Journal of Internet Services and Applications

A Protocol for Solving Certificate Poisoning for the OpenPGP Keyserver Network

2024-04-15T13:49:38+00:00

The OpenPGP encryption standard builds on a transitive trust distribution model for identity assertion, using a non-authenticated, distributed keyserver network for key distribution and discovery. An attack termed “certificate poisoning”, surfaced in 2019 and consisting in adding excessive trust signatures from inexistent actors to the victim key so that it is no longer usable, has endangered the continued operation of said keyserver network. In this article, we explore a protocol modification in the key acceptance and synchronization protocol termed First-party attested third-party certification that, without requiring the redeployment of updated client software, prevents the ill effects of certificate poisoning without breaking compatibility with the OpenPGP installed base. We also discuss some potential challenges and limitations of this approach, providing recommendations for its adoption.

Towards a Decentralized Blockchain-Based Resource Monitoring Solution For Distributed Environments

2024-01-08T20:25:26+00:00

The increasing number of connected users and devices to Cloud, Fog, and Edge environments encouraged the creation of many applications and services in the most varied areas and domains. Such services are highly distributed on top of heterogeneous infrastructures that require real-time monitoring. The monitoring process may be considered a complex task since it requires experienced users and robust cloud-based solutions to support the most varied needs in such scenarios. The main problem relies on the centralization of the monitoring approaches for cloud-centric solutions that represent a central point of failure in end-to-end communication, compromising the application's security and performance in case of high latency or downtime. In this context, blockchain networks enable exciting features such as decentralization, immutability, and traceability with higher security levels. This work is towards a blockchain-based and decentralized resource monitoring solution for distributed environments. The proposed solution integrates blockchain technology to continuously monitor, store, and safely broadcast Operating System performance counters in a highly decentralized fashion. The results demonstrated that a blockchain-based monitoring tool based on Smart Contract is feasible and that it may serve as an entry point for varied solutions for monitoring, security, scheduling, and so on.

Hardware-Independent Embedded Firmware Architecture Framework

2024-01-22T18:47:59+00:00

Unlike other forms of development, the way firmware development is designed is somewhat outdated. It is not unusual to come across whole systems implemented in a cross-dependent monolithic way. In addition, the software of many implementations is hardware-dependent. Hence, significant hardware changes may result in extensive firmware implementation reviews that can be time-consuming and lead to low-quality ports, which may represent an important problem for Internet of Things (IoT) applications that evolve very frequently. To address this problem, this study proposes an embedded firmware development framework that allows reuse and portability while improving the firmware development life cycle. In addition, the typical mistakes of a novice software developer can be reduced by employing this methodology. An embedded IoT system project was refactored for this framework model to validate this proposal. Finally, a comparison was made between a legacy and framework project to demonstrate that the proposed framework can make a substantial improvement in portability, reuse, modularity, and other firmware factors.

MEDAVET: Traffic Vehicle Anomaly Detection Mechanism based on spatial and temporal structures in vehicle traffic

2024-04-03T23:44:17+00:00

Road traffic anomaly detection is vital for reducing the number of accidents and ensuring a more efficient and safer transportation system. In highways, where traffic volume and speed limits are high, anomaly detection is not only essential but also considerably more challenging, given the multitude of fast-moving vehicles, often observed from extended distances and diverse angles, occluded by other objects, and subjected to variations in illumination and adverse weather conditions. This complexity has meant that human error often limits anomaly detection, making the role of computer vision systems integral to its success. In light of these challenges, this paper introduces MEDAVET - a sophisticated computer vision system engineered with an innovative mechanism that leverages spatial and temporal structures for high-precision traffic anomaly detection on highways. MEDAVET is assessed in its object tracking and anomaly detection efficacy using the UA-DETRAC and Track 4 benchmarks and has its performance compared with that of an array of state-of-the-art systems. The results have shown that, when MEDAVET’s ability to delimit relevant areas of the highway, through a bipartite graph and the Convex Hull algorithm, is paired with its QuadTree-based spatial and temporal approaches for detecting occluded and stationary vehicles, it emerges as superior in precision, compared to its counterparts, and with a competitive computational efficiency.

Recovery of the secret on Binary Ring-LWE problem using random known bits - Extended Version

2024-03-21T14:33:20+00:00

There are cryptographic systems that are secure against attacks by both quantum and classical computers. Some of these systems are based on the Binary Ring-LWE problem which is presumed to be difficult to solve even on a quantum computer. This problem is considered secure for IoT (Internet of things) devices with limited resources. In Binary Ring-LWE, a polynomial a is selected randomly and a polynomial b is calculated as b = a.s + e where the secret s and the noise e are polynomials with binary coefficients. The polynomials b and a are public and the secret s is hard to find. However, there are Side Channel Attacks that can be applied to retrieve some coefficients (random known bits) of s and e. In this work, we analyze that the secret s can be retrieved successfully having at least 50% of random known bits of s and e.

Towards spatiotemporal integration of bus transit with data-driven approaches

2024-04-03T23:45:42+00:00

This study aims to propose an approach for spatiotemporal integration of bus transit, which enables users to change bus lines by paying a single fare. This could increase bus transit efficiency and, consequently, help to make this mode of transportation more attractive. Usually, this strategy is allowed for a few hours in a non-restricted area; thus, certain walking distance areas behave like "virtual terminals". For that, two data-driven algorithms are proposed in this work. First, a new algorithm for detecting itineraries based on bus GPS data and the bus stop location. The proposed algorithm's results show that 90% of the database detected valid itineraries by excluding invalid markings and adding times at missing bus stops through temporal interpolation. Second, this study proposes a bus stop clustering algorithm to define suitable areas for these virtual terminals where it would be possible to make bus transfers outside the physical terminals. Using real-world origin-destination trips, the bus network, including clusters, can reduce traveled distances by up to 50%, at the expense of making twice as many connections on average.