Algebraic Methods in Design and Analysis of Stream Ciphers. The project investigates the problem of communication security in the mobile environment where both confidentiality and authenticity are of prime concern. Stream ciphers are a very natural choice in mobile environment as they provide an efficient cryptographic protection using a limited computing resources. We model stream cipher as a system of multivariate equations. In this approach, security of stream ciphers can be measured as the c ....Algebraic Methods in Design and Analysis of Stream Ciphers. The project investigates the problem of communication security in the mobile environment where both confidentiality and authenticity are of prime concern. Stream ciphers are a very natural choice in mobile environment as they provide an efficient cryptographic protection using a limited computing resources. We model stream cipher as a system of multivariate equations. In this approach, security of stream ciphers can be measured as the complexity of an algorithm that solves the appropriate system of equations. This project leads to new techniques for the design and analysis of stream ciphers.Read moreRead less
Security for Web Services. Web services, an emerging distributed computing paradigm, poses challenging problems in security, due to their dynamic decentralised scalable nature, operating over an untrusted Internet, for which no adequate solutions exist today. This research addresses the model, architecture and design of secure authorisation for web services. It achieves conceptual advances in terms of a flexible authorisation model, proposes a new XML based policy language, develops a comprehens ....Security for Web Services. Web services, an emerging distributed computing paradigm, poses challenging problems in security, due to their dynamic decentralised scalable nature, operating over an untrusted Internet, for which no adequate solutions exist today. This research addresses the model, architecture and design of secure authorisation for web services. It achieves conceptual advances in terms of a flexible authorisation model, proposes a new XML based policy language, develops a comprehensive security policy management framework, designs a distributed authorisation service and demonstrates a practical secure web service system in .NET.It presents a new approach to formally reasoning about conflict resolution policies with dynamic delegation.Read moreRead less
Secure Communications for Critical Infrastructure Control Systems. Control systems are crucial to the nation's critical infrastructure. They supervise and command the remote devices used in the energy distribution, water management, telecommunications, and transport industries. Historically, security has not been a concern in the design of control systems communications, which has resulted in their current vulnerable state. This project will establish the communications security requirements ....Secure Communications for Critical Infrastructure Control Systems. Control systems are crucial to the nation's critical infrastructure. They supervise and command the remote devices used in the energy distribution, water management, telecommunications, and transport industries. Historically, security has not been a concern in the design of control systems communications, which has resulted in their current vulnerable state. This project will establish the communications security requirements of control systems technologies and propose suitable secure communications schemes. New cryptographic protocols and analytic models will be developed to account for the criticality and operational peculiarities of control systems communications. These results are of significant potential value to Australia's critical infrastructure protection.Read moreRead less
Security Techniques against Denial of Service Attacks in Networked Systems. As more and more business opportunities are created over the Internet, dealing with network-based intrusions and denial of service (DoS) attacks is becoming increasingly critical (as witnessed recently last year). The proposed research addresses systematically the theory and analysis of DoS attacks and develops new techniques and practical solutions to counteract them. We will investigate a hybrid method to counteract Do ....Security Techniques against Denial of Service Attacks in Networked Systems. As more and more business opportunities are created over the Internet, dealing with network-based intrusions and denial of service (DoS) attacks is becoming increasingly critical (as witnessed recently last year). The proposed research addresses systematically the theory and analysis of DoS attacks and develops new techniques and practical solutions to counteract them. We will investigate a hybrid method to counteract DoS, propose a new technique to identify malicious packets in the Internet to handle distributed DoS, consider a new approach using smart packets and develop enhancements to intrusion detection systems using data mining. Proposed techniques are analysed in practical situations.Read moreRead less
Investigations Into New Public Key Systems. Public key cryptography is now mainstream technology and an essential tool in electronic business. In order to go beyond the basic security services of confidentiality and authentication, additional features are now desirable, such as verifiability of encryption, distributed key generation, and group-oriented encryption and signatures. At the same time the increasing demand for mobile business requires public key implementations with minimal computatio ....Investigations Into New Public Key Systems. Public key cryptography is now mainstream technology and an essential tool in electronic business. In order to go beyond the basic security services of confidentiality and authentication, additional features are now desirable, such as verifiability of encryption, distributed key generation, and group-oriented encryption and signatures. At the same time the increasing demand for mobile business requires public key implementations with minimal computational and storage demands. This project will study five recently proposed public key algorithms and assess their suitability for various secure applications. These results are of significant potential value in Australia's electronic commerce market.Read moreRead less
Secure and Dynamic Single Identification Systems. The expected results of the project will be frontier technologies that are essential in applications and services whose acceptance and take-up will be dependent on users' assurance of their privacy. Services, such as medical information or bank information, require a secure identification scheme. Securing such services will encourage new forms of collaboration among a wider range of users with the likely impact of a more productive global economy ....Secure and Dynamic Single Identification Systems. The expected results of the project will be frontier technologies that are essential in applications and services whose acceptance and take-up will be dependent on users' assurance of their privacy. Services, such as medical information or bank information, require a secure identification scheme. Securing such services will encourage new forms of collaboration among a wider range of users with the likely impact of a more productive global economy. This impact will be particularly emphasised in Australia with its geographically disperse population. Securing vital electronic transactions will ultimately contribute to lowering costs and increasing productivity and so creating a more competitive economy.Read moreRead less
Semantic Authentication of Visual Data. Data authentication systems can detect the smallest modification to a message. Authentication systems for media objects such as images, and audio and video clips have a different requirement they must ensure authenticity of the content without needing all the changes to be detectable. The aims of this project are to develop a framework for design and analysis of image and video authentication systems, and construct secure and flexible systems that can be ....Semantic Authentication of Visual Data. Data authentication systems can detect the smallest modification to a message. Authentication systems for media objects such as images, and audio and video clips have a different requirement they must ensure authenticity of the content without needing all the changes to be detectable. The aims of this project are to develop a framework for design and analysis of image and video authentication systems, and construct secure and flexible systems that can be used in practice. This research addresses the urgent need of providing security for multimedia objects in electronic commerce and is of high importance to the acceptance of advanced communication and information services.Read moreRead less
A Novel Optical Network Security and Encryption Device. The project falls within two of the desginated National Research Priorities, namely Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries and Safeguarding Australia. The project will generate high quality graduates and will result in a novel photonic device. The outcome of this project would be an optical encryption device that will safeguard Australia through superior secure data communications. It will also create lucr ....A Novel Optical Network Security and Encryption Device. The project falls within two of the desginated National Research Priorities, namely Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries and Safeguarding Australia. The project will generate high quality graduates and will result in a novel photonic device. The outcome of this project would be an optical encryption device that will safeguard Australia through superior secure data communications. It will also create lucrative opportunity for expanding the export capabilities of Australian ICT industry.Read moreRead less
Analysis and classification of malicious code. Malicious software such as viruses and worms directly attacks the security, privacy and integrity of Australian e-commerce, large databases and communication channels. The recent uptake of malicious software by organised crime has made finding effective countermeasures more urgent. Around 80% of the malicious code in circulation is disguised in some way. This significantly increases the difficulty of automated detection and delays analysis. Automate ....Analysis and classification of malicious code. Malicious software such as viruses and worms directly attacks the security, privacy and integrity of Australian e-commerce, large databases and communication channels. The recent uptake of malicious software by organised crime has made finding effective countermeasures more urgent. Around 80% of the malicious code in circulation is disguised in some way. This significantly increases the difficulty of automated detection and delays analysis. Automated classification and de-obfuscation technologies are a precondition to applying more sophisticated detection heuristics. The project will be instrumental in safeguarding Australia by protecting critical infrastructure and defending us from online organised crime and information warfare.Read moreRead less
Practical Identity-Based Cryptography: Efficient and Secure Elliptic Curve Pairings. Bilinear pairings on elliptic curves are a new cryptographic tool and allow novel and improved applications in information security. For example, they have been proposed as a substitute of existing public key infrastructures, an essential element in electronic commerce and a secure Internet. The research will lead to an increase in fundamental knowledge in the area of practical implementation and secure applic ....Practical Identity-Based Cryptography: Efficient and Secure Elliptic Curve Pairings. Bilinear pairings on elliptic curves are a new cryptographic tool and allow novel and improved applications in information security. For example, they have been proposed as a substitute of existing public key infrastructures, an essential element in electronic commerce and a secure Internet. The research will lead to an increase in fundamental knowledge in the area of practical implementation and secure applications of pairings. The results will benefit all users of electronic communications who require security for their information. This includes the financial industries, government, commerce and domestic users. It will also support many new product opportunities aligned with Motorola's business markets.Read moreRead less