Types Of Adversaries Research Articles

A provably secure identity-based strong designated verifier proxy signature scheme from bilinear pairings

The proxy signature, a variant of the ordinary digital signature, has been an active research topic in recent years; it has many useful applications, including distributed systems and grid computing. Although many identity-based proxy signature schemes have been proposed in the literature, only a few proposals for identity-based strong designated verifier proxy signature (ID-SDVPS) schemes are available. However, it has been found that most of the ID-SDVPS schemes that have been proposed to date are not efficient in terms of computation and security, and a computationally efficient and secured ID-SDVPS scheme using elliptic curve bilinear pairing has been proposed in this paper. The security of the scheme is mainly based on the hardness assumption of CDH and GBDH problems in the random oracle model, which is existentially unforgeable against different types of adversaries. Furthermore, the security of our scheme is simulated in the AVISPA (Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications) software, a widely used automated internet protocol validation tool, and the simulation results confirm strong security against both active and passive attacks. In addition, because of a high processing capability and supporting additional security features, the scheme is suitable for the environments in which less computational cost with strong security is required.

Certificate‐based verifiably encrypted RSA signatures

AbstractThe RSA signature scheme is one of the most popular signature schemes to date. This paper proposes a certificate‐based verifiably encrypted RSA signature scheme that is the first to accomplish optimistic fair exchange of the standard RSA signatures. The main characteristic of this scheme is that the signer can unilaterally choose a certificate authority as his/her adjudicator in fair exchange. Then a certificate, or generally, a signature, acts not only as the binding of the public key and its holder but also as the certificate authority's guarantee against partiality in adjudication. We introduce a strong security model, in which there are three types of inside adversaries with more power than outside adversaries in previous verifiably encrypted RSA signature schemes. We then show that the proposed scheme is existentially unforgeable under the Discrete Logarithm (DL) assumption, the Computational Diffile‐Dellman (CDH) assumption, and the RSA assumption in the random oracle model. Because the proposed scheme can be directly used in the current Public‐Key Infrastructure (PKI) environment, it is more practical and trustworthy than the previous schemes in the real world. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

On the Security of a Certificateless Proxy Signature Scheme with Message Recovery

A proxy signature scheme allows a proxy signer to sign messages on behalf of an original signer within a given context. It has lots of practical applications in distributed systems, grid computing, mobile agent applications, distributed shared object systems, global distribution networks, and mobile communications. Recently, Padhye et al. proposed a certificateless proxy signature scheme with message recovery and claimed the scheme is secure against both of the two types of adversaries. However, in this paper, we will show that Padhye et al.’s scheme is not secure against the Type I adversary. The analysis shows their scheme is not secure for practical applications.

Thwarting Control-Channel Jamming Attacks from Inside Jammers

Coordination of network functions in wireless networks requires frequent exchange of control messages among participating nodes. Typically, such messages are transmitted over a universally known communication channel referred to as the control channel. Due to its critical role, this channel can become a prime target of Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks. In this paper, we address the problem of preventing control-channel DoS attacks manifested in the form of jamming. We consider a sophisticated adversary who has knowledge of the protocol specifics and of the cryptographic quantities used to secure network operations. This type of adversary cannot be prevented by antijamming techniques that rely on shared secrets, such as spread spectrum. We propose new security metrics to quantify the ability of the adversary to deny access to the control channel, and introduce a randomized distributed scheme that allows nodes to establish and maintain the control channel in the presence of the jammer. Our method is applicable to networks with static or dynamically allocated spectrum. Furthermore, we propose two algorithms for unique identification of the set of compromised nodes, one for independently acting nodes and one for colluding nodes. Detailed theoretical evaluation of the security metrics and extensive simulation results are provided to demonstrate the efficiency of our methods in mitigating jamming and identifying compromised nodes.

Provably secure certificateless strong designated verifier signature scheme based on elliptic curve bilinear pairings

Diffie and Hellman first invented the public key cryptosystem (PKC) wherein the public key infrastructure (PKI) is used for the management of public keys; however, the PKI-based cryptosystems suffer from heavy management trouble of public keys and certificates. An alternative solution to the PKI is Shamir’s identity-based cryptosystems (IBC), which eliminate the need of public key certificates; however, the most important shortcoming of IBC is the key escrow problem. To cope with these problems, Al-Riyami and Paterson proposed a novel scheme of certificateless PKC (CL-PKC) by combining the advantages of PKI and IBC. Since then, several certificateless signature schemes have been designed and most of them have been analyzed and proven insecure against different types of adversaries. Besides, the researchers have given very less attention to the certificateless strong designated verifier signature (CL-SDVS) scheme. Therefore, we proposed a CL-SDVS scheme using elliptic curve bilinear parings in this paper. Our scheme, which is provably secure in the random oracle model with the intractability of BDH and CDH assumptions, supports all desirable security necessities of the CL-SDVS scheme such as strongness, source hiding and non-delegatability. The rigorous security analysis and comparison with others guarantee the better performance of the proposed scheme.

Secured hierarchical secret sharing using ECC based signcryption

ABSTRACTMost of the existing hierarchical secret‐sharing schemes are unconditionally (non‐cryptographically) secured, and they cannot survive from various types of attacks especially when the participants use resource‐constrained wireless mobile devices. In our proposed secured hierarchical secret‐sharing scheme, the participants are partitioned into different levels according to their ranks in any organization. In this hierarchy‐based secret‐sharing scheme, the trusted dealer distributes the delegated secret keys as shares to the participants through our proposed signcryption scheme that reduces computational cost and communication overhead. Again, the participants submit the signcrypted shares to the trusted dealer for reconstruction of the secret key. The proposed scheme distinguishes each level of hierarchy qualitatively, and any type of active or passive adversary or colluding participants cannot reconstruct the secret key. The novelty of our scheme is that it is conditionally (cryptographically) as well as unconditionally secured, and the participants may use resource‐constrained wireless mobile devices. The access structure chosen for our scheme increases the resilience of our scheme. Our proposed scheme is perfect and ideal. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Nanotechnology for Chemical and Biological Defense - By Margaret E. Kosal

Nanotechnology for Chemical and Biological Defense - By Margaret E. Kosal

SISG: self‐immune automated signature generation for polymorphic worms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a self‐immune automated signature generation (SISG) for polymorphic worms which is able to work well, even while being attacked by any types of malicious adversary and produces global‐suited signatures other than local‐suited signatures for its distributed architecture. Through experimentations, the method is thereafter evaluated.Design/methodology/approach – The ideal worm signature exist in each copy of the corresponding worm, but never in other worm categories and normal network traffic. SISG compares each worm copy and extract the same components, then produces the worm signature from the components which must achieve low‐false positive and low‐false negative. SISG is immune from the most attacks by filtering the harmful noise made by malicious adversaries before signature generation.Findings – NOP sled, worm body and descriptor are not good to be signature because they can be confused intricately by polymorphic engines. Protocol frames may not suit to...

Unconditionally reliable and secure message transmission in undirected synchronous networks: possibility, feasibility and optimality

We study the interplay of network connectivity and the issues related to the 'possibility', 'feasibility' and 'optimality' for unconditionally reliable message transmission (URMT) and unconditionally secure message transmission (USMT) in an undirected synchronous network, under the influence of an adaptive mixed adversary having unbounded computing power, who can corrupt some of the nodes in the network in Byzantine, omission, fail-stop and passive fashion respectively. We consider two types of adversary, namely threshold and non-threshold. One of the important conclusions we arrive at from our study is that allowing a negligible error probability significantly helps in the 'possibility', 'feasibility' and 'optimality' of both reliable and secure message transmission protocols. To design our protocols, we propose several new techniques which are of independent interest.

Using Game Theory for Los Angeles Airport Security

Security at major locations of economic or political importance is a key concern around the world, particularly given the threat of terrorism. Limited security resources prevent full security coverage at all times, which allows adversaries to observe and exploit patterns in selective patrolling or monitoring; for example, they can plan an attack avoiding existing patrols. Hence, randomized patrolling or monitoring is important, but randomization must provide distinct weights to different actions based on their complex costs and benefits. To this end, this article describes a promising transition of the latest in multiagent algorithms into a deployed application. In particular, it describes a software assistant agent called AR MOR (assistant for randomized monitoring over routes) that casts this patrolling and monitoring problem as a Bayesian Stackelberg game, allowing the agent to appropriately weigh the different actions in randomization, as well as uncertainty over adversary types. ARMOR combines two key features. It uses the fastest known solver for Bayesian Stackelberg games called DOBSS, where the dominant mixed strategies enable randomization; and its mixed‐initiative‐based interface allows users occasionally to adjust or override the automated schedule based on their local constraints. ARMOR has been successfully deployed since August 2007 at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to randomize checkpoints on the roadways entering the airport and canine patrol routes within the airport terminals. This article examines the information, design choices, challenges, and evaluation that went into de signing ARMOR.

Coordinating randomized policies for increasing security of agent systems

We consider the problem of providing decision support to a patrolling or security service in an adversarial domain. The idea is to create patrols that can achieve a high level of coverage or reward while taking into account the presence of an adversary. We assume that the adversary can learn or observe the patrolling strategy and use this to its advantage. We follow two different approaches depending on what is known about the adversary. If there is no information about the adversary we use a Markov Decision Process (MDP) to represent patrols and identify randomized solutions that minimize the information available to the adversary. This lead to the development of algorithms CRLP and BRLP, for policy randomization of MDPs. Second, when there is partial information about the adversary we decide on efficient patrols by solving a Bayesian---Stackelberg games. Here, the leader decides first on a patrolling strategy and then an adversary, of possibly many adversary types, selects its best response for the given patrol. We provide two efficient MIP formulations named DOBSS and ASAP to solve this NP-hard problem. Our experimental results show the efficiency of these algorithms and illustrate how these techniques provide optimal and secure patrolling policies. We note that these models have been applied in practice, with DOBSS being at the heart of the ARMOR system that is currently deployed at the Los Angeles International airport (LAX) for randomizing checkpoints on the roadways entering the airport and canine patrol routes within the airport terminals.

Secure vehicular communication systems: design and architecture

Significant developments have taken place over the past few years in the area of vehicular communication (VC) systems. Now, it is well understood in the community that security and protection of private user information are a prerequisite for the deployment of the technology. This is so, precisely because the benefits of VC systems, with the mission to enhance transportation safety and efficiency, are at stake. Without the integration of strong and practical security and privacy enhancing mechanisms, VC systems could be disrupted or disabled, even by relatively unsophisticated attackers. We address this problem within the SeVeCom project, having developed a security architecture that provides a comprehensive and practical solution. We present our results in a set of two papers in this issue. In this first one, we analyze threats and types of adversaries, we identify security and privacy requirements, and we present a spectrum of mechanisms to secure VC systems. We provide a solution that can be quickly adopted and deployed. In the second paper, we present our progress towards the implementation of our architecture and results on the performance of the secure VC system, along with a discussion of upcoming research challenges and our related current results.

Certificate-based verifiably encrypted signatures from pairings

We propose a new verifiably encrypted signature scheme from pairings by choosing a certificate authority (CA) as an adjudicator. In this scheme, a certificate, or generally, a signature acts not only as the binding of the public key and its holder, but also as CA’s guarantee against partiality in adjudication. Under the CDH assumption and in the random oracle model, we show that the new scheme is EUF-CMA secure in a stronger security model. In this security model, there are three types of inside adversaries with more power than those in previous verifiably encrypted signature schemes. The proposed scheme can solve the authentication problem of public keys and relax excessive reliance on the trustworthiness of the adjudicator so that the adjudicator only needs to be trusted by the signer. Hence, the fair exchange protocols of signatures based on the new scheme is more trustworthy and practical than the previous ones.

Certificateless undeniable signature scheme

In this paper, we present the first certificateless undeniable signature scheme. The scheme does not suffer from the key escrow problem, which is inherent in identity based cryptosystems. Also it can avoid the onerous management of certificates. Particularly, by using some cryptographic and mathematical techniques, we guarantee that the scheme’s two component protocols satisfy the properties of zero-knowledge proofs. To address the security issues, we extend security notions of undeniable signatures to the complex certificateless setting, and consider two different types of adversaries. Based on these formally defined security notions, we prove that in the random oracle model, the certificateless undeniable signature scheme is secure in the sense of existential unforgeability under the Bilinear Diffie–Hellman assumption, and is secure in the sense of invisibility under the Decisional Bilinear Diffie–Hellman assumption.

U.S. Strategic War Planning After 9/11

The U.S. Department of Defense is implementing the 2001 Nuclear Posture Review's requirement to create a “New Triad” of offensive and defensive capabilities. Advocates assert the new posture is necessary to change U.S. deterrence posture from a “one-size-fits-all” plan focused on the Soviet Union to a global posture designed to better deter or defeat all sizes and types of adversaries. This article describes how new policy guidance is reshaping U.S. strategic planning, converting the top-heavy Cold War Single Integrated Operational Plan into a “family” of smaller, flexible plans designed to threaten potential adversaries anywhere on earth and explores how the responses of these adversaries may help to undermine the nonproliferation regime.

The 2006 Lebanon War: Lessons Learned

To critics of airpower, Israel's 2006 with Hizballah exposed the fallacy that targeting centers of gravity, such as population, command and control, and infrastructure could coerce the adversary into surrendering, and that airpower could obviate the need for land forces and independently win wars. Given Israel's unexpected challenges in waging the Lebanon war, airpower and then Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, seen as the overzealous proponent of airpower, became easy targets in after-action reports, criticism that ultimately led to Halutz's resignation and replacement by Gaby Ashkenazi, a former infantry commander. (1) But does the Lebanon warrant a swing of the strategic pendulum back towards favoring ground forces? What contributed to Israel's unprecedented military challenges in confronting Hizballah? What are the appropriate strategic lessons to glean from the summer 2006 in Lebanon? In examining the Lebanon campaign, this article highlights three weaknesses in the Israeli strategy. First, the Israeli leadership's faith in airpower as an antiseptic, low-casualty answer for modern warfare clouded the possibility of other strategies that may have been more effective in achieving its objectives. Second, the leadership suffered from the classic fighting the last war mentality, internalizing the lessons from a military campaign-namely Kosovo--in which airpower was successful and applying it to an incongruous environment. Third, airpower was ultimately counterproductive against an asymmetric adversary such as Hizballah. By launching mobile katyusha rockets from holy sites and schools, Hizballah virtually ensured that Israel would inflict civilian casualties; through its strategic use of the media, Hizballah used the collateral damage to intensify support for its ideology and recruitment. In this asymmetric environment, airpower and perhaps military force more generally may be limited in their effectiveness. As this article suggests, only a comprehensive strategy that integrates airpower and military force into a broader political strategy will ultimately bring this type of adversary to its knees. The Airpower Debate Proponents and opponents of airpower have debated its use for almost 100 years, taking on both the general utility and applications of airpower compared to ground forces. Soon after the advent of aircraft, and with World War I stagnating in the trenches, General Giulio Douhet of the Italian General Staff saw airpower as the way out of the standstill. He envisioned the use of bombers to render the enemy useless by destroying their cities, population, and will to fight; command of the air, Douhet promised, would translate into victory. (2) His contemporary, Brigadier General William (Billy) Mitchell, responsible for US air units in France during WWI, shared Douhet's view though he applied it more judiciously, arguing that if airpower successfully targeted transportation and industry, it could defeat the adversary. Mitchell, like Douhet, tirelessly promoted the view that airpower should transform what he saw as the atavistic reliance on land and sea forces. Both men found their views heavily challenged by senior leaders, and Billy Mitchell's efforts to prove the value of airpower by sinking German battleships during peacetime (the 1920s) ended with his court-martial and resignation from the military. The Cold War's airpower advocates, including Curtis LeMay, chief of Strategic Air Command--responsible for the US bomber and missile-based nuclear arsenal--further cemented the reputation that the use of airpower meant strategic bombers to the exclusion of tactical air and ground support operations, let alone other instruments of power, whether military or diplomatic. Colonel John Warden (USAF Retired) more elegantly conceptualized the logic behind airpower and strategic bombing by defining the adversary's centers of gravity and explaining how airpower would cause physical paralysis and eventually lead to the enemy's resignation. …

A high availability internetwork capable of accommodating compromised routers

It is a myth the Internet has been designed to withstand a denial of service attack. At the BlackHat 2005 conference it was shown that potential attacks against routers are far from hypothetical. These attacks are about compromising the integrity of routers and hence the Internet. Current TCP/IP protocols, even including IPsec, do not have the resilience to deal with routers taken over by the adversary. Indeed, IPsec only provides point-to-point cryptography---hence if a point is compromised, it fails. We survey the research done in the area of how to communicate reliably and/or privately in the presence of different types of adversary, particularly denial of service attacks against nodes/routers. Evidently, if the adversary can control all nodes (routers) in the network, no solution exists. The nodes that can be attacked by the adversary can be described using a threshold, or by what is called an adversary structure. The types of network in question can be point-to-point or broadcast/multicast.

Knowledge, probability, and adversaries

What should it mean for an agent to know or believe an assertion is true with probability 9.99? Different papers [2, 6, 15] give different answers, choosing to use quite different probability spaces when computing the probability that an agent assigns to an event. We show that each choice can be understood in terms of a betting game. This betting game itself can be understood in terms of three types of adversaries influencing three different aspects of the game. The first selects the outcome of all nondeterministic choices in the system; the second represents the knowledge of the agent's opponent in the betting game (this is the key place the papers mentioned above differ); and the third is needed in asynchronous systems to choose the time the bet is placed. We illustrate the need for considering all three types of adversaries with a number of examples. Given a class of adversaries, we show how to assign probability spaces to agents in a way most appropriate for that class, where “most appropriate” is made precise in terms of this betting game. We conclude by showing how different assignments of probability spaces (corresponding to different opponents) yield different levels of guarantees in probabilistic coordinated attack.

Political Consequences of Military Strategy: Expanding and Refining the Spiral and Deterrence Models

Analyses of military strategy often overlook its political consequences—its effect on the adversary's basic goals and understanding of the defender's resolve. As a result, they prescribe the wrong type of military policy and reduce states' security. This article explores how a variety of factors interact to produce political consequences. These factors include the type of adversary (specifically, its motives for expansion); the type of military strategy the defender adopts (offensive or defensive and unilateral or bilateral); the source of the adversary's misperceptions; and the process through which political consequences are generated. The article reformulates Jervis's spiral and deterrence models and argues that they overlook types of adversaries, including most importantly insecure greedy states; that shifts in the adversary's balance of domestic power offer an alternative to individual learning as the basic way in which political consequences are generated; that national-level failures of evaluation provide an alternative source of exaggerated insecurity; and that these differences can require the defender to follow different policies. Final sections explore military options for managing political consequences and implications for U.S. security policy.

Flexible Work Organisation: Inferences from Britain and Australia

Against the background of much debate in Australia and New Zealand about micro-economic reform and award restructuring, this article outlines several critical analyses of fragmented work organisation. From eight types of employment flexibility (summarised in an appendix), it focuses on job flexibility, and argues that employers in an adversarial (Type I) industrial relations context tend to have less job (functional) flexibility but more numerical flexibility than those in a more consensual (Type II) context. Yet there have been recent moves towards greater job flexibility in Australia, Britain and other English-speaking countries, which can be characterised as having traditionally provided a predominantly adversarial context. Some such moves have been associated with Japanese influences and new styles of industrial awards and agreements. The article includes four propositions which may guide future research. It proposes longitudinal research on job flexibility, using an audit of work organisation. Such an audit could be of benefit to practitioners and to those seeking to explain changing forms of work organisation.