All Outputs (33)

NapierOne: A modern mixed file data set alternative to Govdocs1 (2022)
Journal Article
Davies, S. R., Macfarlane, R., & Buchanan, W. J. (2022). NapierOne: A modern mixed file data set alternative to Govdocs1. Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation, 40, Article 301330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsidi.2021.301330

It was found when reviewing the ransomware detection research literature that almost no proposal provided enough detail on how the test data set was created, or sufficient description of its actual content, to allow it to be recreated by other resear... Read More about NapierOne: A modern mixed file data set alternative to Govdocs1.

Exploring the Need For an Updated Mixed File Research Data Set (2022)
Conference Proceeding
Davies, S. R., Macfarlane, R., & Buchanan, W. J. (2022). Exploring the Need For an Updated Mixed File Research Data Set. In 2021 International Conference on Engineering and Emerging Technologies (ICEET) (426-430). https://doi.org/10.1109/iceet53442.2021.9659618

Mixed file data sets are used in a variety of research areas, including Digital Forensics, Malware analysis and Ransomware detection. Researchers recently seem to either have to create their own custom data sets or well-known data sets are used, but... Read More about Exploring the Need For an Updated Mixed File Research Data Set.

Review of Current Ransomware Detection Techniques (2022)
Conference Proceeding
Davies, S. R., Macfarlane, R., & Buchanan, W. J. (2022). Review of Current Ransomware Detection Techniques. In 2021 International Conference on Engineering and Emerging Technologies (ICEET) (696-701). https://doi.org/10.1109/iceet53442.2021.9659643

A review of proposed ransomware detection tools and techniques. The tools are described, compared and contrasted and possible short comings in their approaches are discussed.

Differential Area Analysis for Ransomware Attack Detection within Mixed File Datasets (2021)
Journal Article
Davies, S. R., Macfarlane, R., & Buchanan, W. J. (2021). Differential Area Analysis for Ransomware Attack Detection within Mixed File Datasets. Computers and Security, 108, Article 102377. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2021.102377

The threat from ransomware continues to grow both in the number of affected victims as well as the cost incurred by the people and organisations impacted in a successful attack. In the majority of cases, once a victim has been attacked there remain o... Read More about Differential Area Analysis for Ransomware Attack Detection within Mixed File Datasets.

Towards Identifying Human Actions, Intent, and Severity of APT Attacks Applying Deception Techniques - An Experiment (2020)
Conference Proceeding
Chacon, J., Mckeown, S., & Macfarlane, R. (2020). Towards Identifying Human Actions, Intent, and Severity of APT Attacks Applying Deception Techniques - An Experiment. . https://doi.org/10.1109/CyberSecurity49315.2020.9138859

Attacks by Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) have been shown to be difficult to detect using traditional signature-and anomaly-based intrusion detection approaches. Deception techniques such as decoy objects, often called honey items, may be deploye... Read More about Towards Identifying Human Actions, Intent, and Severity of APT Attacks Applying Deception Techniques - An Experiment.

Evaluation of Live Forensic Techniques in Ransomware Attack Mitigation (2020)
Journal Article
Davies, S. R., Macfarlane, R., & Buchanan, W. J. (2020). Evaluation of Live Forensic Techniques in Ransomware Attack Mitigation. Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation, 33, Article 300979. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsidi.2020.300979

Ransomware continues to grow in both scale, cost, complexity and impact since its initial discovery nearly 30 years ago. Security practitioners are engaged in a continual "arms race" with the ransomware developers attempting to defend their digital i... Read More about Evaluation of Live Forensic Techniques in Ransomware Attack Mitigation.

Wi-Fi Channel Saturation as a Mechanism to Improve Passive Capture of Bluetooth Through Channel Usage Restriction (2019)
Journal Article
Lowe, I., Buchanan, W. J., Macfarlane, R., & Lo, O. (2019). Wi-Fi Channel Saturation as a Mechanism to Improve Passive Capture of Bluetooth Through Channel Usage Restriction. Journal of Networking Technology, 10(4), 124-155. https://doi.org/10.6025/jnt/2019/10/4/124-155

Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology that provides audio and data links between personal smartphones and playback devices, such as speakers, headsets and car entertainment systems. Since its introduction in 2001, security researchers have s... Read More about Wi-Fi Channel Saturation as a Mechanism to Improve Passive Capture of Bluetooth Through Channel Usage Restriction.

The Importance of Authenticity in Cyber Security Training and Education (2019)
Presentation / Conference
Macfarlane, R., & Mata de Acuna, J. (2019, November). The Importance of Authenticity in Cyber Security Training and Education. Presented at JISC Security Conference, Newcastle, England

The knowledge gap between academy and industry is a challenging issue that educators face every day. In the field of cyber security, it is important that students understand the need of adapting and acquiring new skills that allow them to put their t... Read More about The Importance of Authenticity in Cyber Security Training and Education.

Identifying Vulnerabilities Using Internet-wide Scanning Data (2019)
Conference Proceeding
O'Hare, J., Macfarlane, R., & Lo, O. (2019). Identifying Vulnerabilities Using Internet-wide Scanning Data. In 2019 IEEE 12th International Conference on Global Security, Safety and Sustainability (ICGS3) (1-10). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICGS3.2019.8688018

Internet-wide scanning projects such as Shodan and Censys, scan the Internet and collect active reconnaissance results for online devices. Access to this information is provided through associated websites. The Internet-wide scanning data can be used... Read More about Identifying Vulnerabilities Using Internet-wide Scanning Data.

System and method for management of confidential data (2018)
Patent
Buchanan, B., Lo, O., Macfarlane, R., Penrose, P., & Ramsay, B. (2018). System and method for management of confidential data. GB2561176A

This application is for a method of data management to identify confidential digital content on a database by first receiving a management request 302 from a system 304 to carry out data management operations. These include the identification of data... Read More about System and method for management of confidential data.

Method for identification of digital content (2018)
Patent
Buchanan, B., Lo, O., Penrose, P., Ramsay, B., & Macfarlane, R. (2018). Method for identification of digital content. World Intellectual Property Organization

Many areas oi investigation require searching through data that may be oi interest. One example oi data that may be involved in an investigation is copyrighted material that may be suspected of having been obtained or reproduced illegally by a third... Read More about Method for identification of digital content.

Privacy Parameter Variation using RAPPOR on a Malware Dataset (2018)
Conference Proceeding
Aaby, P., Mata De Acuña, J. J., Macfarlane, R., & Buchanan, W. J. (2018). Privacy Parameter Variation using RAPPOR on a Malware Dataset. In Proceedings of 17th IEEE International Conference On Trust, Security And Privacy In Computing And Communications (IEEE TrustCom-18) (8). https://doi.org/10.1109/TrustCom/BigDataSE.2018.00133

Stricter data protection regulations and the poor application of privacy protection techniques have resulted in a requirement for data-driven companies to adopt new methods of analysing sensitive user data. The RAPPOR (Randomized Aggregatable Privacy... Read More about Privacy Parameter Variation using RAPPOR on a Malware Dataset.

Distance Measurement Methods for Improved Insider Threat Detection (2018)
Journal Article
Lo, O., Buchanan, W. J., Griffiths, P., & Macfarlane, R. (2018). Distance Measurement Methods for Improved Insider Threat Detection. Security and Communication Networks, 2018, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/5906368

Insider threats are a considerable problem within cyber security and it is often difficult to detect these threats using signature detection. Increasing machine learning can provide a solution, but these methods often fail to take into account change... Read More about Distance Measurement Methods for Improved Insider Threat Detection.

A methodology for the security evaluation within third-party Android Marketplaces (2017)
Journal Article
Buchanan, W. J., Chiale, S., & Macfarlane, R. (2017). A methodology for the security evaluation within third-party Android Marketplaces. Digital Investigation, 23, 88-98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diin.2017.10.002

This paper aims to evaluate possible threats with unofficial Android marketplaces, and geo localize the malware distribution over three main regions: China, Europe; and Russia. It provides a comprehensive review of existing academic literature about... Read More about A methodology for the security evaluation within third-party Android Marketplaces.

Review of e-Health Frameworks. (2015)
Conference Proceeding
Prajapati, B., Buchanan, W. J., Smales, A., Macfarlane, R., & Spyra, G. (2015). Review of e-Health Frameworks. In Health Informatics Conference 2015

In order to improve the quality of health care and widen the accessibility, health care providers are consistently looking to inject information and communication technology to the traditional health care system (Mair, et al., 2012). This process can... Read More about Review of e-Health Frameworks..

Evaluation of TFTP DDoS amplification attack (2015)
Journal Article
Sieklik, B., Macfarlane, R., & Buchanan, W. J. (2016). Evaluation of TFTP DDoS amplification attack. Computers and Security, 57, 67-92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2015.09.006

Web threats are becoming a major issue for both governments and companies. Generally, web threats increased as much as 600% during last year (WebSense, 2013). This appears to be a significant issue, since many major businesses seem to provide these s... Read More about Evaluation of TFTP DDoS amplification attack.

Evaluation of the DFET Cloud. (2015)
Presentation / Conference
Buchanan, W. J., Ramsay, B., Macfarlane, R., Smales, A., Keane, E., Callahan, C., …Popov, O. (2015, September). Evaluation of the DFET Cloud. Paper presented at Cybercrime Forensics Education and Training (CFET) conference

The DFET (Digital Forensics Evaluation and Training) Cloud creates new training methods/techniques to support judicial authorities, law enforcement agencies and associated stakeholders in the fight against cybercrime through the development of a virt... Read More about Evaluation of the DFET Cloud..

Teaching penetration and malware analysis in a cloud-based environment. (2015)
Presentation / Conference
Buchanan, W. J., Ramsay, B., Macfarlane, R., Smales, A., & Russell, G. (2015, June). Teaching penetration and malware analysis in a cloud-based environment. Paper presented at UK Workshop on Cybersecurity Training & Education

This paper outlines evaluation of running a private Cloud-based system over two semesters at Edinburgh Napier University for two modules: Security Testing and Advanced Network Forensics (BEng (Hons) level and focused on Penetration testing and Malwar... Read More about Teaching penetration and malware analysis in a cloud-based environment..

Fast contraband detection in large capacity disk drives (2015)
Journal Article
Penrose, P., Buchanan, W. J., & Macfarlane, R. (2015). Fast contraband detection in large capacity disk drives. Digital Investigation, 12(S1), S22-S29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diin.2015.01.007

In recent years the capacity of digital storage devices has been increasing at a rate that has left digital forensic services struggling to cope. There is an acknowledgement that current forensic tools have failed to keep up. The workload is such tha... Read More about Fast contraband detection in large capacity disk drives.

Evaluating Digital Forensic Tools (DFTs). (2014)
Conference Proceeding
Flandrin, F., Buchanan, W. J., Macfarlane, R., Ramsay, B., & Smales, A. (2014). Evaluating Digital Forensic Tools (DFTs). In 7th International Conference : Cybercrime Forensics Education & Training

This paper outlines the key methods used in the evaluation of digital forensics tools.