones – Data marshals between private key generators and

normal nodes in different zones – Uses mobile gateway nodes that carry messages

between the different zones


PKG3

CELL3

Mobile Gateway

Data Broadcast

CELL2

PKG2

PKG1

CELL1

Mobile Gateway

Data Broadcast

DTN Network Model


Industrial Security


Automation and BMS

Stuxnet PLC and SCADA vulnerabilities BMS vulnerabilities Industrial IDS


Security in Cloud Computing


Hardware-based Security for Ensuring Data Privacy in the Cloud

• A set of hardware-based security mechanisms for ensuring the privacy, integrity, and legal compliance of customer data as it is stored and processed in the cloud.

• Leverage the tamper-proof capabilities of cryptographic coprocessors to establish a secure execution domain in the computing cloud that is physically and logically protected from unauthorized access.

• Provide a privacy feedback protocol to inform users of the different privacy operations applied on their data and to make them aware of any data leaks or risks that may jeopardize the confidentiality of their sensitive information.


CSP Cloud Customer

Virtual Machine

Cloud Service Provider (CSP) Physical Hardware Trusted Third Party (TTP)

Virtual Machine using a Crypto Coprocessor

TTP

Services Layer

Storage Facility

Crypto Coprocessor

Privacy categorized data and software

Output results and privacy feedback

Configured Crypto

PasS system and interaction model


Reputation as a Service

• RaaS is a secure and accountable reputation system for ranking service providers in cloud computing architectures.

• Secure audit logging provides a reputation reporting system whose results and recommendations can be published as a service and verified by trusted third parties or by the cloud service providers themselves.

• Ranking criteria:– Performance– Quality of service measures– Security– Pricing

• RaaS provides verifiable and accountable compliance with service-level agreements and regulatory policies

• RaaS is implemented in a real cloud computing architecture using the VMware vSphere 4 cloud operating system.– Imposes minimal overhead on the overall system performance


(1)

(3)

(2)

(6)

(9)

(11)

Cloud Provider

ApplicationServers

Cloud Customer

(1) Resource Query + Authentication Info. (2) Authenticate Query and Set t1

(3) Resource Query (4) Fetch Data from Cloud Storage (5) Requested Resource Data (6) Send Hash(Resource Data) (7) Set t2, Verify Hash (8) Authorization Signal (9) Send Resource Data to Customer (10) Send Hash(Resource Data) (11) Validate commitment hash (12) Generate Secure Log Entry

(8)

(10)

(4)

(5)

Cloud Storage Facility

(12)

(7)

The Bulk Data Fetch Protocol


SNUAGE

• Platform-as-a-service security framework for building secure and scalable multi-layered services based on the cloud computing model.

• SNUAGE ensures the authenticity, integrity, and confidentiality of data communication over the network links by creating a set of security associations between the data-bound components on the presentation layer and their respective data sources on the data persistence layer.

• Implementation using Java and deployed and tested in a real cloud computing infrastructure using the Google App Engine service platform.


BGP-Inspired Autonomic Service Routing for the Cloud

• ServBGP: a service routing protocol for managing service collaboration among cloud providers in cloud computing.

• Based on the policy-driven design of the well-known BGP Internet routing

• Autonomously manage the different aspects of service interaction and collaboration among service providers from service discovery and advertisement to service consumption and revocation.

• ServBGP routing decision engine is planned to operate by processing cost-bidding and QoS advertisement messages from the different cloud providers.

• Implemented on Google, Amazon, and Microsoft clouds


CSP1

CSP2

CSP3

CSP6

CSP7

CSP4

CSP5

Cloud Customer

Service RequestIn

Service RequestOut

Service Router

SIB

RR

ServBGP Information Base

ServBGP Service Advertisment

Cloud Service Provider (CSP)

Service Router

Reputation Repository (RR)

Service Reputation Scores

ServBGP System Architecture


Mobile Cloud Computing

Set of policy-driven security protocols for ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of enterprise data in mobile cloud computing environments.

Offloading the intensive asymmetric key agreement mechanisms from the mobile

Designing a customizable policy-based security architecture that considers the sensitivity of cloud data to provide multi-level and fine-grained data protection methodologies that suit the energy-limited mobile devices and the low-bandwidth wireless networks characterizing current mobile cloud computing models.

The system is implemented in a real cloud computing environment and the savings in terms of energy consumption and execution time are analyzed.


VANETs, RFID, wireless sensor networks, body sensor networks


Keyless Authentication of Position and Velocity for VANETs


A Privacy-Preserving Trust Model for VANETs

A trust-based privacy-preserving model for VANETs. The model is unique in its ability to protect privacy

while maintaining accurate reputation-based trust. We use the notion of groups in order to make the

VANET users anonymous within their groups and yet identifiable and accountable to their group managers.

The use of groups simplifies the task of building reputation and calculating trust in the received messages in order to provide better and more confident decisions.

Simulations verify correctness and reliability


A PUF-Based Ultra-Lightweight Mutual-Authentication RFID Protocol

A novel approach to achieve mutual authentication for ultra-lightweight tags is proposed using Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs).

Provide robust security properties as well as good performance for limited tags


TRACE: A Centralized Trust and Competence-Based Energy-Efficient Routing Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks

Protect wireless sensor networks from various attacks and misbehaving nodes.

TRACE identifies different types of bad nodes that can affect the correct routing operation and the reliability of the message delivery to the sink base station.

Sink BS processes and validates the information received from the sensor nodes and calculates the maliciousness, competence, and cooperation levels of each node.

The sink BS calculates trust values for each. TRACE accounts for the energy requirements of the severely-

constrained network nodes by detecting and isolating the bad nodes while eliminating the power-consuming reputation inquiries and computations required by each node in a distributed approach.


A Decentralized Energy-Aware Key Management Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks

• WSN nodes are limited in terms of processing capabilities and battery life. – Encryption is usually avoided and the readings are sent in the clear. – Lightweight encryption techniques are proposed to overcome the limitations

of sensor nodes. • Identity-based encryption (IBE) that uses elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) seems to

be very promising in terms of energy efficiency. • We propose a novel decentralized IBE-based key management

scheme that reduces the energy by using multiple base stations.• The keys are pre-distributed in the WSN and refreshed at specific time

intervals. • The system ensures confidentiality of the messages and the

availability of WSN service even when multiple nodes and base stations are compromised, at a significant reduction in overall system energy.


Security and Privacy in Body Sensor Networks

Study two main challenges in the body sensor network security and privacy context– Achieving the correct balance between the complexity

of the protocol security operations employed and the energy consumption they incur

– Attaining the right tradeoff between privacy and safety by utilizing the patient’s vital signals and other context-related information to minimize the amount of private data released

We present a blueprint body sensor network security framework


Base Station

BSN Controller

Hospital Servers

Internet/Intranet

Wireless Link

Wired Link

Body Sensor Node

Typical Body Sensor Network Architecture


Courses


Graduate Courses Offered

Cryptography and Computer Security Internet Security Wireless Security Information Security Management Network and Computer Security

Laboratory


Laboratory Description

This laboratory addresses advanced network and computer security topics. Experiments include the execution of attacks, the setup of intrusion detection and prevention, securing computers and wired and wireless networks, and digital forensics.


Topics Covered

• Section 1 — Networking Basics - How do networks work?– Lab 1: Security Lab Setup and Networking Basics

• Section 2 — Vulnerabilities and Threats - How can networks be compromised?– Lab 2: Scanning and Enumerating the Network for Targets and Address Spoofing– Lab 3: Denial of Service Attacks and Network Applications Exploits– Lab 4: Malware Analysis and Botnets– Lab 5: Escalating Privilege – Sniffing, Keylogging, Password Cracking and Man in the

Middle Attacks– Lab 6: Security in Wireless Systems

• Section 3 — Prevention - How do we prevent harm to the networks?– Lab 7: Firewalls– Lab 8: Hardening the Host Computer and Securing Network Communications

• Section 4 — Detection and Response – How do we detect and respond to attacks?– Lab 9: Preparing for and Detecting Attacks– Lab 10: Identify and Mitigate Network Attacks– Lab 11: Digital Forensics


Lab Overall Diagram


Lab Group Diagram


Cabinets

Juniper IPS


Photos


Potential Uses

Customized training for industry Testing and benchmarking of equipment Vendor demonstrations Lab could potentially be virtualized to

duplicate at low cost


ITU Resolutions Relevant to AUB Collaboration

ITU Plenipotentiary Resolution 130: Strengthening the role of ITU in building confidence and security in the use of information and communication technologies (Guadalajara, 2010)

ITU WTDC Resolution 45: Mechanisms for enhancing cooperation on cybersecurity, including combating spam (Hyderabad, 2010)

ITU WTDC Resolution 69: Creation of national computer incident response teams, particularly for developing countries, and cooperation between them (Hyderabad, 2010)

ITU WTSA Resolution 58: Encourage the creation of national computer incident response teams, particularly for developing countries (Johannesburg, 2008)

UN Resolutions 57/239 (2002) and 58/199 (2004): Creation of a global culture of cybersecurity and the protection of critical information infrastructures

http://www.itu.int/osg/csd/cybersecurity/WSIS/RESOLUTION_130.pdf

http://www.itu.int/osg/csd/cybersecurity/WSIS/RESOLUTION_45.pdf

http://www.itu.int/osg/csd/intgov/resoultions_2010/resolution69.pdf

http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/opb/res/T-RES-T.58-2008-PDF-E.pdf

http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/cyb/cybersecurity/docs/UN_resolution_57_239.pdf

http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/cyb/cybersecurity/docs/UN_resolution_58_199.pdf


Potential Collaboration

Research projects Test lab for ITU-T standards conformance Contributions to standards (ITU-T SG17).

Several of the questions for Study Group 17 are areas of research at AUB

Organizing events (workshops, seminars) Capacity building and Awareness Help establish CERT (AUB Member of the

PAN Arab Cyber Security Observatory)


[email protected]

Thank you

cyber security research at aub

Documents

computer engineeringelectrical

computer engineeringg

computer engineeringaub7

cybersecurity q

mechanisms q

cyber security research

secure application services

sensor networks imad