Persistent Attack Research Articles

Th17 Cells: The Silent Architects of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis

Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (HT) is a chronic condition where the immune system attacks the thyroid gland. A life-long persisting autoimmune condition that begins with inflammation leading to thyroid dysfunction. Our research focuses on the pivotal part of the process: T helper 17 (Th17) cells since HT usually focuses on the other immune cells. Our study reveals that Th17 and the cytokine IL-17 are responsible for the condition’s inflammatory cascade. Th17 cells become proactive, leading to excessive inflammation, which ultimately causes thyroid tissue damage in HT. These cells are pro-inflammatory as they produce IL-17, which recruits other immune cells and exacerbates tissue destruction. This balance between the Th-17 and the regulatory Treg or T cells normally responsible for keeping immune response in check gets disrupted in HT, causing a persistent attack on the immune system. Our findings in this paper highlight the importance of targeting the Th-17 and IL-17 pathways as a potential therapeutic strategy. When we shift our focus on these, we may be able to develop treatments that help manage the inflammation and prevent thyroid damage.

Semi-Supervised Machine Learning Approaches for DDOS Attack Detection

Network infrastructures are the target of several attacks. These include intrusions into the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the network. The network's availability is impacted by a persistent attack known as a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. Such an assault is carried out using a command and control (C & C) technique. To detect these assaults, numerous researchers have put forth various machine learning-based solutions. In this paper, we are going to detect different DDoS attacks by various methods and evaluate their performance. This experiment made use of the KD99 dataset. The normal and assault samples were classified using the random forest technique. The classification of 99.76% of the samples was accurate. By strategically selecting clusters and incorporating the insights gained from the small labelled dataset, a portion of the unlabelled clusters can be assigned labels, effectively converting raw data into useful training examples. This enriched dataset is then used to train an improved classifier that can better generalize and adapt to the dynamic nature of DDoS attacks.

Design and analysis of cyber warfare model with intelligent predictive stochastic networks for attack–defend strategies on critical infrastructures

The purpose of this study is to develop a novel multi-class differential system (target network, protected network, inside attacker, and outside attacker) for a cyber war model that imitating the cyber war scenarios on different attack surfaces in the presence of multifarious attack vectors and analysis has been presented by stupendous knacks of intelligent predictive stochastic networks (IPSNs). The theoretical convergence analysis through attack-free and attack-invasion equilibrium in terms of basic reproduction number R0 has been presented along with the global stability of attack-free equilibrium points using the Lyapunov function. The reference solutions for studying the dynamics of all four classes of cyber war models in an air-gapped environment have also been determined in this paper for various scenarios by varying the protection strategy parameter ρ, the recovery strategy parameter ɛ, and the rate of attack from an outside/inside attacker using the Adams numerical method. The obtained data has been used in IPSNs as input/targets for training, validation, and testing in order to compute the approximate solution of the model. Extensive simulations have been run to determine the accuracy of the proposed framework for a complex advanced persistent attack targeting industrial systems. The outcomes of IPSNs have shown a fine resemblance with the matching of order 10−7 from the observed data. Also, the analysis based on mean square error convergence, error histogram, and regression index has further verified the strength and worth of the presented strategy.

Fluorinated Al2O3/siloxane modified PI films towards vastly enhanced corona resistance performance

Polyimide (PI) films with excellent corona-resistant performance are vital in multitudinous electrical equipment. Here we employ a largely unexplored strategy to effectively restrain phase separation behavior of siloxane modified PI through chain extension copolymerization (PI-e-Si), thereby generating dense SiO2-like storage space under corona that shows powerful ability of encircling and restraining electron/ion, which restricts their direct and persistent attack for PI segment. Therefore, PI-e-Si film owns obviously longer corona-resistant lifetime (30.8 min) than that of pristine PI film (6.4 min) based on accelerated corona-aged test. Furthermore, fluorinated Al2O3 (F-Al2O3) with strong corona-resistant ability is applied to construct a solid barrier for dense SiO2-like storage space, which synergistically strengthens restraint effect for electron/ion, and it also optimizes heat-conducting and dielectric properties of PI film. Finally, fabricated composite film (PI-e-Si/F-Al2O3) further improves corona-resistant lifetime up to 66.8 min, superior to that of Kapton 100 CR film (a famous corona-resistant PI film).

Calf-Directed Aggression as a Possible Infanticide Attempt in Pacific White-Sided Dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens)

We report the first case of conspecific calf-directed aggression in Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) as a possible infanticide attempt in Mutsu Bay, Japan. Our observation of a 75-minute-long persistent attack on a neonate was performed by 10 attackers (4 adult males, 1 possible male, and 5 of unknown sex) and left the neonate with visible injuries. Only one individual was recorded for the entirety of the event and was regarded as the possible mother, displaying protective behaviours towards the neonate as well as being the target of coercive guarding and sexual behaviours, such as mounting, by the attackers. The observation featured a distinct group composition change in which, after 50 minutes, the attack was taken over by a new group of attackers. There was a brief overlap between the groups in which some dolphins from the first group surfaced with the second. Excluding the mother and calf, only two individuals that were observed towards the end of the first group attack remained with the second group until the end of the observation. The first group of attackers did not make further aggressive attempts on the neonate or presumed mother, and no conflict between the two groups was witnessed. The second group continued the attack with significantly increased aggression and a greater array of behavioural types than the first, often dividing into two approximately 5- to 10-m distanced subgroups—one that herded the suspected mother and another that focused on attacking the neonate. Our study analysed the frequency and variety of behavioural types used in the attack and compared them between individuals and the two separate attack groups. The group change we observed is absent from the literature on conspecific calf-directed attacks in other cetacean species and, if this is an infanticide attempt, provides new insight into the social structure of Pacific white-sided dolphins.

Cyber-Security Challenges in Aviation Industry: A Review of Current and Future Trends

The integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools into mechanical devices in routine use within the aviation industry has heightened cyber-security concerns. The extent of the inherent vulnerabilities in the software tools that drive these systems escalates as the level of integration increases. Moreover, these concerns are becoming even more acute as the migration within the industry in the deployment of electronic-enabled aircraft and smart airports gathers pace. A review of cyber-security attacks and attack surfaces within the aviation sector over the last 20 years provides a mapping of the trends and insights that are of value in informing on future frameworks to protect the evolution of a key industry. The goal is to identify common threat actors, their motivations, attacks types and map the vulnerabilities within aviation infrastructures most commonly subject to persistent attack campaigns. The analyses will enable an improved understanding of both the current and potential future cyber-security protection provisions for the sector. Evidence is provided that the main threats to the industry arise from Advance Persistent Threat (APT) groups that operate, in collaboration with a particular state actor, to steal intellectual property and intelligence in order to advance their domestic aerospace capabilities as well as monitor, infiltrate and subvert other sovereign nations’ capabilities. A segment of the aviation industry commonly attacked is the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure, the most prominent type of attack being malicious hacking with intent to gain unauthorised access. The analysis of the range of attack surfaces and the existing threat dynamics has been used as a foundation to predict future cyber-attack trends. The insights arising from the review will support the future definition and implementation of proactive measures that protect critical infrastructures against cyber-incidents that damage the confidence of customers in a key service-oriented industry.

UPSURGE IN ATTACK ON SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NIGERIA, CAUSES, EFFECTS AND SOLUTIONS: IMPLICATIONS ON EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION

The role of secondary education in Nigeria cannot be undermined. This is due to the central position it occupies in the three tiers of education in Nigeria. It has been established that most students who cannot cope effectively in primary school education have the potential to strive efficiently in the secondary level of education. A child without a basis in secondary education cannot survive academically in tertiary education. This underscore why every effort must be put in place to harmonize a well-equipped secondary education in Nigeria. The persistent attack on secondary schools in Nigeria has attracted the attention of stakeholders in the academic environment which has attracted the need for this paper on the upsurge in attacks on secondary schools in Cross River State, Nigeria; causes effect and solution: Implication on assessment and evaluation. Owing the role of secondary education in Cross River State, Particularly in Nigeria. The continuous attack in the form of poor funding, lack of government attention, banditry attack, and issue in students’ seriousness has been a major cause for concern in recent times. The paper x-rayed the causes and possible solutions pointing to the implication of educational assessment and evaluation.

Transfer time of the MDP and its effect on the time-dependent lateral deformation capacity of coastal bridge piers

In the maritime environment, the persistent attack of chloride ions will induce degradations of structural performance. Because of the surrounding exposure conditions, coastal bridge piers usually undergo discrepant deteriorations along the height, causing the maximum damaged position (MDP) to transfer from the conventional pier bottom to the zone that corroded most seriously. This study presents an analytical method to forecast the transfer time of the MDP for coastal bridge piers. The relationship between the structural capacity and seismic demand of the bottom section in each zone is monitored synchronously, aiming to capture the time and place that the structural capacity is first exceeded by the seismic demand. Next, an illustrative example of coastal bridge piers is adopted to demonstrate the proposed approach. The time-dependent lateral deformation capacity of the coastal bridge pier is investigated by considering the effect of the transfer time of the MDP. The analytical results show that the ultimate drift ratio of coastal bridge piers increases firstly and then, decreases significantly when the discrepant corrosion damages along the pier height is considered. As for the conventional simplified corrosion mode, i.e., using an equivalent mean corrosion level to describe the corrosion level for the global bridge pier, it cannot be adopted to estimate the actual time-dependent seismic performance of coastal bridge piers corroded non-uniformly along the height.

Extremum Seeking Under Persistent Gradient Deception: A Switching Systems Approach

This letter focuses on extremum seeking (ES) controllers with adversarial attacks in the form of deception signals. While a persistent attack in a feedback controller may be difficult to identify or mitigate, for a broad class of algorithms it suffices to achieve mitigation “sufficiently often” in order to preserve the stability properties of the system. In this letter, we explore for the first time the resilience properties of ES controllers with respect to a class of persistent multiplicative attacks that are purposely designed to destabilize optimization-based feedback controllers. By leveraging Lyapunov-based arguments for switching systems and singular-perturbation theory for hybrid dynamical systems, we characterize a family of persistent multiplicative attacks under which gradient-based ES, Newton-Like ES, and Accelerated gradient ES controllers provably preserve their stability properties.

Tailoring organic bulk-heterojunction for charge extraction and spectral absorption in CsPbBr3 perovskite solar cells

All-inorganic CsPbBr3 perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are promising candidates to balance the stability and efficiency issues of organic-inorganic hybrid devices. However, the large energy barrier for charge transfer and narrow spectral response are still two challenging problems for performance improvement. We present here an organic bulk-heterojunction {poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl):[6,6]-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT: PCBM)} photoactive layer to boost the charge extraction and to widen the spectral absorption, achieving an enhanced power conversion efficiency up to 8.94% by optimizing the thickness of P3HT: PCBM photoactive layer, which is much higher than 6.28% for the pristine CsPbBr3 device. The interaction between the carbonyl group in PCBM and unsaturated Pb atom in the perovskite surface can effectively passivate the defects and reduce charge recombination. Furthermore, the coupling effect between PCBM and P3HT widens the spectral response from 540 to 650 nm for an increased short-circuit current density. More importantly, the devices are relatively stable over 75 days upon persistent attack by 70% relative humidity in air condition. These advantages of high efficiency, excellent long-term stability, cost-effectiveness and scalability may promote the commercialization of inorganic PSCs.

A Hybrid Cyber Defense Mechanism to Mitigate the Persistent Scan and Foothold Attack

As the prerequisite for the attacker to invade the target network, Persistent Scan and Foothold Attack (PSFA) is becoming progressively more subtle and complex. Even worse, the static and predictable characteristics of traditional systems provide an asymmetric advantage for attackers in launching the PSFA. To reverse this asymmetric advantage and resist the PSFA, two new defense ideas, called moving target defense (MTD) and deception-based cyber defense (DCD), have been suggested to provide the proactive selectable measures to complement traditional defense. However, MTD is unable to defeat the sophisticated attacker with fingerprint tracking ability. Meanwhile, DCD is easy to be marked by the attacker, which will result in a great waste of defense resources and poor defense effectiveness. To address this shortcoming, we propose the hybrid cyber defense mechanism that combines the address mutation (belonging to MTD) and fingerprint camouflage (belonging to DCD) strategies. More specifically, we first introduce and formalize the attacker model of PSFA based on the cyber kill chain. Afterwards, the traffic direction technology is designed to realize the coordination between the strategy of address mutation and the strategy of fingerprint camouflage. Furthermore, we construct the fine-grained quantitative modeling of the attacker’s behaviors through an in-depth observation of actual network confrontation. Based on this, a dynamic defense strategy generation algorithm is presented to maximize the effectiveness of our hybrid mechanism. Finally, the experimental results show that our hybrid mechanism can greatly improve the time required for a successful attack and achieve a better defense effect than the single strategy.

The optimal timing of surgical treatment of acute cholecystitis according to evidence-based studies

Aim . To analyze of the optimal time of surgical treatment of acute cholecystitis based on the results of evidence-based studies of domestic and foreign clinical guidelines. Materials and methods . A review has been conducted based on an analysis of the clinical recommendations of the Russian Federation and other countries and meta-analyzes of clinical trial, published since 2015. Results . The surgical method is the main treatment approach of acute cholecystitis both in our country and abroad. Possible differences in assessing the results of surgical interventions are due to different ways of determining the time to perform the surgery (report from the onset of the disease, from the diagnosis, and also taking into account the time of hospitalization). In the majority of the world evidence-based studies early cholecystectomy have been defined as a surgery within 3-7 days after onset. The expediency of performing early operations with a persistent attack of acute cholecystitis is due to the inability to control the course of gallbladder's inflammation, the shorter duration of hospitalization and cost-effectiveness advantages. Conclusion . In clinical practice, taking into account the heterogeneity of the patient population with acute cholecystitis and various conditions for the provision of surgical care, early operations within the first three days from the onset of symptoms remains preferred.

An intrusion detection algorithm based on bag representation with ensemble support vector machine in cloud computing

SummaryThe increase of security incidents brings a challenge to the cloud computing security. Intrusion detection technologies have been applied to protect information in cloud from being compromised, and complicated learning‐based detection methods have been used to improve the performance of intrusion detection systems. Higher quality and well‐formed samples are crucial to the performance of detection algorithm. Therefore, we mainly study the intrusion detection model based on data optimization processing. In this article, we establish an intrusion detection algorithm based on ensemble support vector machine with bag representation. Specifically, the sample flows are divided into bags, where the sample flows in each bag are related to each other. Each bag contains multiple related data flows that can accurately reflect intrusion behavior, especially persistent intrusion. What's more, ensemble algorithm is applied to detection model, which greatly optimizes the performance of detection algorithm. The experimental results on open access datasets show that the proposed model detects the persistent attack with 90.58% recall.

Constitutional Norm Entrepreneuring

Everyone is obsessed today with constitutional norms. They have powerfully penetrated our vocabulary and are mentioned with dizzying frequency. We now know that any account of our valuable constitutional practices cannot end with just politics or law and must also include norms. What is further unique about the current moment in our political era is that an important subset of these norms appears to be exceedingly fragile and is under persistent attack. Some even suggest that the erosion of constitutional norms is at the heart of a global trend of democratic recession. But how precisely do constitutional norms change and ultimately collapse? And is there something actors can do to influence these processes? This Article’s goal is to explore these questions, both in general and in the context of the alleged trend of democratic recession in particular. It argues that although norms can be understood, following H.L.A Hart, as a “primitive” component in our political systems (given the way they differ from formal law), constitutional norms can in fact attain some of the credentials Hart believed could be attributed exclusively to law. More specifically, the Article claims that we can fashion something akin to “rules of change” and “rules of adjudication” in relation to constitutional norms and accordingly gain a firmer grasp of how they develop, change, and ultimately break down and of how conflicts about constitutional norms are “adjudicated” within our politics. As for “rules of change” for norms, the Article argues that constitutional norms tend to change in predictable ways and as a result of the working of several distinctive mechanisms. As for “rules of adjudication” for norms, the Article identifies a set of concrete strategies that constitutional norm entrepreneurs (who wish to change present norms including bringing forth their demise) and constitutional norm anti-preneurs (who wish to safeguard present norms) can use to try to manipulate constitutional norms to achieve their desired, and oppositional, ends. The Article concludes by implementing that framework to our present moment of democratic recession. It asks, in other words, what constitutional norm anti-preneurs can do to halt further encroachment upon valuable constitutional norms that appear crucial to the resilience of democratic systems, both in general and in the United States.

Software Rejuvenation Under Persistent Attacks in Constrained Environments

Software rejuvenation has been proposed to guarantee safety of cyber-physical systems (CPSs) against cyber-attacks. Recent work has demonstrated how this method can be applied to more general control problems such as tracking control. Despite this progress, there are still limitations in applying software rejuvenation to real situations where the presence of persistent attacks and physical environment constraints exist. In this paper we address these issues and propose a secure recovery algorithm that can be deployed not only for recovery against persistent attacks but also in situations where physical environment constraints do not allow the system to tolerate any attack. The effectiveness of the approach is illustrated with a simulation of a quadrotor landing on the ground during recovery from a persistent attack.

Cluster effect of additives in precursors for inorganic perovskites solar cells

The interaction between solvent molecules and lead halides in precursor solution is important in controlling perovskite film morphology and crystallization process, which determines the photovoltaic performances of solar cells. Herein, we demonstrate two organic solvent molecules, acetonitrile (ACN) and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) with adverse coordinating capacity to Pb2+ center, as precursor additives to control the interaction between dimethyl formamide (DMF) and PbBr2 and therefore the crystallization process of CsPbBr3 films. By carefully varying the concentration of additives (ACN and NMP) in DMF solutions, the final perovskite films with markedly enlarged grains are obtained in both scenarios owing to the tuned bonding strength of PbBr2-DMF complexes and grain growth dynamics. Upon assembling into all-inorganic CsPbBr3 perovskite solar cells, the optimized power conversion efficiencies of 9.22% and 9.53% are obtained for ACN- and NMP-containing devices, which are much higher than that of control device with average 7.38%-efficiency. More importantly, the optimal device free of encapsulation exhibits excellent stability under persistent attack at 40 °C and 90% relative humidity over 30 days. The improved perovskite film quality and device performances may pave the way for full-bromine perovskite solar cells in the future.

Modelling of advanced persistent threat attack monitoring based on the artificial fish swarm algorithm

Modelling of advanced persistent threat attack monitoring based on the artificial fish swarm algorithm

Modelling of advanced persistent threat attack monitoring based on the artificial fish swarm algorithm

In recent years, advanced persistent threat (APT) has become one of the important factors that threaten the network security. Aiming at the APT attack defence problem, this paper proposes an APT attack monitoring method based on the principle of artificial fish swarm algorithm. The attack monitoring model is established by imitating the behaviour of the artificial fish swarm. The model was used to dynamically monitor the environment, and the APT attack index was simulated with the food consistence to monitor the position of the highest APT attack index. The experimental results show that the monitoring model designed by this method can not only effectively monitor and forecast the attack target, but also has good expansibility and practicability.

Lanthanide Ions Doped CsPbBr3 Halides for HTM‐Free 10.14%‐Efficiency Inorganic Perovskite Solar Cell with an Ultrahigh Open‐Circuit Voltage of 1.594 V

AbstractAll‐inorganic cesium lead bromide (CsPbBr3) perovskite solar cells have attracted enormous attention owing to their outstanding stability in comparison with organic–inorganic hybrid devices. The greatest weakness for inorganic CsPbBr3 solar cells is their lower power conversion efficiencies, mainly arising from inferior light‐absorbance range and serious charge recombination at interfaces or within perovskite films. To address this issue, the lattice doping of lanthanide ions (Ln3+ = La3+, Ce3+, Nd3+, Sm3+, Eu3+, Gd3+, Tb3+, Ho3+, Er3+, Yb3+, and Lu3+) into CsPbBr3 films for all‐inorganic solar cells free of hole‐transporting materials and precious metal electrodes is presented. Arising from the enlarged grain size and prolonged carrier lifetimes upon incorporating Ln3+ ions into perovskite lattice, the performances of these inorganic CsPbBr3 solar cell devices are significantly enhanced, achieving a champion efficiency as high as 10.14% and an ultrahigh open‐circuit voltage of 1.594 V under one sun illumination. Meanwhile, the nearly unchanged efficiency upon persistent attack by 80% RH in air atmosphere over 110 d and enhanced thermal stability at 80 °C over 60 d provide new opportunities of promoting commercialization of all‐inorganic CsPbBr3 perovskite solar cells.

Set-theoretic detection of data corruption attacks on cyber physical power systems

This paper addresses a set-theoretic method for the detection of data corruption cyber-attacks on the load frequency control loop of a networked power system. The system consists of several interconnected control areas forming a power grid. Based on the overall discrete-time network dynamics, a convex and compact polyhedral robust invariant set is extracted and is used as a set-induced anomaly detector. If the state vector exits the invariant set, then an alarm will be activated, and the potential threat is considered disclosed. The attack scenario used to assess the efficiency of the proposed anomaly detector concerns corrupted frequency sensor measurements transmitted to the automatic generation control unit of a compromised control area. Simulation studies highlight the ability of a set-theoretic approach to disclose persistent and intermittent attack patterns even when they occur at the same time with changes in the power load demand.