Remote Verification Research Articles

Secure Telemedicine: Biometrics for Remote and Continuous Patient Verification

The technological advancements in the field of remote sensing have resulted in substantial growth of the telemedicine industry. While health care practitioners may now monitor their patients’ well-being from a distance and deliver their services remotely, the lack of physical presence introduces security risks, primarily with regard to the identity of the involved parties. The sensing apparatus, that a patient may employ at home, collects and transmits vital signals to medical centres which respond with treatment decisions despite the lack of solid authentication of the transmitter’s identity. In essence, remote monitoring increases the risks of identity fraud in health care. This paper proposes a biometric identification solution suitable for continuous monitoring environments. The system uses the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal in order to extract unique characteristics which allow to discriminate users. In security, ECG falls under the category ofmedical biometrics, a relatively young but promising field of biometric security solutions. In this work, the authors investigate the idiosyncratic properties of home telemonitoring that may affect the ECG signal and compromise security. The effects of psychological changes on the ECG waveform are taken into consideration for the design of a robust biometric system that can identify users based on cardiac signals despite physical or emotional variations.

Verifying remote data integrity in peer-to-peer data storage: A comprehensive survey of protocols

This paper surveys protocols that verify remote data possession. These protocols have been proposed as a primitive for ensuring the long-term integrity and availability of data stored at remote untrusted hosts. Externalizing data storage to multiple network hosts is becoming widely used in several distributed storage and P2P systems, which urges the need for new solutions that provide security properties for the remote data. Replication techniques cannot ensure on their own data integrity and availability, since they only offer probabilistic guarantees. Moreover, peer dynamics (i.e., peers join and leave at any time) and their potential misbehavior (e.g., free-riding) exacerbate the difficult challenge of securing remote data. To this end, remote data integrity verification protocols have been proposed with the aim to detect faulty and misbehaving storage hosts, in a dynamic and open setting as P2P networks. In this survey, we analyze several of these protocols, compare them with respect to expected security guarantees and discuss their limitations.

Analysis of existing remote attestation techniques

ABSTRACTThis paper has been written as a part of the research project that is working towards the implementation of dynamic behavioral attestation for mobile platforms. The motivation behind this paper was to analyze the existing remote attestation techniques in order to figure out their strengths and weaknesses. We have analyzed Integrity Measurement Architecture, Policy‐reduced Integrity Measurement Architecture, Property‐based Attestation, Remote Attestation on Program Execution, Semantic Remote Attestation, Trustable Remote Verification of Web Services, and Model‐based Behavior Attestation. Each of the existing remote attestation techniques was found to be effective in some situations but was found to be infeasible in others. Therefore, a new remote attestation technique is needed, which is platform independent and flexible enough to meet the challenges of today's scalable computing environments. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

NetQuery

This paper presents the design and implementation of NetQuery, a knowledge plane for federated networks such as the Internet. In such networks, not all administrative domains will generate information that an application can trust and many administrative domains may have restrictive policies on disclosing network information. Thus, both the trustworthiness and accessibility of network information pose obstacles to effective reasoning. NetQuery employs trustworthy computing techniques to facilitate reasoning about the trustworthiness of information contained in the knowledge plane while preserving confidentiality guarantees for operator data. By characterizing information disclosure between operators, NetQuery enables remote verification of advertised claims and contractual stipulations; this enables new applications because network guarantees can span administrative boundaries. We have implemented NetQuery, built several NetQuery-enabled devices, and deployed applications for cloud datacenters, enterprise networks, and the Internet. Simulations, testbed experiments, and a deployment on a departmental network indicate NetQuery can support hundreds of thousands of operations per second and can thus scale to large ISPs.

Measures for improving availability of networked on-line fingerprint attendance system

Concerning the problems that the networked online fingerprint attendance system would have long time delay,involve large number of samples to match,be prone to mismatch and require high quality of fingerprint in application,three approaches was proposed to improve availability of the system.Firstly,by combining fingerprint verification with salary-based credit card,the needed 1:N remote fingerprint verification was replaced by local 1:1 fingerprint verification.Then,redundant and rolling updated fingerprint templates were used,and then the fingerprint image quality estimation information was applied into fingerprint matching.The actual application shows that the proposed approaches are effective and can improve availability of the on-line fingerprint attendance system greatly.The system can be used in large-scale business.

SU-FF-T-554: Commissioning a New Anthropomorphic Spine and Lung Phantom to Be Used for Remote Dose Verification of Spine Radiosurgery

Purpose: The commissioning of a new anthropomorphic spine/lung phantom for use in credentialing institutions for participation in an RTOG protocol comparing fractionated IMRT to radiosurgery for spine tumors. Method and Materials: The spine/lung phantom was constructed to approximate the geometric distribution of anatomy encountered in spinal radiosurgery; these anatomical features include the spinal canal, vertebrae, esophagus, heart,lungs and tumor volume. The remainder of the phantom is water filled. These anatomical features were constructed from materials of different densities to allow for visualization with CT and for heterogeneous dose calculation verification. The tumor is loaded with TLD and gafchromic film in the axial and sagittal planes. To commission this system, planning and irradiation must demonstrate agreement of the measured dose distribution with the planned dose distribution to 5% within 3mm. First, two beams in an anterior‐posterior arrangement delivered 8 Gy to 90% of the tumor volume. More complex plans are being developed to be administered. Results: The anterior‐posterior beam arrangement showed reasonable agreement with the planned dose distribution. The axial and sagittal plans had 87% and 91% agreement, respectively (at the gamma level 5%/3mm). These results validated the tool utilized to register the treatment plan to the measured dose distribution. The results also confirmed the accuracy of the treatment isocenter. However, because of the simple beam arrangement, the prescribed critical structure tolerances could not be achieved. The critical structure tolerances can be achieved with the development of a clinically relevant IMRT plan. Conclusion: The phantom has been validated to register and calculate differences in planned and measured dose distributions with a gamma calculation. The simple anterior‐posterior beam arrangement showed good agreement between planning and measurement. Next, clinically relevant IMRT plans will be administered to the phantom. This work is supported by PHS CA010953 and CA081647, awarded by NCI, DHHS.

Remote attestation on legacy operating systems with trusted platform modules

A lot of progress has been made to secure network communication, e.g., through the use of cryptographic algorithms. However, this offers only a partial solution as long as the communicating end points still suffer from security problems. A number of applications require remote verification of software executing on an untrusted platform. Trusted computing solutions propose to solve this problem through software and hardware changes, typically a secure operating system and the addition of a secure coprocessor, respectively. On the other hand, timed execution of code checksum calculations aims for a solution on legacy platforms, but can not provide strong security assurance. We present a mixed solution by using the trusted computing hardware, namely the time stamping functionality of the Trusted Platform Module (TPM), in combination with a timing-based remote code integrity verification mechanism. In this way, the overall security of the timed execution scheme can be improved without requiring a secure operating system.

Remote Attestation on Legacy Operating Systems With Trusted Platform Modules

A lot of progress has been made to secure network communication, e.g., through the use of cryptographic algorithms. However, this offers only a partial solution as long as the communicating end points still suffer from security problems. A number of applications require remote verification of software executing on an untrusted platform. Trusted computing solutions propose to solve this problem through software and hardware changes, typically a secure operating system and the addition of a secure coprocessor respectively. On the other hand, timed execution of code checksum calculations aims for a solution on legacy platforms, but can not provide strong security assurance. We present a mixed solution by using the trusted computing hardware, namely the time stamping functionality of the trusted platform module, in combination with a timing based remote code integrity verification mechanism. In this way, we do not require a secure operating system, but at the same time the overall security of the timed execution scheme can be improved.

IAEA safeguards equipment

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) operates a large diversity of equipment to verify nuclear materials, contributing to the confirmation of the states' compliance with their respective nonproliferation obligations. The variety of physical and chemical properties of nuclear materials, as well as their storage environment, requires an arsenal of instruments. Additionally, the IAEA applies various containment and surveillance measures to maintain the continuity of knowledge on nuclear materials. The IAEA need ongoing equipment development to provide its inspectorate with the state-of-the-art tools for performing various safeguards activities. These activities include the measurement of declared nuclear material inventories and flows, the application of enhanced containment and surveillance measures and the search for the indicators of undeclared nuclear material and clandestine nuclear activities. The IAEA is facing increasing demands to perform remote verification of nuclear material flows utilising unattended monitoring systems. Additional analytical capabilities and effective non-destructive assay methods will be indispensable in the future for reinforcing the IAEA's ability to detect undeclared nuclear materials and activities.

WE‐D‐T‐617‐07: Development of An Independent Audit Device for Remote Verification of 4D Radiotherapy

Purpose: To develop a 4D quality assurance device for remote verification of dose delivery at institutions participating in NCI‐sponsored clinical trials that require the use of respiratory motion mitigation techniques. Method and Materials: A plastic reciprocating platform was designed and constructed to simulate respiratory motion in two dimensions and to evaluate the reproducibility of 4D image acquisition and dose delivery. An anthropomorphic lung phantom was used with the platform to assess imaging characteristics, to provide CT data for radiotherapy treatment planning and for dosimetric evaluation. The lung phantom used radiochromic film in three major planes and TLD centered in the GTV. Static, simulated free‐breathing, breath‐hold, 4D phase‐sorted and respiratory‐gated CT image sets were acquired using the programmable moving platform. A volumetric comparison of internal phantom structures assessed imaging reproducibility. Conformal 6 MV photon treatment plans were created for free‐breathing ITV and respiratory‐gated techniques using Pinnacle. The reproducibility of the 4D irradiation techniques was analyzed through comparisons to calculated treatment planning dose data. Criteria for evaluation were derived from TG‐53 with a range of 5%/3mm to 7%/7mm. Results: CT image analysis showed mean(SD) tumor volumes [cm3] of 24.5(0.4), 23.1(1.6), 24.1(1.6) for static, 4D phase‐sorted and free‐breathing techniques, respectively. Initial evaluation of the ITV technique showed that the ratio of TLD/Pinnacle dose was 0.972. Axial film analysis with binary agreement maps showed ranges of 85.5% to 96.4% and 81.0% to 95.4% agreement within the 5%/3mm to 7%/7mm criteria range for gated and ITV techniques, respectively. Axial profile analyses through the tumor center indicated regions of disagreement between the measured dose data and calculated data within the 5% criterion. Conclusion: The 4D phantom QA system can be used as an independent audit device for dosimetric evaluation of 4D radiotherapy techniques. Work supported by PHS grant CA10953 and CA81647 awarded by the NCI.

2A1-N-116 深部臓器微細手術用マイクロフィンガーを用いた新方式内視鏡手術の実証(医療福祉ロボティクス・メカトロニクス3,生活を支援するロボメカ技術のメガインテグレーション)

2A1-N-116 深部臓器微細手術用マイクロフィンガーを用いた新方式内視鏡手術の実証(医療福祉ロボティクス・メカトロニクス3,生活を支援するロボメカ技術のメガインテグレーション)

Real-time remote identification and verification of objects using optical ID tags

We describe active and passive optical identification tags and readers for remote identification and verification of objects. These include a wavelength-hopped laser encoding and decoding system, and a retroreflective optically phase-modulated ID tag and reader.

Remote verification in radiotherapy using digitally reconstructed radiography (DRR) and portal images: a pilot study

Purpose: To use digitally reconstructed radiography (DRR) and digitally compressed portal images in distant consultation using a telecommunications network, the verification performance of DRR and digitally compressed portal images on the image console was investigated. Methods and Materials: A human thoracic phantom was scanned with computed tomography (CT). Radiotherapy was planned at 5 different anatomic locations. A digitally reconstructed radiograph was made; verification films of the phantom were then taken with 6-MV X-rays. The treatment center was intentionally dislocated. Fifty sets of DRR and portal images were seen by 7 doctors on a conventional view-box (view-box method) to judge whether the treatment center was dislocated. These image sets were digitalized by a film scanner, compressed to 1/10 Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format, and compared on an image console by the same physicians (image-console method). The verification performance of the image console method was compared with that of the view-box method by means of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Clinically, 159 portal-image-sets were verified with the image-console method and the appropriateness of the decision was later assessed by the view-box method. Results: The accuracy of the treatment verification was estimated to be 88.8% by the conventional view-box method and 88.3% by the image-console method. There was no statistically significant difference in the verification performances of the conventional method (Az = 0.86 ± 0.02) and the image console method (Az = 0.84 ± 0.07). Frequent digital image-processing modification was positively related to the accuracy of verification. Clinically, there were 3 (1.8%) major corrections, 31 (19.5%) minor corrections, and 123 cases with no correction. No further correction was called for by the re-evaluation using the view-box method. Conclusion: The verification performance of DRR and digitally compressed portal images on the image console was as accurate as the conventional method. Distant consultation using DRR and portal images through telecommunication is usable in clinical practice.

Watchdog for nuclear development: Technology can help monitor civilian uses of nuclear energy while discouraging military applications

At a time when nuclear proliferation seems a growing threat to world peace, many countries are supporting technical efforts to monitor the constructive uses of nuclear, energy to help ensure that nuclear materials and technology are not diverted to weapons use. Recover (for REmote Continual VERification) is an experimental system designed to transmit data automatically from sensors at nuclear sites around the world to the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria. The system was developed under the auspices of the IAEA in a program initiated by the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA).