Security Settings Research Articles

Management of COVID-19 Response in a Secure Forensic Mental Health Setting: Réponse à la gestion de la COVID-19 dans un établissement sécurisé de santé mentale et de psychiatrie légale.

Objectives:The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic presents major challenges to places of detention, including secure forensic hospitals. International guidance presents a range of approaches to assist in decreasing the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks as well as responses to manage outbreaks of infection should they occur.Methods:We conducted a literature search on pandemic or outbreak management in forensic mental health settings, including gray literature sources, from 2000 to April 2020. We describe the evolution of a COVID-19 outbreak in our own facility, and the design, and staffing of a forensic isolation unit.Results:We found a range of useful guidance but no published experience of implementing these approaches. We experienced outbreaks of COVID-19 on two secure forensic units with 13 patients and 10 staff becoming positive. One patient died. The outbreaks lasted for 41 days on each unit from declaration to resolution. We describe the approaches taken to reduction of infection risk, social distancing and changes to the care delivery model.Conclusions:Forensic secure settings present major challenges as some proposals for pandemic management such as decarceration or early release are not possible, and facilities may present challenges to achieve sustained social distancing. Assertive testing, cohorting, and isolation units are appropriate responses to these challenges.

The Prevalence and Longitudinal Patterns of Continuous Community Violence Exposure and Trauma-Related Symptoms in Adolescent Male Serious Offenders.

The current study examined the longitudinal patterns of continuous exposure to community violence (ECV) and associated symptoms in serious adolescent male offenders. Using data from the Pathways to Desistance Study (Schubert etal., 2004), the current study examined the prevalence of continuous ECV and the stability in exposure over a 3-year period in 1,170 adolescent male offenders (M age at baseline = 16.05 years, SD = 1.15). The results revealed variability in adolescent offenders' ECV and trauma-related symptoms. A latent class analysis identified three classes of participants at each time point: "witnessed with hostility," "dually exposed [i.e., high probability of both witnessing and victimization] with anxiety and hostility," and "no/low exposure with anxiety and hostility." Participants in the witnessed with hostility class reported more baseline ECV than those in the other classes, ds = 0.62-1.37, and more violent offenses than those in the dually exposed with anxiety and hostility class, d = 0.48. In addition, participants in the witnessed with hostility class were older, d = 0.10, and reported more violent offenses at baseline, d = 0.07, than those in the no/low exposure class; however, participants in the no/low exposure class reported spending more time in secure settings with no community access than those in the witnessed with hostility class, d = 0.20. A latent transition analysis over a 3-year period revealed relatively high stability in ECV and trauma-related symptoms over time, with a large proportion of participants remaining in the same violence and trauma class at each transition.

The impact of the secure custodial setting on re-engaging incarcerated children with education and learning – A case study in the UK

As many as 90 % of incarcerated children and young people enter the secure setting disengaged from education. The nature of the secure custodial setting compounds the complex and challenging needs of the children, though efforts to understand this are limited. This paper reports on an ethnographic case study in one secure children’s home in England. Findings show that children can be re-engaged with education, relatively easily within a short space of time, given the right conditions. However, the secure setting was a defining feature, shaping the extent of this engagement. The implications of these findings are discussed and recommendation made.

The Intention of Passengers towards Repeat Use of Biometric Security for Sustainable Airport Management

More and more these days, airport security is having to adapt to a greater number of passengers while keeping within finer margins of precision when it comes to clearing passengers for security clearance. Therefore, analyzing potential upgrades in the security process and adopting them in a way that does not impact passenger experience has become a key activity for airport managers. One viable technological solution that is not only effective but also efficient is biometric security. This technology allows for passengers to safely clear security based on their unique biometric features. Despite its promise, airports and passengers alike are slow to adopt its use. Additionally, there were few studies that revealed insights into passengers’ intentions toward repeat use of biometric security. Hence, in our novel attempts to uncover the underlying reasons, we implemented a study on passengers’ initial and repeat usage intention based on perceived benefits and risks of biometric security technology. Based on 327 survey responses, we employed the use of SEM to extract first- and second-order constructs before evaluating our hypotheses on a finally accepted model. To be aligned with the novel attempt of this research, the results showed that both the perceived benefits and risks have a significant impact on passenger’s initial and repeat use intention of biometric security. Therefore, for all practitioners engaged in sustainable airport management, strong consideration from this research should help in creating value for passengers while mitigating the risks of adopting biometric security within airport security settings.

APPROACHES TO TRANSFORMATION OF MALADAPTIVE FORMS OF VICTIM BEHAVIOUR AMONG STUDENTS IN SCHOOL EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Background of the research is associated with insufficient coverage of the correction of maladaptive forms of victim behavior in the educational environment. This article provides analysis of the approaches to victim behavior of maladaptive type in national and foreign psychology. This article defines maladaptive forms of victim behavior and describes its characteristics. In foreign researches, the emphasis is on the involvement of parents in the correction of problems of children's behavior. The role of the educational environment in behavior correction is often omitted. The object of the study is to identify the psychological and pedagogical conditions for the transformation of maladaptive forms of victim behavior of a adolescent in the educational space of a school. Methods: The research involved 201 people, of which 119 girls and 82 boys. The causes and correlates of the emergence of victim behavior were identified, with the subsequent inclusion of adolescents in socially useful activities. Results : The substantive content of various types of victim behavior of adolescents was revealed. It also describes non-victim behavior. It highlights and describes the conditions for the effective work on transformation of victim behavior among teenagers. It represents the results of the research of security settings of the educational environment which is also the base for safe behavior. This article also defines the parameters of psychological and pedagogical support which provides the transformation of the teenager behavior. Conclusions: The organization of socially useful activities can be an effective means of transforming maladaptive forms of victim behavior.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of premature mortality in offenders

Abstract Offenders outside secure settings form an under-researched and potentially vulnerable group. This study sought to meta-analytically establish whether community offenders, without mental illnesses, die prematurely compared to non-offender community and population comparison samples. Thirty-six studies met our inclusion criteria (N = 1,116,614). Premature mortality is a significant issue for community offenders in general (OR = 3.42), and for ex-prisoners in particular (OR = 4.51). Offenders were more likely to die from unnatural violent causes (OR = 3.97) and natural causes (OR = 2.06) than non-offenders, with a meta-regression revealing that age was not a significant factor (z = −0.01, p = 0.12). These results suggest that the rates of premature mortality previously found for offenders do not just reflect the impact of mental illness on these individuals, but rather that a life of crime may have a significant physiological impact on the body.

Security and Privacy Requirements for Cloud Computing in Healthcare

Cloud computing promises essential improvements in healthcare delivery performance. However, its wide adoption in healthcare is yet to be seen, one main reason being patients’ concerns for security and privacy of their sensitive medical records. These concerns can be addressed through corresponding security and privacy requirements within the system engineering process. Despite a plethora of related research, security and privacy requirements for cloud systems and services have seldomly been investigated methodically so far, whereas their individual priorities to increase the system success probability have been neglected. Against this background, this study applies a systematic requirements engineering process: First, based on a systematic literature review, an extensive initial set of security and privacy requirements is elicited. Second, an online survey based on the best-worst scaling method is designed, conducted, and evaluated to determine priorities of security and privacy requirements. Our results show that confidentiality and integrity of medical data are ranked at the top of the hierarchy of prioritized requirements, followed by control of data use and modification, patients’ anonymity, and patients’ control of access rights. Availability, fine-grained access control, revocation of access rights, flexible access, clinicians’ anonymity, as well as usability, scalability, and efficiency of the system complete the ranking. The level of agreement among patients is rather small, but statistically significant at the 0.01 level. The main contribution of the present research comprises the study method and results highlighting the role of strong security and privacy and excluding any trade-offs with system usability. Enabling a richer understanding of patients’ security and privacy requirements for adopting cloud computing in healthcare, these are of particular importance to researchers and practitioners interested in supporting the process of security and privacy engineering for health-cloud solutions. It further represents a supplement that can support time-intensive negotiation meetings between the requirements engineers and patients.

Decriminalizing LGBTQ+: Reproducing and resisting mental health inequities.

Secure settings are not queer because lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, Two Spirit, and asexual (LGBTQ+) people populate them, and neither are LGBTQ+ people inherently criminal because they are found in those spaces. Queer people bear disproportionate health, mental health, and social inequities that have had, historically and currently, the effect to criminalize them. This review discusses effective language and ideologies when working with LGBTQ+ people in secure settings. Major health, mental health, and social inequities are reviewed, along with the applied framework of minority stress. Then, the process of criminalization is diagrammed across the phases of predetainment, being in the system, and through re-entering the community. Finally, multilevel strategies are offered to decriminalize LGBTQ+ people ideologically and in practice.

What does social distancing mean for patients in forensic mental health settings?

Abstract Governments across the globe have called for social distancing measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These calls typically request non-essential workers to remain at home, stepping outside only for exercise or to purchase necessary groceries. Secure settings will not be able to comply with these strictly, nor will they have the same recourse to the novel and creative solutions the general population does. Activities have been restricted in quality, quantity and scope; transfers and discharges have been halted and patient progress put on pause. Understanding how and what ways these restrictions will affect patients is crucial. This is especially salient given that large numbers of the general population have reported heightened mental health burden in recent surveys. However, it is not yet clear how and in what ways the COVID-19 restrictions will affect the mental health of patients in secure care. Past research investigating patients experiences of restrictions on autonomy in secure care that were present before the pandemic can be helpful here. Studies suggest that patient experience restrictions in care in myriad subjective ways. These include limitations on family contact, outside leave, and making hot drinks but also more profoundly on their autonomy, sense of self, and personhood. Quantitative studies have found correlations between experiences of restrictiveness and ward atmosphere, quality of life, suicidal ideation, depression and general psychological state in this patient group. This paper suggests how we can use past research exploring patient expereinces of restrictive interventions to guide the implementation of social distancing measures in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Measuring and mitigating OAuth access token abuse by collusion networks

We uncovered a thriving ecosystem of large-scale reputation manipulation services on Facebook that leverage the principle of collusion. Collusion networks collect OAuth access tokens from colluding members and abuse them to provide fake likes or comments to their members. We carried out a comprehensive measurement study to understand how these collusion networks exploited popular third-party Facebook applications with weak security settings to retrieve OAuth access tokens. We infiltrated popular collusion networks using honeypots and identified more than one million colluding Facebook accounts by "milking" these collusion networks. We disclosed our findings to Facebook and collaborated with them to implement a series of countermeasures that mitigated OAuth access token abuse without sacrificing application platform usability for third-party developers.

Fast and Secure Distributed Nonnegative Matrix Factorization

Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) has been successfully applied in several data mining tasks. Recently, there is an increasing interest in the acceleration of NMF, due to its high cost on large matrices. On the other hand, the privacy issue of NMF over federated data is worthy of attention, since NMF is prevalently applied in image and text analysis which may involve leveraging privacy data (e.g, medical image and record) across several parties (e.g., hospitals). In this paper, we study the acceleration and security problems of distributed NMF. Firstly, we propose a distributed sketched alternating nonnegative least squares (DSANLS) framework for NMF, which utilizes a matrix sketching technique to reduce the size of nonnegative least squares subproblems with a convergence guarantee. For the second problem, we show that DSANLS with modification can be adapted to the security setting, but only for one or limited iterations. Consequently, we propose four efficient distributed NMF methods in both synchronous and asynchronous settings with a security guarantee. We conduct extensive experiments on several real datasets to show the superiority of our proposed methods. The implementation of our methods is available at https://github.com/qianyuqiu79/DSANLS.

Secure and efficient multiparty private set intersection cardinality

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>In the field of privacy preserving protocols, Private Set Intersection (PSI) plays an important role. In most of the cases, PSI allows two parties to securely determine the intersection of their private input sets, and no other information. In this paper, employing a Bloom filter, we propose a Multiparty Private Set Intersection Cardinality (MPSI-CA), where the number of participants in PSI is not limited to two. The security of our scheme is achieved in the standard model under the Decisional Diffie-Hellman (DDH) assumption against semi-honest adversaries. Our scheme is flexible in the sense that set size of one participant is independent from that of the others. We consider the number of modular exponentiations in order to determine computational complexity. In our construction, communication and computation overheads of each participant is <inline-formula><tex-math id="M1">\begin{document}$ O(v_{\sf max}k) $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> except that the complexity of the designated party is <inline-formula><tex-math id="M2">\begin{document}$ O(v_1) $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M3">\begin{document}$ v_{\sf max} $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> is the maximum set size, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M4">\begin{document}$ v_1 $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> denotes the set size of the designated party and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M5">\begin{document}$ k $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> is a security parameter. Particularly, our MSPI-CA is the <i>first</i> that incurs <i>linear</i> complexity in terms of set size, namely <inline-formula><tex-math id="M6">\begin{document}$ O(nv_{\sf max}k) $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M7">\begin{document}$ n $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> is the number of participants. Further, we extend our MPSI-CA to MPSI retaining all the security attributes and other properties. As far as we are aware of, there is no other MPSI so far where individual computational cost of each participant is independent of the number of participants. Unlike MPSI-CA, our MPSI does not require any kind of broadcast channel as it uses star network topology in the sense that a designated party communicates with everyone else.

Making sense of complexity: A qualitative investigation into forensic learning disability nurses’ interpretation of the contribution of personal history to offending behaviour

Accessible Summary The role of an individual's personal history is important in influencing their development, especially whether they are likely to offend or engage in violent behaviour Learning disability nurses relationships with those with a history of violence or offending will improve with a more informed knowledge of how someone's offending behaviour is related to their background People with a learning disability can be supported best when the complexity of their lives is fully understood and properly informs the therapeutic relationship. AbstractBackgroundThere is growing recognition that an individual's personal history can be extremely influential in shaping their future experience, though there has been a limited exploration in the context of learning disability and offending behaviour.MethodResearch questions related to participant interpretation of offending behaviour and individual and service responses. A series of focus groups comprising learning disability forensic nurses were conducted across all secure settings, high, medium and low.ResultsThree themes were produced: interpreting offending behaviour; the impact of personal history; responding therapeutically. The difficulties relating to understanding the relationship between offending behaviour and personal history significantly informed the construction of the most effective therapeutic relationships.ConclusionsAn increased focus on the impact of someone's background might inform nursing as it seeks to deliver care to individuals with increasingly complex needs in a time of service transition.

A Novel Approach to Develop and Deploy Preventive Measures for Different Types of DDoS Attacks

In the new era of computers, everyone relies on the internet for basic day-to-day activities to sophisticated and secret tasks. The cyber threats are increasing, not only theft and manipulation of someone's information, but also forcing the victim to deny other requests. A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, which is one of the serious issues in today's cyber world needs to be detected and their advance towards the server should be blocked. In the article, the authors are focusing mainly on preventive measures of different types of DDoS attacks using multiple IPtables rules and Windows firewall advance security settings configuration, which would be feasibly free on any PC. The IPtables when appropriately selected and implemented can establish a relatively secure barrier for the system and the external environment.

On Quantum Chosen-Ciphertext Attacks and Learning with Errors

Large-scale quantum computing poses a major threat to classical public-key cryptography. Recently, strong “quantum access” security models have shown that numerous symmetric-key cryptosystems are also vulnerable. In this paper, we consider classical encryption in a model that grants the adversary quantum oracle access to encryption and decryption, but where we restrict the latter to non-adaptive (i.e., pre-challenge) queries only. We formalize this model using appropriate notions of ciphertext indistinguishability and semantic security (which are equivalent by standard arguments) and call it QCCA 1 in analogy to the classical CCA 1 security model. We show that the standard pseudorandom function ( PRF )-based encryption schemes are QCCA 1 -secure when instantiated with quantum-secure primitives. Our security proofs use a strong bound on quantum random-access codes with shared randomness. Revisiting plain IND − CPA -secure Learning with Errors ( LWE ) encryption, we show that leaking only a single quantum decryption query (and no other leakage or queries of any kind) allows the adversary to recover the full secret key with constant success probability. Information-theoretically, full recovery of the key in the classical setting requires at least a linear number of decryption queries. Our results thus challenge the notion that LWE is unconditionally “just as secure” quantumly as it is classically. The algorithm at the core of our attack is a new variant of the well-known Bernstein–Vazirani algorithm. Finally, we emphasize that our results should not be interpreted as a weakness of these cryptosystems in their stated security setting (i.e., post-quantum chosen-plaintext secrecy). Rather, our results mean that, if these cryptosystems are exposed to chosen-ciphertext attacks (e.g., as a result of deployment in an inappropriate real-world setting) then quantum attacks are even more devastating than classical ones.

Impact of Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) Nutrition Interventions on Breastfeeding Practices, Growth and Mortality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Systematic Review.

Undernutrition is associated with 45% of total infant deaths, totalling 2.7 million globally per year. The vast majority of the burden is felt in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This review aims to assess the effectiveness of infant and young child feeding (IYCF) interventions. We searched multiple databases including Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE. Title/abstract screening and full-text screening and data extraction filtered 77 studies for inclusion. Breastfeeding education interventions (n = 38) showed 20% increase in rates of early initiation of breastfeeding, 102% increase in exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) at 3 months and 53% increase in EBF at 6 months and 24% decreases in diarrheal diseases. Complementary feeding education intervention (n=12) showed a 0.41 standard deviation (SD) increase in WAZ, and 0.25 SD in HAZ in food secure setting. Complementary food provision with or without education (n=17) showed a 0.14 SD increase in HAZ and 36% decrease in stunting. Supplementary food interventions (n=12) showed a significant 0.15 SD increase in WHZ. Subgroup analyses showed healthcare professional led interventions were largely more effective, especially on breastfeeding outcomes. We believe this is a comprehensive review of the existing literature on IYCF studies in LMICs. Though breastfeeding education is well supported in its effectiveness on breastfeeding practices, limited evidence exists for growth outcomes. Supplementation interventions seem to have better effects at improving growth. However, more research is required to reach more substantial conclusions.

Development of the Midlands Secure Setting Managed Clinical Network

Development of the Midlands Secure Setting Managed Clinical Network

Prioritization of Information Security Controls through Fuzzy AHP for Cloud Computing Networks and Wireless Sensor Networks.

With the advent of cloud computing and wireless sensor networks, the number of cyberattacks has rapidly increased. Therefore, the proportionate security of networks has become a challenge for organizations. Information security advisors of organizations face difficult and complex decisions in the evaluation and selection of information security controls that permit the defense of their resources and assets. Information security controls must be selected based on an appropriate level of security. However, their selection needs intensive investigation regarding vulnerabilities, risks, and threats prevailing in the organization as well as consideration of the implementation, mitigation, and budgetary constraints of the organization. The goal of this paper was to improve the information security control analysis method by proposing a formalized approach, i.e., fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). This approach was used to prioritize and select the most relevant set of information security controls to satisfy the information security requirements of an organization. We argue that the prioritization of the information security controls using fuzzy AHP leads to an efficient and cost-effective assessment and evaluation of information security controls for an organization in order to select the most appropriate ones. The proposed formalized approach and prioritization processes are based on International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 27001:2013. But in practice, organizations may apply this approach to any information security baseline manual.

Evaluating neuropsychologically informed rehabilitation training for staff within a high secure intellectual disability service

Purpose Neuropsychologically informed rehabilitation (NIR) is one approach to supporting people with intellectual disabilities, cognitive impairment and challenging behaviour. This study aims to evaluate a five-day training course in NIR for staff working with adult male offenders with intellectual disabilities in a high secure hospital. The impacts on both the staff who undertook the training and the patients with challenging behaviour were explored. Design/methodology/approach Participants were psychology, nursing and day services staff and male patients. The staff completed a post-training questionnaire and three measures at pre-NIR training, post-NIR training and one-year follow-up. Patients completed four questionnaire measures within the same periods. Findings NIR training was positively evaluated by staff. Staff members’ perceived efficacy in working with challenging behaviour significantly increased post-training which was maintained at follow-up. Thematic analysis showed that the training staff members built their confidence, knowledge and skills. Because of these being high to start with, the study could not evidence statistically significant changes in these. Thematic analysis yielded two main themes, namely, benefits and quality of training, each with their own subthemes. The impacts of the training on patients were difficult to assess related to various factors. Research limitations/implications The knowledge and confidence measures used were limited in scope with an experienced staff group and required development. Practical implications NIR training could assist staff in other secure and community settings in working with people with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviours. Originality/value This study positively contributes to an area that requires more research.

Alternative futures for Government of Canada debt management

PurposeThis paper aims to present four blue-sky ideas for lowering the cost of the Government of Canada’s debt without increasing the debt’s risk profile.Design/methodology/approachThe authors argue that each idea would improve the secondary-market liquidity of government debt, thereby increasing the demand for government bonds, and thus, lowering their cost at issuance.FindingsThe first two ideas would improve liquidity by enhancing the active management of the government’s debt through market operations used to support the liquidity of outstanding bonds. The second two ideas would simplify the set of securities issued by the government, concentrating issuance in a smaller set of bonds that would each be more highly traded.Originality/valueThe authors discuss the ideas and give an account of the political, legal and operational impediments.