Secure Path Research Articles

Redefining the Approach to Resettlement and Reception: The Humanitarian Corridors Experience in Italy

Executive Summary In an era of global uncertainty and multiple humanitarian crises, migration is a matter of life and death for many. In the Mediterranean, the migration drive from Africa and the Middle East has been restricted by European containment policies that have forced asylum seekers and refugees to depend on smugglers and illegal sea-crossing, resulting in numerous tragedies in which many have died. The lack of a secure path to access international protection and safe and legal entry to Europe and the increase in vulnerable people seeking international protection have motivated some stakeholders to outline and test new approaches to support refugees’ resettlement. Humanitarian corridors are a civil society response to support refugees and asylum seekers to reach Europe legally and safely. Although not without its drawbacks, the approach has proved highly effective. This article explores the humanitarian corridors from Lebanon to Italy, delving into the experiences of Syrian refugees who have participated in the program and those who have been involved in its implementation. It examines the weaknesses and strengths of the humanitarian corridors program based on feedback from program beneficiaries, field staff in Lebanon, and those in charge of the reception in Italy. Results reveal that, overall, this approach has proven to be highly effective as the humanitarian corridors are a civil society response to support refugees and asylum seekers to reach Europe legally and safely. Moreover, findings show that expanding humanitarian corridors on a larger scale is possible. The growth of humanitarian corridors depends on the political commitment of member states, the European Union policies and financial allocation, and civil society actors. Collaboration between governments and civil society could boost the potential for expansion, ensuring safe and legal entry for more individuals in need.

An Efficient Bio-inspired Technique for Secure Path Planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in a 3D Environment

An Efficient Bio-inspired Technique for Secure Path Planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in a 3D Environment

Social reproduction, interrupted? Motherly labour, educational aspirations, and the work for another life

This article interrogates social reproduction theories and their emphasis on the maintenance of capitalist relationships. In a post-industrial city in Chile, working-class mothers use their care work and housework to ensure that their children, especially daughters, avoid domestic responsibilities and continue their studies as a secure path to a good life. In turn, school-aged girls and young women hope that through education they will become economically independent from future male partners while they help their mothers to ‘move forward’ from poverty and machista relations. This gendered intergenerational dependence evinces how dreams of social mobility are not merely individual aspirations – the aim is to build better collective futures. Ethnographic attention to how mothers’ and daughters’ daily work seeks to interrupt the maintenance of social class and gender relations illustrates how the labour of social reproduction is crucial, not only for the continuation of existing capitalist relations, but also for their potential transformation.

A blockchain-based secure path planning in UAVs communication network

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are one of the most popular and effective systems in various industrial applications such as surveillance, security, and infrastructure inspection. It is gradually becoming an essential part of navigation as a consequence of high progress in military and civilian missions. Path planning of UAVs in military and civilian missions or in unknown and restricted environments is one of the biggest problems facing the operation of UAVs. This problem is not only searching for a path from an initial point to the final but also linked to find an optimal among all possible paths and provides collision avoidance. By examining the best path for UAVs, there is a need for the consideration of various other issues such as security and privacy, turning angle, overtake speed of obstacle, etc. The fundamental problem of UAVs is finding an optimal and secure route in a challenging environment. To overcome these challenges, many researchers have used optimization techniques such as ant colony, particle swarm, artificial bee colony, etc. with planning and coordination. In this paper, a blockchain-based solution is used to secure and authenticate UAVs. Hence, we propose a blockchain-based method that uses a genetic algorithm, which solves both constrained and unconstrained optimization problems. The purpose of this technique is to locate the best possible flight path for the UAVs in a three-dimensional setting. In a genetic algorithm, each iteration is designed to surpass the previous one in terms of improvement. To achieve an ideal route, solving the travelling salesman problem is a crucial step in the proposed approach. Consequently, the blockchain technology offers a reliable wireless communication and a dependable network for UAVs path planning, guaranteeing efficient service. Simulation results demonstrate the impact of the proposed scheme. They show that a genetic algorithm is suitable for optimal path planning for UAVs.

A Harmony-Based Approach for the Evaluation and Regulation of Water Security in the Yellow River Water-Receiving Area of Henan Province

Water security, as a crucial component of national security, plays a significant role in maintaining regional stability and ensuring the healthy and rapid development of the economy and society. The Yellow River water-receiving area of Henan Province (YRWAR-HN) is selected as the research area in this study. Firstly, a comprehensive evaluation index system is constructed based on the actual water security problems of the research area, and the single index quantification–multiple indices syntheses–poly-criteria integration method (SMI-P) is introduced to quantify the water security degree of 14 cities in the YRWAR-HN from 2010 to 2021. Then, the obstacle degree model is used to identify the key obstacle indexes that restrict the improvement of water security. Finally, the harmonious behavior set optimization method is adopted to carry out the regulation of water security, and the improvement path of water security in the YRWAR-HN is formulated. The results indicate the following: (1) the water security degree of the YRWAR-HN shows a fluctuating upward trend, increasing from 0.4348 (2010) to 0.6766 (2021), a significant rise of 55.61%. The water security level improves from the relatively unsafe level to the relatively safe level. Hebi City exhibits the fastest rate of water security improvement, while Xinxiang City shows the slowest rate. (2) The density of the river network (X1) and the proportion of investment in water conservancy and environmental protection in the total investment (X15) are the two indexes with the highest obstacle degree, with the average obstacle degrees being 15.09% and 10.79%, respectively. (3) The combination of the composite regulation scenario and improvement Path 2 is the optimal regulation strategy for water security in the YRWAR-HN. From the implementation process, Luoyang, Sanmenxia, Jiyuan, Xuchang, and Shangqiu may prioritize improving their flood and drought disaster defense capabilities and emergency response capabilities, continuously enhancing the flood prevention and disaster reduction system. Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, Xinxiang, Jiaozuo, Anyang, Hebi, Pingdingshan, and Zhoukou may prioritize resolving the regional water supply and demand conflicts, balancing development and conservation, actively seeking transboundary and external water transfers, and strengthening the capacity for water conservation and intensive utilization. Puyang City may prioritize enhancing its comprehensive water environment management capabilities, increasing investment in water conservancy and the environment, improving production processes, reducing pollutant emissions, and mitigating agricultural non-point source pollution.

HyperWallet: cryptocurrency wallet as a secure hypervisor-based application

We present VirtSecIO, a hypervisor-based platform for executing secure modules. VirtSecIO provides the modules with secure paths to peripheral devices, which can be shared between the modules and the operating system. Moreover, VirtSecIO is a thin hypervisor with a negligible performance overhead and a minimal attack surface. We demonstrate VirtSecIO’s abilities by developing HyperWallet, a secure module that acts as a hardware crypto-wallet, without requiring any dedicated hardware.

Secure paths based trustworthy fault‐tolerant routing in data center networks

Secure paths based trustworthy fault‐tolerant routing in data center networks

Extended producer responsibility in e‐waste recycling: A secure path to a sustainable future for UAE

AbstractThe effective waste management of electrical and electronic equipment gains increasing importance in the modern world. This issue is particularly relevant for the countries of the Middle East region, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to the research objectives, this study employs the method of political and legal analysis. The paper investigates the features of legal regulation and implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies in the waste management of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in the UAE. At the same time, the study aims to analyze the current environmental protection policy and assess the prospects for its development. The research also determines the development directions for the profile environmental policy regarding general priorities in the field of economic development of the country. The results of the study indicate that the country's current policy and legislative regulation in the implementation of EPR are complex and meet modern challenges.

ON THE MIGRATION OF DOMAIN DRIVEN DESIGN TO CQRS WITH EVENT SOURCING SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE

The article addresses the issue of migrating applications, particularly those following the Domain-Driven Design (DDD) architecture, to the Command Query Responsibility Segregation (CQRS) paradigm with Event Sourcing. Long-standing systems often need help with problems related to inflexible, outdated architecture, and dependencies, leading to increased maintenance costs. The paper examines the advantages of DDD and proposes CQRS as a viable alternative, focusing on improving productivity and scalability. The main objective of the work is to assess a secure path for migrating a project from DDD architecture to the CQRS and Event Sourcing architecture and to determine the migration roadmap. The article conducts an experiment in which migration of a test project is performed, evaluating the time, effort, and results of the migration. The research methodology includes evaluating complexity using McCabe's Cyclomatic Complexity metric and assessing performance through the execution time of system methods. The experiment is conducted on a typical project – a task-tracking system. The results of implementing CQRS show a fourfold increase in the number of classes and a 50% increase in the number of lines of code. However, this increase is justified as it improves modularity, transparency, and manageability during development, ultimately facilitating system maintenance and significantly enhancing overall system productivity. It is worth noting that the overall cyclomatic complexity of the system remains almost unchanged. In summary, the article examines the assessment of migrating a project from DDD architecture to CQRS and Event Sourcing, combining theoretical findings with practical experimentation. It provides valuable insights into the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges of implementing CQRS architecture in complex information systems.

A Hybrid Intrusion Detection System to Mitigate Biomedical Malicious Nodes

This paper proposes an intrusion detection system to prevent malicious node attacks that may result in failure links in wireless body area networks. The system utilizes a combination of Optimized Convolutional Neural Networks and Support Vector Machine techniques to classify nodes as malicious or not, and links as failure or not. In case of detection, the system employs a trust-based routing strategy to isolate malicious nodes or failure links and ensure a secure path. Furthermore, sensitive data is encrypted using a modified RSA encryption algorithm. The experimental results demonstrate the improved network performance in terms of data rate, delay, packet delivery ratio, energy consumption, and network security, by providing effective protection against malicious node attacks and failure links. The proposed system achieves the highest classification rate and sensitivity, surpassing similar methods in all evaluation metrics.

The riverside way of life as a spatial attribute for the design practice of Amazonian housing

The production of social housing in the Amazon does not differ from that found in other regions of Brazil, as the lack of adequacy in the projects is a historical and ongoing issue. This essay aims to raise questions about the inadequacy of housing projects for Amazonian cities. Reference is made in this investigation to the Amazonian imaginary, the origins of local ways of living, and the results of research projects already carried out by local researchers. Non-participant observations were also conducted in urban housing areas in the city of Belém. In this sense, it was observed that there are strong indications that the closer to the original way of life of the region's inhabitants, the riverside dwellers, the less likely transformations in housing promoted by the government are to occur. In the study reports, a typological language of riverside dwelling was identified in the modifications made to these state-owned housing units, serving as a mechanism of adaptation in housing. It has been noted that there is a mismatch between the user's needs and state action/production, and understanding the symbolic communications established between people and the built space may likely be beneficial in reducing the existing imbalance between user expectations and project quality in state offerings. Therefore, rethinking the ways of designing and producing architectural living spaces from the local user's perspective is a secure path for the sustainability of the project, encompassing the development of people and space vitality.

Declining demand in the antiques market: insights from an online community

PurposeThis paper aims to study antiques enthusiasts’ perspectives on the recent stagnancy in the antiques market, along with their suggestions on how the antiques trade can forge a more secure path forward.Design/methodology/approachUsing a qualitative analysis approach through netnography, this paper examines archived comments of antiques enthusiasts on a “r/antiques” subreddit.FindingsThis research studies connoisseurs’ insights into the reduction in antiques sales experienced by a wide cross-section of sellers, particularly independent and small business retailers. Specifically, the results of this paper’s discourse analysis show that technological advances on one hand and socioeconomic factors (e.g. income, family structure and lifestyle) on the other hand have had a significant negative impact on demand for antiques. In addition, specific attributes such as authenticity and sustainability emerged as potential key marketing elements for invigorating the broader public’s interest in purchasing antiques.Originality/valueDespite their significant insights into the antiques market, antiques enthusiasts have not received the academic attention they deserve. Through discourse analysis of comments in an online antiques community, this paper draws attention to the vulnerabilities of antiques markets to a protracted climate of slow sales, while highlighting potential strategies on how to turn the tide for struggling antiques stores.

Fuzzy logic‐based trusted routing protocol using vehicular cloud networks for smart cities

AbstractDue to the characteristics of vehicular ad hoc networks, the increased mobility of nodes and the inconsistency of wireless communication connections pose significant challenges for routing. As a result, researchers find it to be a fascinating topic to study. Furthermore, since these networks are vulnerable to various assaults, providing an authentication method between the source and destination nodes is crucial. How to route in such networks more efficiently, taking into account node mobility characteristics and accompanying massive historical data, is still a matter of discussion. Fuzzy logic‐based Trusted Routing Protocol for vehicular cloud networks (FTRP) is proposed in this study that determines the secure path for data dissemination. Fuzzy Logic determines the node candidacy value and selects or rejects a path accordingly. The cloud assigns a confidence score to each vehicle based on the data it collects from nodes after each interaction. Our study identifies the secure path on the basis of trust along with factors such as speed, closeness to other nodes, signal strength and distance from the neighbouring nodes. Simulations of the novel protocol demonstrate that it can keep the packet delivery ratio high with little overhead and low delay. FTRP has significant implications for deploying Vehicular Cloud Networks using electric vehicle technologies in smart cities. The routing data is collected with the help of Internet of Technology (IOT) sensors. The information is transmitted between vehicles using IOT gateways.

Trust aware angle based secure routing approach for wireless sensor network

Security in wireless sensor network (WSN) is an important approach in the present context as data breaching is becoming more. The data to be routed from source to destination needs more security as WSN has no specific security approach by default. This paper proposes trust based security in WSN using approach. The secure line is drawn from head node to its cluster end point called as angle to provide the security to the nodes which are transferring the data to the head node. Secure line becomes the trust worth line where mobile agent migrates to all the corresponding nodes which are along or near to the secure lines, collects the data and encrypt them. Finally, the data is sent to sink node from head node using a secure path. The agent paradigm is responsible for creating the angle from head node to cluster boundary. Multiple angles can be created if numbers of nodes are more and deployed at different locations. The result shows that the security provided is much better to combat the intruder involvement to breach data along with better network lifetime and minimum delay than compare to conventional techniques.

Techniques for Enhancing Security in Industrial Control Systems

Increasingly Industrial Control Systems (ICS) systems are being connected to the Internet to minimise the operational costs and provide additional flexibility. These control systems such as the ones used in power grids, manufacturing and utilities operate continually and have long lifespans measured in decades rather than years as in the case of Information Technology (IT) systems. Such industrial control systems require uninterrupted and safe operation. However, they can be vulnerable to a variety of attacks, as successful attacks on critical control infrastructures could have devastating consequences to the safety of human lives as well as a nation’s security and prosperity. Furthermore, there can be a range of attacks that can target ICS and it is not easy to secure these systems against all known attacks let alone unknown ones. In this paper, we propose a software enabled security architecture using Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) that can enhance the capability to secure industrial control systems. We have designed such an SDN/NFV enabled security architecture and developed a Control System Security Application (CSSA) in SDN Controller for enhancing security in ICS by achieving real time situational awareness and dynamic policy-driven decision making across the network infrastructure. In particular, CSSA can be used for establishing secure path for end-to-end communication between devices and also deal against certain specific attacks namely denial of service attacks, from unpatched vulnerable control system components and securing the communication flows from the legacy devices that do not support any security functionality. We also discuss how CSSA provides reliable paths for safety critical messages in control systems. We discuss the prototype implementation of the proposed architecture and the results obtained from our analysis.

A public static agreement key based cryptography for secure data transmission in WSN based smart environment application

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) is an emerging networking technology that allows for the low-cost, unattended monitoring of a variety of environments, thus WSN technologies have become increasingly important. Simultaneously, lack of security and poor energy efficiency is considered the major concerns in many routing protocols in various existing WSN protocols. Security and energy efficiency concerns are mainly due to the emergence of various kinds of malicious attacks because of advancements in networking technology. To mitigate these issues secured transmission is essential in any routing protocol. In order to provide safe data transfer in WSN-based smart environment applications, the TABEESR protocol (Trust Analysis Based Energy Efficient and Safe Routing) was developed. The proposed routing protocol encompasses four phases such as network creation and node deployment, grading for trust evaluation, route identification process and data transmission. The trust evaluation is performed with the aid of sensor packet features to categorize the positive nodes and negative nodes. The path identification process includes two processes such as cluster head selection through red fox optimization and relay node selection using a fuzzy interference system for energy efficient and secure path selection. A public static agreement key based cryptography technique is introduced for secure data transmission. The proposed TABEESR is tested with MATLAB software to validate its performance. SMEER, SHER, SRPA and AFSA are the prior routing protocols in WSN that are considered to compare the performance of the proposed routing protocol. The proposed TABEESR algorithm attained 95(%) of Average Residual Energy, 91 (%) of packet delivery ratio, 1350 (sec) network lifetime, 0.131 (Mbps) of throughput and 7(%) Packet Loss. Moreover, the proposed PSAKC algorithm attained 5.8 (%) information loss, 3.8 (sec) encryption time, 2.3 (sec) decryption time, 6 (sec) execution time, and 6.5 (J) energy consumption which is better than the prior methods. The proposed routing algorithm is applicable for providing security in both server to device and device to device in various smart applications.

Secure Path Following Control of Autonomous Vehicles Under Actuator Attacks Using Fuzzy Terminal Sliding Mode Control Approach

Secure Path Following Control of Autonomous Vehicles Under Actuator Attacks Using Fuzzy Terminal Sliding Mode Control Approach

An efficient secure and energy resilient trust-based system for detection and mitigation of sybil attack detection (SAN).

In the modern digital market flooded by nearly endless cyber-security hazards, sophisticated IDS (intrusion detection systems) can become invaluable in defending against intricate security threats. Sybil-Free Metric-based routing protocol for low power and lossy network (RPL) Trustworthiness Scheme (SF-MRTS) captures the nature of the biggest threat to the routing protocol for low-power and lossy networks under the RPL module, known as the Sybil attack. Sybil attacks build a significant security challenge for RPL networks where an attacker can distort at least two hop paths and disrupt network processes. Using such a new way of calculating node reliability, we introduce a cutting-edge approach, evaluating parameters beyond routing metrics like energy conservation and actuality. SF-MRTS works precisely towards achieving a trusted network by introducing such trust metrics on secure paths. Therefore, this may be considered more likely to withstand the attacks because of these security improvements. The simulation function of SF-MRTS clearly shows its concordance with the security risk management features, which are also necessary for the network's performance and stability maintenance. These mechanisms are based on the principles of game theory, and they allocate attractions to the nodes that cooperate while imposing penalties on the nodes that do not. This will be the way to avoid damage to the network, and it will lead to collaboration between the nodes. SF-MRTS is a security technology for emerging industrial Internet of Things (IoT) network attacks. It effectively guaranteed reliability and improved the networks' resilience in different scenarios.

Dynamic Path Planning using a modification Q-Learning Algorithm for a Mobile Robot

Robot navigation involves a challenging task: path planning for a mobile robot operating in a changing environment. This work presents an enhanced Q-learning based path planning technique. For mobile robots operating in dynamic environments, an algorithm and a few heuristic searching techniques are suggested. Enhanced Q-learning employs a novel exploration approach that blends Boltzmann and ε-greedy exploration. Heuristic searching techniques are also offered in order to constrict the orientation angle variation range and narrow the search space. In the meantime, the robotics literature of the energy field notes that the decrease in orientation angle and path length is significant. A dynamic reward is suggested to help the mobile robot approach the target location in order to expedite the convergence of the Q-learning and shorten the computation time. There are two sections to the experiments: quick and reassured route planning. With quickly path planning, the mobile robot can reach the objective with the best path length, and with secure path planning, it can avoid obstacles. The superior performance of the suggested strategy is quick and reassured 8-connection Q-learning (Q8CQL) was validated by simulations, comparing it to classical Q-learning and other planning methods in terms of time taken and ideal path.

Ensuring Security and Privacy in loT Ecosystems: A Comprehensive Approach

The Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem introduces significant security and privacy challenges, including public perception, eavesdropping, unwanted public profiles, and vulnerability to hacking. The expanding significance of the IoT in our daily lives raises several security and privacy concerns, such as side-channel attacks, illegal chats, and link-ability. Such problems could jeopardize the IoT if they are not addressed. These are derived from two main reasons. One is that IoT gadgets' restricted processing, memory, and bandwidth capabilities must be improved by directly applying conventional Internet security approaches. Another reason is the need for acknowledged IoT security and privacy standards and the methods necessary to implement them. This research paper aims to propose a comprehensive approach to addressing these challenges. It explores the various security measures and tools, such as network visibility, segmentation, API security, continuous software updates, DNS filtering, education and training, encryption, and multi-factor authentication. This work also emphasizes the importance of user education and awareness in understanding the inherent risks associated with IoT systems. Furthermore, it discusses the need for standardization, compliance, and establishing a secure path for collaboration between social networks and privacy concerns in the IOT ecosystem.