Private Communication Channels Research Articles

IoT IP Overlay Network Security PerformanceAnalysis with Open Source Infrastructure Deployment

Some of the most deployed infrastructures nowadays are Overlay Networks (ONs). They consist of hardware and software components designed to establish private and secure communication channels, typically over the Internet. ONs are among the most reliable technologies for achieving this objective and represent the next-generation solution for secure communication. In this paper, we analyze important network performance metrics (RTT, bandwidth) while varying the type of Overlay Network used for interconnecting traffic between two or more hosts (within the same data center, in different data centers in the same building, or over the Internet). These networks establish connections between KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) instances rather than the typical Docker/LXC/Podman containers. The first analysis will assess network performance as it is, without any overlay channels. The second will establish various types of channels without encryption, and the final one will encapsulate overlay traffic via IPsec (Transport mode), where encrypted channels like VTI are not already available for use. The obtained performance is demonstrated through a comprehensive set of traffic-simulation campaigns.

A Hybrid Cloud Approach for Secure Authorized Deduplication System Using Facial Authentication

Over the use of peer-to-peer encryption, businesses are able to establish private communication channels between devices or parts of devices, ensuring that no intermediary devices are able to decipher important data as it travels over the network. To safeguard sensitive information like credit card details, PIN numbers, and passwords, privacy is essential. Rather of being handed down orally, this kind of knowledge may be exchanged digitally using messaging programs such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.Most of these apps use what is known as peer-to-peer encryption, a kind of two-way communication in which no one other than the two parties involved can decipher the communications transmitted and received. It is necessary to remember the master password in order to access the password safe, which stores all the passphrases in one account. Other malevolent bots and hackers are prompted to plot an assault and attempt to breach the system by this strategy.Therefore, we provide an encryption technique in our suggested work that relies on the authentic user's facial landmarks. Since it is very difficult, if not impossible, to replicate all of the face characteristics in order to fool the authentication system, this method is extremely strong. To determine the legitimate user's identity, we use the Localised Binary Pattern method in conjunction with the Gabor Wavelet on the locality preserving projection model. Both the legitimacy on the peer-to-peer network and the encryption of data communicated across the network channel are supported by the face structure that has been extracted. As a result, this forms a very strong component for the authentication and encryption of sent communications. Key Words: peer-to-peer, system, encryption, authentication, breach, transmitted

An Improved AI-Based Secure M-Trust Privacy Protocol for Medical Internet of Things in Smart Healthcare System

Medical Internet of Things (MIoT) is a rapidly growing field that promises to revolutionize health care. The ability to connect devices and collect data from them has the potential to transform the way it monitors and treat patients. However, the security and privacy of this data is a major concern. The cryptography and other conventional methods for security in resource constrained MIoT has several shortcomings. First, it does not provide adequate protection for patient data. Second, it is not designed to work with the large number of devices and huge volumes of data that are typically generated in MIoT applications. In this paper, Secure M-Trust Privacy protocol (SMP) has been designed to address these issues. The SMP protocol uses a combination of trust, cryptographic and Machine Learning techniques to provide security and privacy for data in transit. The SMP protocol has been designed to work with the Smart Health Care Monitoring System to provide a secure and private communication channel between devices in the system. The SMP protocol is an improvement over the existing security and privacy protocols for medical data. The simulation results proves that the SMP protocol is more efficient and scalable than the existing protocols. The SMP protocol is a valuable addition to the MIoT landscape and can help improve the privacy of data exchanged between medical devices.

Reproductive interference is stronger than expected in Heliconius butterflies

AbstractIn animals, reproductive interference associated with mimicry can result in the evolution of private communication channels, as suggested for Heliconius butterflies, where cryptic color wavelength would drive male preference for conspecific over intergeneric co‐mimics. Here, we tested this hypothesis in two co‐mimic pairs (intra and intergeneric) and measured the efficacy and symmetry of color pattern as a reproductive barrier in a non‐co‐mimic, possibly hybridizing pair of Heliconius species. We conducted pairwise experiments of preference where a group of males was presented to a conspecific and heterospecific female model made with real wings and free of chemical volatiles. We did not detect any indication of the expected use of cryptic recognition signals to mate choice in the intergeneric co‐mimic pair. Additionally, we detected an unexpected male preference for heterospecific female models between intrageneric co‐mimics towards the species with larger red patches, suggesting a supernormal stimulus based on a general preference for the red color. Finally, we found an asymmetry in the behavioral reproductive barrier between the non‐co‐mimic closely related species that also agrees with the hypothesis of a general preference for red and with an expected permeability of the reproductive barrier between them. Since the costs imposed by heterospecific courtships can limit the convergence of signaling phenotypes, our results contribute to explaining the maintenance of multiple aposematic color pattern between unpalatable and closely related sympatric Heliconius species.

Quantum-safe three-party lattice based authenticated key agreement protocol for mobile devices

Mobile-based web apps have gained popularity among phone devices because of the rapid advancement of mobile communication and equipment capabilities. Users may utilize their handsets to obtain different types of online services through the Internet at any time and from anywhere. The last three decades have seen widespread use of the three-party AKA protocol, built on asymmetric-key cryptography to produce a private communication channel via any cellular connection between two mobile users. The server can help two mobile users with the assistance of a three-party authentication protocol so that they may create a high-entropy shared private session key. According to several recent studies, all the conventional public-key cryptosystem-based three-party AKA schemes could not withstand attacks due to quantum computing. To get resistance to quantum attacks, Islam and Basu (2021) proposed a new password-based three-party authentication protocol for mobile users using ideal lattices. We improve the efficiency of lattice-based authenticated key exchange protocol and the security of this protocol by making it resistant to password-guessing attacks. A comparative study along with performance and security evaluation is also presented, which demonstrates the applicability of the proposed design.

A VPN Performances Analysis of Constrained Hardware Open Source Infrastructure Deploy in IoT Environment

Virtual private network (VPN) represents an HW/SW infrastructure that implements private and confidential communication channels that usually travel through the Internet. VPN is currently one of the most reliable technologies to achieve this goal, also because being a consolidated technology, it is possible to apply appropriate patches to remedy any security holes. In this paper we analyze the performances of open source firmware OpenWrt 21.x compared with a server-side operating system (Debian 11 x64) and Mikrotik 7.x, also virtualized, and different types of clients (Windows 10/11, iOS 15, Android 11, OpenWrt 21.x, Debian 11 x64 and Mikrotik 7.x), observing the performance of the network according to the current implementation of the various protocols and algorithms of VPN tunnel examined on what are the most recent HW and SW for deployment in outdoor locations with poor network connectivity. Specifically, operating systems provide different performance metric values for various combinations of configuration variables. The first pursued goal is to find the algorithms to guarantee a data transmission/encryption ratio as efficiently as possible. The second goal is to research the algorithms capable of guaranteeing the widest spectrum of compatibility with the current infrastructures that support VPN technology, to obtain a connection system secure for geographically scattered IoT networks spread over difficult-to-manage areas such as suburban or rural environments. The third goal is to be able to use open firmware on constrained routers that provide compatibility with different VPN protocols.

CryptO’Roulette A Smart Approach To Modern Encryption

In a symmetric-key cryptosystem, where the secret key is known to both the sender who encrypts the message (let’s call her Alice) and the receiver who decrypts the message (let's call him Bob). Since the secret key is very important so it cannot be disclosed to any third party that is why it should not be exchanged through any public form of communication because if through any means these keys get leaked all the encrypted messages in the future will be compromised [1].We know that the advent of technology has increased the risks of data thefts and compromising data integrity. So, to secretly exchange the key both the parties must hold some sort of private meeting, therefore they need to establish some private communication channel. This is a difficult task practically speaking in terms of internet communications. [6] These days, the utilization of the Internet is developing quickly throughout the planet, and security is turning into a significant public concern. Already security was a significant issue for military applications yet presently the application region has been improved as more correspondence happens on the web. Cryptography is a computer science platform intended to give security to senders and receivers to communicate and recover secret data about an uncertain channel through a cycle called Encryption/Decryption. Cryptography guarantees that the message ought to be sent without change and that only authorized individuals can open and peruse the message [10].In this paper, we tried to randomize the encryption process so that the data becomes more secure and less vulnerable to hacker attacks. We will use the top 4 best existing encryption algorithms like AES, TripleDES, Rabbit, etc., and use them to randomly encrypt the different segments of the message.

Fair termination of binary sessions

A binary session is a private communication channel that connects two processes, each adhering to a protocol description called session type . In this work, we study the first type system that ensures the fair termination of binary sessions. A session fairly terminates if all of the infinite executions admitted by its protocol are deemed unrealistic because they violate certain fairness assumptions . Fair termination entails the eventual completion of all pending input/output actions, including those that depend on the completion of an unbounded number of other actions in possibly different sessions. This form of lock freedom allows us to address a large family of natural communication patterns that fall outside the scope of existing type systems. Our type system is also the first to adopt fair subtyping , a liveness-preserving refinement of the standard subtyping relation for session types that so far has only been studied theoretically. Fair subtyping is surprisingly subtle not only to characterize concisely but also to use appropriately, to the point that the type system must carefully account for all usages of fair subtyping to avoid compromising its liveness-preserving properties.

Persuading Voters in District-based Elections

We focus on the scenario in which an agent can exploit his information advantage to manipulate the outcome of an election. In particular, we study district-based elections with two candidates, in which the winner of the election is the candidate that wins in the majority of the districts. District-based elections are adopted worldwide (e.g., UK and USA) and are a natural extension of widely studied voting mechanisms (e.g., k-voting and plurality voting). We resort to the Bayesian persuasion framework, where the manipulator (sender) strategically discloses information to the voters (receivers) that update their beliefs rationally. We study both private signaling in which the sender can use a private communication channel per receiver and public signaling in which the sender can use a single communication channel for all the receivers. Furthermore, for the first time, we introduce semi-public signaling in which the sender can use a single communication channel per district. We show that there is a sharp distinction between private and (semi-)public signaling. In particular, optimal private signaling schemes can provide an arbitrarily better probability of victory than (semi-)public ones and can be computed efficiently, while optimal (semi-)public signaling schemes cannot be approximated to within any factor in polynomial time unless P=NP. However, we show that reasonable relaxations allow the design of multi-criteria PTASs for optimal (semi-)public signaling schemes. In doing so, we introduce a novel property, namely comparative stability, and we design a bi-criteria PTAS for public signaling in general Bayesian persuasion problems beyond elections when the sender's utility function is state-dependent.

Hybrid quantum network design against unauthorized secret-key generation, and its memory cost

A significant number of servers that constitute the Internet are to provide private data via private communication channels to mutually anonymous registered users. Such are the servers of banks, hospitals that provide cloud storage and many others. Replacing communication channels by maximally entangled states is a promising idea for the quantum-secured Internet (QI). While it is an important idea for large distances secure communication, for the case of the mentioned class of servers pure entanglement based solution is not only unnecessary but also opens a threat. A crack stimulating a node to generate secure connections via entanglement swapping between two hackers can cause uncontrolled consumption of resources. Turning into positive a recently proven no-go result by S. B\"auml et al. [15], we propose a natural countermeasure against this threat. The solution bases on connections between hub-nodes and end-users realized with states that contain secure key but do not allow for swapping of this key.We then focus on the study of the quantum memory cost of such a scheme and prove a fundamental lower bound on its memory overhead. In particular, we show that to avoid the possibility of entanglement swapping, it is necessary to store at least twice as much memory than it is the case in standard quantum-repeater-based network design. For schemes employing either states with positive partial transposition that approximates certain privates states or private states hardly distinguishable from their attacked versions, we derive much tighter lower bounds on required memory. Our considerations yield upper bounds on a two-way repeater rate for states with positive partial transposition (PPT), which approximates strictly irreducible private states. As a byproduct, we provide a lower bound on the trace distance between PPT and private states, shown previously only for private bits.

Secure image secret sharing over distributed cloud network

A (k, n)-threshold secret image sharing (SIS) scheme protects a secret image by dividing it into n shadow images. When any k or more shadow images are collected, the secret image is reconstructed. While any (k−1) or fewer shadows give no clue about the secret. However, all previous SIS schemes do not deal with secure secret image recovery over distributed cloud network (DCN). To achieve the goal that reconstructing secret over DCN, private communication channels among all involved participants holding shadow images are required. A naive solution for this problem is to use an extra key distribution protocol that delivers a common key to all participants. In this paper, two (k, n)-SIS schemes over DCN (SISDCN) are introduced, where threshold property (recover the secret image from any k shadow images) and secure reconstruction over DCN (noninteractively share a common key among any k participants) are provided. Further, theoretical analysis, experiments and comparisons are conducted to show the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed schemes.

The role of communication in fair division with subjective claims

When agents’ claims regarding the division of a cake are subjective and conflicting, it is difficult to obtain an outcome that is considered fair by the involved parties. This paper investigates how pre-play communication affects behavior and outcomes in fair division experiments where various procedures are used to obtain an allocation of the available resources. On the one hand, it is known from bargaining experiments that communication often leads to faster agreements and to more egalitarian allocations. On the other hand, communication may facilitate the emergence of minority-exploiting coalitions when procedures are used which are not collusion-proof. We find that communication increases both efficiency and perceived fairness of the implemented division independent of the procedure used to obtain a solution. Interestingly, collusion, while highly beneficial for those participating, is rarely attempted even when private communication channels are available.

Predator-Prey Interactions and Eavesdropping in Vibrational Communication Networks

Due to human perceptional bias in favour of air-borne sounds, substrate-borne vibrational signalling has been traditionally regarded as a highly specialized, inherently short-range and, consequently, a private communication channel, free from eavesdropping by sexual competitors and predators. In this review, we synthesise current knowledge pertinent to the view that most animals live in a rich vibratory world, where vibrational information is available to unintended receivers. In recent years, we realized that vibrational signalling is one of the oldest and taxonomically most widespread forms of communication by mechanical waves and that receptors detecting substrate vibrations are ubiquitous. In nature, substrate vibrations are reliable source of information readily available to all members of the animal community able to detect them. Viewing vibrational communication in more relevant ecological context reveals that animals relying on substrate vibrations live in complex communication networks. Long evolutionary history of this communication channel is reflected in varied and sophisticated predator-prey interactions guided by substrate-borne vibrations. Eavesdropping and exploitation of vibrational signals used in sexual communication have been so far largely neglected; however, existing studies show that generalist arthropod predators can intercept such signals emitted by insects to obtain information about prey availability and use that information when making foraging decisions. Moreover, males which advertise themselves for longer periods than females and with vibrational signals of higher amplitude face higher predation risk. It is likely that eavesdropping and exploitation of vibrational signals are major drivers in the evolution taking place in the vibratory world and we believe that studies of interspecific interactions guided by substrate vibrations will, in the future, offer numerous opportunities to unravel mechanisms that are central to understanding behaviour in general.

Are Corporate Governance Code Disclosure and Engagement Principles Effective Vehicles for Corporate Accountability? The United Kingdom as a Case Study

Disclosure and engagement principles are included in every corporate governance code, reflecting a critical emphasis on communication as a vehicle for corporate accountability. These communication principles have been a focus of reform worldwide, prompted by shifts in financial market and social expectations of corporations. The article examines the disclosure and engagement provisions in the Corporate Governance Code in the United Kingdom (and the proposed reforms to these provisions) as a case study. The proposed initiatives seek to strengthen the voice of employees and enhance disclosure around environmental and social concerns. However, this article contends that the gains achieved from these reforms may be marginal due to structural deficiencies. The incremental disclosure and engagement obligations are expected to be flexible and loosely phrased, with a negligible probability of significant market consequences or regulatory intervention. Moreover, most substantive corporate communication will continue to occur at private forums between directors and selected institutional investors. In financial markets with these regulatory settings, effective governance mechanisms to ensure broad and independent accountability of corporations are lacking or weak. Indeed, these legal structures encourage and legitimise carefully differentiated private and public communication channels, with the public discourse used to present a sparkling company image. Policy makers need to re-consider their reliance on private forums to improve governance standards and ensure that public communication frameworks are inclusive, responsive, probative and enforced. In this way, company law will start to meet the growing calls for corporates to act as responsible citizens.

Patients' Data Management System Protected by Identity-Based Authentication and Key Exchange.

A secure and distributed framework for the management of patients’ information in emergency and hospitalization services is proposed here in order to seek improvements in efficiency and security in this important area. In particular, confidentiality protection, mutual authentication, and automatic identification of patients are provided. The proposed system is based on two types of devices: Near Field Communication (NFC) wristbands assigned to patients, and mobile devices assigned to medical staff. Two other main elements of the system are an intermediate server to manage the involved data, and a second server with a private key generator to define the information required to protect communications. An identity-based authentication and key exchange scheme is essential to provide confidential communication and mutual authentication between the medical staff and the private key generator through an intermediate server. The identification of patients is carried out through a keyed-hash message authentication code. Thanks to the combination of the aforementioned tools, a secure alternative mobile health (mHealth) scheme for managing patients’ data is defined for emergency and hospitalization services. Different parts of the proposed system have been implemented, including mobile application, intermediate server, private key generator and communication channels. Apart from that, several simulations have been performed, and, compared with the current system, significant improvements in efficiency have been observed.

American soft power and public diplomacy in the Arab world

This position article applies the concept of soft power as developed by Joseph Nye to the Arab world and US public diplomacy in that area. Evaluating public opinion and the challenges of public diplomacy in the Arab world is difficult because of the absence of hard data on polling and public diplomacy issues. However, American diplomats who have served in the Arab world, including this author, know that most Arabs are critical of US foreign policy but that they have positive attitudes towards America as a country, due in part to American cultural and commercial products and education. This essay first discusses the impact of the digital revolution on the American public diplomacy effort and on soft power. The expansion of private communication channels has provided challenges to the US effort and has impacted its soft power. Many Arabs have exaggerated expectations about America’s ability to solve their problems. Sometimes the behaviour of private American citizens has created new challenges for our public diplomacy and damaged our soft power. This essay then analyzes several other new issues that have arisen recently affecting American soft power. One is the private dissemination of American cultural products abroad. Another is the question of whether foreign audiences still regard the US political system as a model, which they once did. A third is the exchange of persons programme, which remains an important vehicle for soft power, but which is underfunded. New security measures made necessary by terrorism also impact US soft power and public diplomacy. Futhermore, the Pentagon’s communications “mission creep” competes with the State’s public diplomacy. At the end of the essay the author takes issue with the thesis that American power generally has declined. This article is published as part of a collection on soft power.

Diacetin, a reliable cue and private communication channel in a specialized pollination system.

The interaction between floral oil secreting plants and oil-collecting bees is one of the most specialized of all pollination mutualisms. Yet, the specific stimuli used by the bees to locate their host flowers have remained elusive. This study identifies diacetin, a volatile acetylated glycerol, as a floral signal compound shared by unrelated oil plants from around the globe. Electrophysiological measurements of antennae and behavioural assays identified diacetin as the key volatile used by oil-collecting bees to locate their host flowers. Furthermore, electrophysiological measurements indicate that only oil-collecting bees are capable of detecting diacetin. The structural and obvious biosynthetic similarity between diacetin and associated floral oils make it a reliable cue for oil-collecting bees. It is easily perceived by oil bees, but can’t be detected by other potential pollinators. Therefore, diacetin represents the first demonstrated private communication channel in a pollination system.

Privacy Preserving Data Sharing with EncryptedAnonymous ID Assignment

An algorithm for sharing of private data among N parties is developed. This work deals with efficient algorithms for assigning identifiers (IDs) to the nodes of a network in such a way that the IDs are anonymous using a distributed computation with no central authority. Given N nodes, this assignment is essentially a permutation of the integers {1….N} with each ID being known only to the node to which it is assigned. Resistance to collusion among other members is verified in an information theoretic sense when private communication channels are used. This assignments of IDs allows complex data to be shared and has applications in privacy preserving data mining, collision avoidance in communications and distributed database access. Existing and new algorithms for assigning IDs are examined with respect to trade-offs between communicational and computational requirements. New algorithms are built on top of secure sum data mining operations using Newtons identities.Markov chain representations are used to find statistics of number of iterations. . In this system, owner is assigned a randomly generated encrypted ID, with which data stored in the database is encrypted. This ensures confidentiality of the data. Another party can access data only if permission is granted by the owner. Also a comparison study based on different encryption methods are performed. The required computations are distributed without using a trusted central authority

Hashtagging Politics: Transnational Anti-Fracking Movement Twitter Practices

I examine a 2-week window into an environmental movement trying to gain traction in the public sphere, centered on a transnational day of action calling for a ban on the drilling technology, high-volume hydraulic fracturing, the Global Frackdown. Twitter serves a different purpose for the anti-fracking Global Frackdown movement than other Internet-based communications, most notably email listservs. Findings show that Global Frackdown tweeters engage in framing practices of movement convergence and solidarity, declarative and targeted engagement, prefabricated messaging, and multilingual tweeting. In contrast to Global Frackdown tweeters’ use of the platform for in-the-moment communication, Global Frackdown activists report in in-depth interviews that they place more emphasis on private (i.e., listservs) communication channels for longer term, durable movement building. The episodic, crowdsourced, and often personalized, transnational framing practices of Global Frackdown tweeters support core organizers’ goal of promoting the globalness of activism to ban fracking. This research extends past scholarship on socially mediated activism by providing a case study of how environmental activists use Twitter for ephemeral movement communication during a pre-planned transnational day of action, blurring internal movement collective identity-building and affirmation with publicly enacted strategic framing.

Cheap-Talk, Back-Room Deals and Multilateral Bargaining

Recently, both theoretical and experimental literatures have incorporated the ability of strategic players to communicate verbally prior to choosing their actions. We design an experiment to show how and why presence and type of communication matters. We use a multilateral bargaining setting, and focus on the specific strategic setup of the divide-a-dollar game between more than two players under different voting rules (majority versus unanimity). Relative to a situation where no communication is allowed, an unrestricted communication protocol leads to more inequality and closer-to-equilibrium outcomes under the majority rule, while it removes all inequality and leads to further-from-equilibrium outcomes under the unanimity rule. Under the majority rule, subjects use the communication tool to engage in back-room deals, while under the unanimity rule, subjects communicate publicly. Private communication channels are used by non-proposers to compete for favors from proposers while public communication channels are used to express preferences for fairness and equality. We further show that in order to reach close-to-equilibrium outcomes in the majority setting, private communication channels are a necessary component of communication protocols.