Biblio

Heterogeneity of future networks requires the use of extensible models to understand the Security and QoS tradeoff. We believe that a good starting point is to analyze the Security and QoS tradeoff from a parametric point of view and, for this reason, in a previous paper, we defined the Parametric Rela- tionship Model (PRM) to define relationships between Security and QoS parameters. In this paper, we extend that approach in order to change the behaviour of the model so that different contexts in the same system are considered; that is, to provide a Context-based Parametric Relationship Model (CPRM). The final aim is to provide useful tools for system administrators in order to help them deal with Security and QoS tradeoff issues in the configuration of the environment. 

Context-based Parametric Relationship Models (CPRMs) reduce the complexity of working with various numbers of parameters and dependencies, by adding particular contexts to the final scheme when it is required, dynamically. In this paper the cost of including new information in CPRM is properly analysed, considering the information in the parametric trees defined for the parameters in the CPRM-based system. Some strategies for mitigating the cost of the instantiation process are proposed.

In this paper, we analyze how key compromise affects the protocol by Nguyen et al. presented at ESORICS 2016, an authenticated key agreement protocol mediated by a proxy entity, restricted to only symmetric encryption primitives and intended for IoT environments. This protocol uses long-term encryption tokens as intermediate values during encryption and decryption procedures, which implies that these can be used to encrypt and decrypt messages without knowing the cor- responding secret keys. In our work, we show how key compromise (or even compromise of encryption tokens) allows to break forward secu- rity and leads to key compromise impersonation attacks. Moreover, we demonstrate that these problems cannot be solved even if the affected user revokes his compromised secret key and updates it to a new one. The conclusion is that this protocol cannot be used in IoT environments, where key compromise is a realistic risk. 

El análisis conjunto de mecanismos de seguridad y QoS es esencial para las redes heterogéneas donde diversos dispositivos pueden coexistir en entornos dinámicos. En concreto, los dispositivos no siempre pueden ser conocidos, por lo que diferentes requisitos y mecanismos pueden surgir para el análisis. En este artículo, proponemos una herramienta para facilitar la configuración de entornos basada en el análisis paramétrico de dependencias, tomando como base de conocimiento un conjunto de parámetros de seguridad y QoS. Esta forma de análisis de parámetros a alto nivel permite considerar las dependencias y la compensación entre mecanismos con independencia del sistema de información subyacente. Posibilita por tanto evaluar el impacto que tales mecanismos, y otros definidos acorde al modelo, tienen sobre un sistema previo a su despliegue. 

El paradigma de la Internet de los Objetos, donde todos aquellos objetos físicos que nos rodean tendrán la capacidad de generar y consumir información en el ámbito de un mundo virtual, se encuentra cada vez más cerca. Es ahora un buen momento para llamar la atención sobre sus principales desafíos de seguridad, tanto desde un punto de vista global como asociados a sus elementos más importantes (la tecnología RFID y las redes de sensores). Así, este paradigma puede ser plenamente comprendido y protegido, evolucionando hacia uno de los nuevos pilares del futuro.

Today, mobile platforms are multimedia devices that provide different types of traffic with the consequent particular performance demands and, besides, security concerns (e.g. privacy). However, Security and QoS requirements quite often conflict to a large degree; the mobility and heterogeneous paradigm of the Future Internet makes coexistence even more difficult, posing new challenges to overcome. Probably, one of the main challenges is to identify the specific reasons why Security and QoS mechanisms are so related to each other. In this paper, we present a Parametric Relationship Model (PRM) to identify the Security and QoS dependencies, and to elaborate on the Security and QoS tradeoff. In particular, we perform an analysis that focus on the mobile platform environment and, consequently, also considers subjective parameters such user’s experience, that is crucial for increasing the usability of new solutions in the Future Internet. The final aim of our contribution is to facilitate the development of secure and efficient services for mobile platforms.

The Internet of Things (IoT) promises to revolutionize the way we interact with the physical world. Even though this paradigm is still far from being completely realized, there already exist Sensing-as-a-Service (S2aaS) platforms that allow users to query for IoT data. While this model offers tremendous benefits, it also entails increasingly challenging privacy issues. In this paper, we concentrate on the protection of user privacy when querying sensing devices through a semi-trusted S2aaS platform. In particular, we build on techniques inspired by proxy re-encryption and k-anonymity to tackle two intertwined problems, namely query privacy and query confidentiality. The feasibility of our solution is validated both analytically and empirically. 

This paper presents security of Internet of things. In the Internet of Things vision, every physical object has a virtual component that can produce and consume services Such extreme interconnection will bring unprecedented convenience and economy, but it will also require novel approaches to ensure its safe and ethical use. The Internet and its users are already under continual attack, and a growing economy-replete with business models that undermine the Internet’s ethical use-is fully focused on exploiting the current version’s foundational weaknesses.

Context-based Parametric Relationship Models (CPRM) define complex dependencies between different types of parameters. In particular, Security and QoS relationships, that may occur at different levels of abstraction, are easily identified using CPRM. However, the growing number of parameters and relationships, typically due to the heterogeneous scenarios of future networks, increase the complexity of the final diagrams used in the analysis, and makes the current solution for assessing Security and QoS tradeoff (SQT) impractical for untrained users. In this paper, we define a recommendation system based on contextual parametric relationships in accordance with the definition of CPRM. The inputs for the system are generated dynamically based on the context provided by CPRM-based systems.

The main objective of remote substations is to provide the central system with sensitive information from critical infrastructures, such as generation, distribution or transmission power systems. Wireless sensor networks have been recently applied in this particular context due to their attractive services and inherent benefits, such as simplicity, reliability and cost savings. However, as the number of control and data acquisition systems that use the Internet infrastructure to connect to substations increases, it is necessary to consider what connectivity model the sensor infrastructure should follow: either completely isolated from the Internet or integrated with it as part of the Internet of Things paradigm. This paper therefore addresses this question by providing a thorough analysis of both security requirements and infrastructural requirements corresponding to all those TCP/IP integration strategies that can be applicable to networks with constrained computational resources.

A personal network (PN) should enable the collaboration of user’s devices and services in a flexible, self-organizing and friendly manner. For such purpose, the PN must securely accommodate heterogeneous technologies with uneven computational and communication resources. In particular, personal RFID tags can enable seamless recognition of user’s context, provide user authentication and enable novel services enhancing the quality and quantity of data handled by the PN. However, the highly constrained features of common RFID tags and their passive role in the network highlights the need of an adequate secure communication model with personal tags which enables their participation as a member of the PN. In this paper, we present our concept of PN, with special emphasis on the role of RFID and sensor networks, and define a secure architecture for PNs including methods for the secure access to context-aware technologies from both local PN members and the Internet of Things. The PN architecture is designed to support differentiated security mechanisms to maximize the level of security for each type of personal device. Furthermore, we analyze which security solutions available in the literature can be adapted for our architecture, as well as the challenges and security mechanisms still necessary in the secure integration of personal tags.

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) behave as a digital skin, providing a virtual layer where the information about the physical world can be accessed by any computational system. As a result, they are an invaluable resource for realizing the vision of the Internet of Things (IoT). However, it is necessary to consider whether the devices of a WSN should be completely integrated into the Internet or not. In this paper, we tackle this question from the perspective of security. While we will mention the different security challenges that may arise in such integration process, we will focus on the issues that take place at the network level.