Information security and digital watermarking with Latin squares. The importance of digital information is increasing constantly. Audio, video, and still image data dominate our daily lives. Such information has commercial and strategic importance. It is invaluable in crime prevention: for example, video from security cameras. The protection of commercially valuable material against piracy and sensitive information against security breaches is vital to our economy and our safety. This project ad ....Information security and digital watermarking with Latin squares. The importance of digital information is increasing constantly. Audio, video, and still image data dominate our daily lives. Such information has commercial and strategic importance. It is invaluable in crime prevention: for example, video from security cameras. The protection of commercially valuable material against piracy and sensitive information against security breaches is vital to our economy and our safety. This project addresses these issues, by developing new, secure watermarks and fingerprints to protect digital information. Such watermarks can also protect radio communication channels, which is important due to the rising demand for wireless connectivity.Read moreRead less
Security Applications of Combinatorial Puzzles. This project provides a basis for improving the implementation and maintenance of key management systems. The application of discrete mathematics to information security will help safeguard Australia, will provide opportunities for Australians to take a leading role in an important area and will develop a research network, bridging both theoretical and practical aspects of mathematics and computer science. The project will enhance Australia's inter ....Security Applications of Combinatorial Puzzles. This project provides a basis for improving the implementation and maintenance of key management systems. The application of discrete mathematics to information security will help safeguard Australia, will provide opportunities for Australians to take a leading role in an important area and will develop a research network, bridging both theoretical and practical aspects of mathematics and computer science. The project will enhance Australia's international reputation by establishing collaborations with well-respected international mathematicians and computer scientists. The proposal contains topics suitable for the training of new graduates, allowing them to make high quality original research contributions in a novel and important area. Read moreRead less
Timed Commitment Schemes to Smooth Internet Bottlenecks, Defend against Denial of Service Attacks, and Bypass Some Legal Problems of Enccryption. Bottlenecks on the Internet and Denial of Service attacks on a server are both caused by excessive demands made on a system. This proposal is to reduce the ill-effects of either by building on our previous theoretical work on strongboxes of combinatorial designs. In the case of bottlenecks, the demands are legitimate but badly timed, and our approach ....Timed Commitment Schemes to Smooth Internet Bottlenecks, Defend against Denial of Service Attacks, and Bypass Some Legal Problems of Enccryption. Bottlenecks on the Internet and Denial of Service attacks on a server are both caused by excessive demands made on a system. This proposal is to reduce the ill-effects of either by building on our previous theoretical work on strongboxes of combinatorial designs. In the case of bottlenecks, the demands are legitimate but badly timed, and our approach will redistribute the demands more evenly. In the case of Denial of Service attacks, the demands are malicious, and our approach will respond in such a way as to deplete the resources of the attacker.Read moreRead less
Approximate authentication systems for digital information. Assurance about the origin and integrity of digital content is crucial not only in high security applications but also in everyday life scenarios such as providing proof that an X-ray image presented as part of an insurance claim is authentic, or a news clip is not tampered with. The outcomes of this project will significantly enhance trustworthiness of multimedia information systems which are increasingly used in areas such as surveil ....Approximate authentication systems for digital information. Assurance about the origin and integrity of digital content is crucial not only in high security applications but also in everyday life scenarios such as providing proof that an X-ray image presented as part of an insurance claim is authentic, or a news clip is not tampered with. The outcomes of this project will significantly enhance trustworthiness of multimedia information systems which are increasingly used in areas such as surveillance (traffic control), health, digital content production and distribution, tourism and journalism. It will also result in the development of secure biometric authentication systems which are critical in securing cyber space.Read moreRead less
Efficient Pre-Processing of Hard Problems: New Approaches, Basic Theory and Applications. Computers store even larger amounts of data about all aspects of human and industrial activity. However, they have not become significantly better at solving common problems in optimization and search. Traditional complexity theory indicates many of these problems require algorithms that are very unlikely to exist. The Parameterized Complexity approach allows us to obtain very efficient algorithms for a lar ....Efficient Pre-Processing of Hard Problems: New Approaches, Basic Theory and Applications. Computers store even larger amounts of data about all aspects of human and industrial activity. However, they have not become significantly better at solving common problems in optimization and search. Traditional complexity theory indicates many of these problems require algorithms that are very unlikely to exist. The Parameterized Complexity approach allows us to obtain very efficient algorithms for a large variety of problems, but the machinery required was diverse and complicated. This research will organize the machinery into a new approach that systematically finds good algorithms by applying simplifications around a parameter of the domain of the problem. As a result, efficient algorithms are obtained for many diverse areas.Read moreRead less
Enhancing Privacy for Digital Communication. Protecting one's privacy in cyber world is a challenging task. Every contact to a Web server leaves a digital footprint that can be linked with other publicly available information to compile a profile of one's activities. Anonymous communication is a powerful tool for enhancing individuals' privacy and providing services such as electronic election where a person's vote must be unlinkable to him/her. However, anonymity may be misused by criminals to ....Enhancing Privacy for Digital Communication. Protecting one's privacy in cyber world is a challenging task. Every contact to a Web server leaves a digital footprint that can be linked with other publicly available information to compile a profile of one's activities. Anonymous communication is a powerful tool for enhancing individuals' privacy and providing services such as electronic election where a person's vote must be unlinkable to him/her. However, anonymity may be misused by criminals to hide their identities and engage in illegal activities. The aim of this project is to design and analyse privacy enhancing communication systems that balance individuals' privacy and accountability, and develop criteria and metrics to compare performance of these systems.Read moreRead less
Secure and Efficient Fair Exchange Protocols. Information security is becoming increasingly important in the rapidly growing field of e-commerce. This project will enable the development of secure fair exchange protocols and schemes, which will be absolutely crucial to Australia's national security. The project will also strengthen international collaboration through the reciprocal exchange of researchers leading to a more collaborative and productive research environment. Furthermore, the proje ....Secure and Efficient Fair Exchange Protocols. Information security is becoming increasingly important in the rapidly growing field of e-commerce. This project will enable the development of secure fair exchange protocols and schemes, which will be absolutely crucial to Australia's national security. The project will also strengthen international collaboration through the reciprocal exchange of researchers leading to a more collaborative and productive research environment. Furthermore, the project will help to maintain the high research profile of Australian researchers and provide cutting-edge information technology for the Australian telecommunication industry, business and government.Read moreRead less
Credential Systems and Their Applications in Securing Electronic Health Records. The expected result of this project will be frontier technologies that are essential in applications and services, whose acceptance and take-up will depend on users' assurance of their security in the cyber world. In particular, a service such as the EHR system, which is known to be a complex system, requires the use of new and innovative credential-based systems. The result will also contribute to maintaining Austr ....Credential Systems and Their Applications in Securing Electronic Health Records. The expected result of this project will be frontier technologies that are essential in applications and services, whose acceptance and take-up will depend on users' assurance of their security in the cyber world. In particular, a service such as the EHR system, which is known to be a complex system, requires the use of new and innovative credential-based systems. The result will also contribute to maintaining Australia's leading position in the telecommunication and information technology industries, which has been recognised by increased government funding levels. The resulting applications of this project will place Australia as the first country able to design and implement a secure EHR system.Read moreRead less
Secure and Practical Anonymous Electronic Payment and Applications. The expected results of this project will be frontier technologies that are essential in applications and services whose acceptance and take-up will depend on users' assurance about their security in the cyber world. The project will contribute to the economic and social advancement of Australia by allowing effective usage of advanced IT technologies. This development will also maintain Australia's leading position in the teleco ....Secure and Practical Anonymous Electronic Payment and Applications. The expected results of this project will be frontier technologies that are essential in applications and services whose acceptance and take-up will depend on users' assurance about their security in the cyber world. The project will contribute to the economic and social advancement of Australia by allowing effective usage of advanced IT technologies. This development will also maintain Australia's leading position in the telecommunication and IT industries, which is well recognised by increasing levels of government. The resulting application will place Australia as the first country able to design and implement a provably secure and practical e-payment system.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