All Outputs (6)

Comparison Of Common Mathematical Techniques Used In The Calculation Of File Entropy (2022)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Davies, S. R., & Macfarlane, R. (2022, November). Comparison Of Common Mathematical Techniques Used In The Calculation Of File Entropy. Presented at 2022 International Conference on Electrical, Computer, Communications and Mechatronics Engineering (ICECCME), Maldives

The research described in this paper focuses on the use of mathematical techniques to identify high entropy encrypted files generated during the execution of ransomware. A common approach used by many ransomware detection techniques is to monitor fil... Read More about Comparison Of Common Mathematical Techniques Used In The Calculation Of File Entropy.

Comparison of Entropy Calculation Methods for Ransomware Encrypted File Identification (2022)
Journal Article
Davies, S. R., Macfarlane, R., & Buchanan, W. J. (2022). Comparison of Entropy Calculation Methods for Ransomware Encrypted File Identification. Entropy, 24(10), Article 1503. https://doi.org/10.3390/e24101503

Ransomware is a malicious class of software that utilises encryption to implement an attack on system availability. The target’s data remains encrypted and is held captive by the attacker until a ransom demand is met. A common approach used by many c... Read More about Comparison of Entropy Calculation Methods for Ransomware Encrypted File Identification.

Civil Engineering Graduate Apprenticeships: A feasibility study into development of an MSc programme based on review of current undergraduate provision (2022)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Leitch, K., Bernal-Sanchez, J., & Macfarlane, R. (2022, September). Civil Engineering Graduate Apprenticeships: A feasibility study into development of an MSc programme based on review of current undergraduate provision. Presented at 8th International Symposium for Engineering Education, Glasgow

This paper details the findings of a study undertaken at Edinburgh Napier University to assess the feasibility of developing an existing Graduate Apprentice programme in Civil Engineering to a MSc level. Using a mixed methods approach, data from a se... Read More about Civil Engineering Graduate Apprenticeships: A feasibility study into development of an MSc programme based on review of current undergraduate provision.

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.

Review of Current Ransomware Detection Techniques (2022)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Davies, S. R., Macfarlane, R., & Buchanan, W. J. (2021, October). Review of Current Ransomware Detection Techniques. Presented at 2021 International Conference on Engineering and Emerging Technologies (ICEET), Istanbul, Turkey

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.

Exploring the Need For an Updated Mixed File Research Data Set (2022)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Davies, S. R., Macfarlane, R., & Buchanan, W. J. (2021, October). Exploring the Need For an Updated Mixed File Research Data Set. Presented at 2021 International Conference on Engineering and Emerging Technologies (ICEET), Istanbul, Turkey

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.