bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of the hematological profile of pregnant and non-pregnant mares seen at the HVU-BJ/CPCE in Bom Jesus-PI
Authors: Silva Gustavo Nogueira , Cardoso Davi Soares Serra , Nascimento Leopoldo Fabrício Marçal , Henrique Fernanda Vieira , Porfírio Kenney de Paiva , de Lima Débora Costa Viegas , Lima Wagner Costa , da Silva Filho Manoel Lopes
Published: July 2024

The blood count is a widely used test in equine medical clinics, being of great importance in the institution of an efficient diagnosis. During pregnancy, physiological adaptations occur such as increased blood volume, uterine expansion, proteins and other nutrients are higher due to fetal development and formation of maternal structure such as placenta, mammary glands and blood. Therefore, it is essential to know the alterations in the hematological constituents in pregnant mares. The objective of this study was to characterize the hematological profile and evaluate possible hematological alterations between pregnant mares and non-pregnant mares. The research was carried out from March 2019 to June 2019, where blood samples were collected from 20 clinically healthy mares that were referred for pregnancy diagnostic examination, these were attended at the large animal outpatient clinic of HVU-BJ/UFPI, at Haras do Hélio Rosa and Haras do Bispo, the last two being private properties, all of them are located in the municipality of Bom Jesus/PI. Of the alterations found, anemia found in high prevalence, leukocytosis, eusinophilia found in low prevalence in both groups, and lymphopenia found in an animal in the non-pregnant group stand out. Therefore, mares that were in the gestation period between 60 and 90 days presented a picture of normocytic normochromic anemia, justified by blood hemodilution, characterizing the stage of gestation that requires more attention.
Spectrophotometric investigation of natural dyes of Portulaca grandiflora and Catharanthus roseus flowers
Authors: de Oliveira Vitória Rocha , Nogueira Fred Augusto Ribeiro
Published: July 2024

The study of dyes of native flowers contributes to a better investigation of these species, which can motivate new economic activities in the country. The objective of this work was to characterize by spectrophotometry the natural dyes extracted from the petals of the flowers Portulaca grandiflora and Catharanthus roseus. The extraction of the dyes was carried out by maceration of the petals of the dried flowers and under different experimental conditions to evaluate the extraction time and the type of solvent used. The dyes obtained were characterized by spectrophotometry in the UV/Visible region to evaluate the spectroscopic behavior and the maximum absorbance lengths of each flower. The extractions of the dyes from the flowers were effective in the experimental conditions evaluated, but with spectroscopic profiles showing bands in different regions and with varying intensities. The study of the spectrophotometric behavior of these flowers can help in their use as an alternative source of natural dyes.
Integration of Neurofeedback and Virtual Reality - Innovative approaches to the clinical practice of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Authors: Rocha Paula , Ribeiro Diamantino
Published: July 2024

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, which can have an important impact on people's daily functioning and quality of life. Traditional treatment methods, including medication and behavioral therapy, often have limited success and present several challenges. Recent technological developments provide promising alternatives, notably through the integration of neurofeedback and virtual reality (VR) into clinical practice. This article explores the potential of combining these innovative tools to improve the treatment of ADHD. Neurofeedback, a technique that trains individuals to regulate brain activity, has been shown to be effective in managing ADHD symptoms. Similarly, VR provides immersive and engaging environments that can be adapted to therapeutic needs. By combining neurofeedback with VR, practitioners can create interactive and personalized treatment protocols aimed at improving patient engagement, adherence, and outcomes. In this paper, we discuss the mechanisms of action, current applications and empirical evidence supporting the use of neurofeedback technologies and VR in the treatment of ADHD.
Transnational mobility: Life story of a skilled immigrant from the democratic Republic of Congo in Brazil
Authors: Magalhães Diogo Souza
Published: July 2024

It presents the reports of a qualified immigrant from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in Brazil, with the objectives of constructing the immigrant's life story, treating the immigration theme from a socio-environmental perspective and presenting the factors that enable the adaptation and integration of the same to the new community. The methodologies used were Oral History and Life History, which were able to present the interviewee's narrative about his life and the migratory process, relating them to the researcher's understanding of the story told in the light of related bibliography. Semi-structured interviews were recorded, which were later transcribed and transformed into documents for the construction of the immigrant's life history. The document produced through the interviews was treated using Content Analysis, which enabled the perception of categories, which were analyzed in the results. The discussion revolved around the family configuration in the DRC, the social structure and group formation in the country, the social interaction of a citizen of the world, the trajectories and networks of contacts of the immigrant, and the codes, postures and institutionsthat are important in the migratory process. The conclusions reached were that poverty and lack of opportunities are the main causes of skilled immigration; whereas family and cultural structures are important elements in the construction of the immigrant's identity; that academic and religious institutions and immigrant associations play a significant role in the cultural adaptation and integration of foreigners, due to theproduction of social capital, and that socio-environmental elements can produce topophilia in relation to the new country chosen to reside temporarily or permanently.
A classroom experience from the perspective of exploratory teaching
Authors: de Maria Carlos Eduardo Soares
Published: July 2024

This paper presents a workshop conducted under the Exploratory Teaching approach, known for fostering active and meaningful learning through challenging tasks. Emphasizing student engagement and autonomy, this method encourages deep exploration and reflection on mathematical concepts rather than passive absorption. The study offers a detailed account of this teachingexperience, employing interpretative analysis to highlight its theoretical foundations and practical implications. Participants actively investigated mathematical concepts, collaborating and employing diverse problem-solving strategies, thereby enhancing critical thinking and independence. Ultimately, Exploratory Teaching not only enriches educational dynamics but also equips students to tackle future academic challenges effectively, emphasizing their role as active learners and critical thinkers in the process
The social impacts of relocating communities in risk areas
Authors: Daudt Fabiani Warol , Rodrigues Evellyn da Silva , Leitão Geronimo , Lourenço Ricardo do Vale
Published: July 2024

Facing diverse and complex challenges arising from the process of relocating communities in risk areas includes the disruption of community support networks, impacts on mental health and difficulties in cultural adaptation. These three aspects were conceptualized followed by the purpose of relocation as being a crucial measure to ensure the safety and well-being of populations exposed to disasters. In this sense, cases such as the floods in Acre and Hurricane Katrina in the United States were analyzed from the perspective of acquiring learning to practice more effective future actions. This study also drew the parallel of the development of long-term public policies that consider the needs of affected populations and guarantee adequate infrastructure, psychological support and opportunities for community integration. It became clear that relocation requires a multidisciplinary, participatory and holistic approach to be successful in protecting lives and promoting the well-being and resilience of relocated communities.
Employment dynamics and human development in the municipality of Porto Nacional – TO: Perspectives and realities
Authors: de Moura Jaciara Araújo , Santos Roberto de Souza
Published: July 2024

This article is the result of a scientific initiation research. The theoretical analysis was based on a bibliographical review and the empirical analysis was based on fieldwork with the application of interviews and the collection of statistical data on employment in the database of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics and in the Human Development Atlas of 2000 and 2013. Its objective is to analyze and evaluate the dynamics of employment, evolution and human development in Porto Nacional - TO. The empirical investigation was developed based on statistical data collected in the database of IBGE and UNDP and interviews with union leaders. The results of this research are presented in the form of tables and graphs in the text.
Medication reconciliation for admission of patients with kidney disease
Authors: de Matos Douglas Nuernberg
Published: July 2024

Introduction: Pharmaceutical interventions (PI) aim to solve problems related to drug therapy and are performed by the medical team. Objectives: To quantify, evaluate, and analyze the outcome of PI performed during the admission conciliation of patients with kidney disease in a high-complexity hospital in southern Brazil. Methods: Data were collected in the AGHUse system on PI performed by the clinical pharmacist specialized in nephrology for patients admitted between March/2021 and May/2022, except for kidney transplant patients. The chi-square test in Excel was used to assess adherence to PI by communication mode, considering p<0.05 significant. Results and Conclusions: A total of 618 PI were performed for 152 patients, resulting in an average of 4.1 PI per patient. A discrepancy was observed between home therapy and the inpatient prescription in 61% (93) of patients, resulting in 381 PI for resolution. Home medications were absent from the initial prescription of 90% (84) of patients, with requests for inclusion being the most frequent cause of PI (78.5%, 299). According to the ATC classification, medications for the digestive system and metabolism (group A) accounted for 26.4% (79) of the inclusion PI, followed by medications for the blood and hematopoietic organs (group B) with 25.1% (75), nervous system (group N) with 17.1% (51) and cardiovascular system (group C) with 14.7% (44). PIs for other anatomical groups corresponded to 16.7% (50). The medical team included the requested medication in 55.9% (167) of cases, with 85.3% (255) of contacts made via the electronic system. PIs performed in person had greater adherence (p<0.05). There is a significant risk of omission of home medications during hospitalization. Clinical pharmacist interventions, especially when performed in person, increase the chance of solving these problems in pharmacotherapy. CAAE 02591218.2.0000.5327.
A conceptual analysis of information security risks and challenges in cloud computing
Authors: Chaves David Kadab , Daú Gláucya , Scavarda Annibal
Published: July 2024

This article will shed light on relevant topics related to technological evolution and how to achieve excellence in cloud computing security. The goal is to demonstrate the real importance of Computer Security in companies that use this resource and that require data to be not only stored, but also preserved every day. The methodology used in this work was based on an exploratory case study of a qualitative nature, integrating the literature review. Are we protected at all times? How can we avoid vulnerabilities? How can we mitigate risks? How can we identify a threat? These are questions that are more complex to answer than they seem. It was concluded that companies do not know how to classify information, much less distinguish which are the real assets that must be protected, and the issue of security is often ignored.
Street Clinic: Paths to Life Production
Authors: Firmino Gilson Gabriel da Silva , Yasui Silvio
Published: July 2024

The phenomenon of urbanization is a crucial factor in human life and its civilizing process. When we approach the dimension of life on the streets, we are taken by the diversity of sensations that provoke us to experience other experiences and ways of understanding this singular and simultaneously collective universe in our daily lives. As a starting point for this study, we understand the context of the streets in cities as places of multiple connections, encounters and production of life experienced by the homeless population in their ways of existence, having as a backdrop for our analysis the public policies of the SUS, Psychiatric Reform and Psychosocial Care through the clinical experiences experienced by the health unit Consultório na Rua in Campinas SP. In this journey, we guide ourselves through the key question: How do we capture the signals that come from the street in the trails of the agencies of production of life in the landscapes of care? Our objectives aim to monitor the production of health care in street territories, using some sources of researched material such as field diaries, medical records, images, sounds and interviews, among others. Accordingly, we analyzed the effects of care in the health field triggered by clinical practices and management of complex cases developed in the services of the city's mental health network. The methodological strategy used is cartography as an intervention research methodology developed from the nomadic guide case in tune with the epistemology of crossroads as a cartographic means of analyzing health care networks. So far, the results of this qualitative research point to a transformation of the conception of health care triggered by the effects of caring encounters experienced in loco and in action, as well as providing the co-creation of other existential realities guided by the unconditional defense of the reinvention of life in its emancipatory and civic dimension.
Vulnerability and environmental racism in the social construction of disaster risk
Authors: Rodrigues Evellyn da Silva , Teixeira Aldira Samantha Garrido , Daudt Fabiani Warol , Lourenço Ricardo do Vale
Published: July 2024

This research examined the intersection of vulnerability and environmental racism in the social construction of disaster risk, highlighting how discriminatory practices have exacerbated the exposure of marginalized populations to environmental risks. Based on a literature review, the research allowed us to reflect on the disproportionate impacts of environmental racism on racialized communities, as well as the effectiveness of existing public policies. Specific interventions were proposed to mitigate vulnerability and promote environmental justice, emphasizing the importance of community participation, strengthening infrastructure, and reformulating zoning policies. The analysis highlighted the need for more inclusive and effective public policies to reduce inequalities and strengthen the resilience of affected communities.
Improving the scientific literacy of primary school students from the perspective of double reduction: practical inspiration
Authors: Tan Wenxi , Huang Chengyi , Xiang Hong
Published: July 2024

Higher standards for elementary and secondary school students' education have emerged in response to the expansion of the education sector, which has intensified educational competitiveness. Once implemented, the "double reduction" program successfully manages macro society as a whole and pushes for educational institution change. One of the biggest challenges that elementary and secondary school students have when trying to improve the quality of their education is determining whether or not the institutions that teach these subjects are being adequately transformed. A student's natural talent is only one of several contextual elements contributing to their scientific achievement. This article aimed to find high-achieving students' most salient contextual traits in scientific literacy. This article looks at how the "double reduction" strategy has affected educational institutions from both the student and parent points of view. According to the findings, schools will again be the centre of attention under the "double reduction" program, which aims to improve education. The expectations of schools, parents, and students continue to limit the transformation of elementary and secondary educational institutions even though the government and educational institutions have implemented some steps to alleviate the "double reduction" strategy. According to the research, the factors that were found to have the greatest impact on the target students' exceptional accomplishments in science were the following: the quality of teachers' educational materials practices, the disciplinary climate, the amount of time and effort put into learning; the resources available to students through school media; the number of teachers on staff; and students' belief in their abilities. The knowledge gained from this study may be useful in future research on students' scientific literacy abilities
La lógica de acumulación de las empresas agroalimentarias en Argentina: un estudio de caso (2003-2015)
Authors: Allami Cecilia
Published: July 2024

En el marco de los debates en torno a las transformaciones económicas durante el período deno­minado como posconvertibilidad, una de las discusiones centrales ha girado alrededor de la naturaleza de la evolución de la industria argentina y de su reprimarización, y del rol del precio de los commodities en este creci­miento. Este trabajo pretende realizar un aporte al debate sobre la evolución del sector agroindustrial en la posconvertibilidad, enmarcándolo en una discusión más amplia acerca de las formas actuales de inserción eco­nómica de la Argentina en la economía mundial y sus potencialidades en base al estudio de caso de una empresa argentina: Molinos Río de la Plata. Se concluye que la empresa tuvo una estrategia dual, basada en los segmentos de graneles y marcas, y que la evolución de la rentabilidad de Molinos durante el período considerado nos da algunas claves importantes para comprender el resultado de sus estrategias. Además, se realizan algunas refle­xiones finales respecto a las limitaciones estructurales de la economía argentina como economía periférica o dependiente y los nuevos desafíos impuestos por las lógicas de acumulación global en la industria agroalimen­taria.
Ni Sur, ni Norte: la industria textil mexicana en la historia global del algodón
Authors: Gómez-Galvarriato Aurora
Published: July 2024

El artículo inserta la evolución de la agricultura e industria del algodón en la narrativa de la historia global del algodón que plantea Sven Beckert. Señala que la historia del algodón en México hasta el siglo XIX compartió características con la del Sur global: su cultivo y manufactura prosperaron hasta la Revolución In­dustrial cuando, al no utilizar el sistema esclavista de plantación del sur de Estados Unidos y al no incorporar los nuevos avances tecnológicos, ambos fueron desplazados por los productores del Norte global, si bien su desindustrialización fue menor. En contraste, a partir del siglo XX su desarrollo se asemeja más al del Norte global ya que su creciente organización obrera y sus mayores salarios desplazaron su producción hacia otros países del Sur. Sin embargo, a diferencia del Norte, al no desarrollar otras capacidades, sus salarios disminuyeron hasta hacerlo relativamente competitivo en la maquila de ropa ubicada en el Sur.
El impacto de la industrialización británica a fines del siglo XIX en México, Argentina, Brasil y Chile
Authors: Quintanar Zárate Iliana Marcela
Published: July 2024

El objetivo del presente artículo es estudiar los canales de difusión de la industrialización británica en las economías latinoamericanas, especialmente los casos de México, Argentina, Brasil y Chile para conocer el impacto de aquel proceso en el crecimiento económico de la región. La importación de un nuevo medio de transporte, el ferrocarril, la mecanización de los procesos de producción y la inversión de capitales en sectores clave, así como la intervención del aparato estatal fueron factores de relevancia para el desarrollo del modelo primario exportador que a su vez tuvo implicaciones en el desarrollo industrial de los países estudiados.
Editors' Introduction
Authors: Sherr Micah , Shafiq Zubair
Published: July 2024

Editors' Introduction, Issue 4 of PETS Volume 2024
Media talks Privacy: Unraveling a Decade of Privacy Discourse around the World
Authors: Mirza Shujaat , Villa Corban , Pöpper Christina
Published: July 2024

Our increasingly digital world has heightened concerns about privacy. Newspaper and media reporting influences and shapes public opinion, which impacts the strategic and operational decisions of a variety of stakeholders, making it crucial to understand how privacy-related issues are portrayed in the media. Leveraging time-series analysis, topic modeling, and sentiment analysis, this paper presents a comprehensive study on the coverage of privacy-related issues in newspapers from 2010 to 2022 across six regions of the world. Temporal trends in privacy coverage reveal a gradual increase in attention to privacy issues globally, with a notable surge observed in newspapers from the Global South, complementing the historically prominent Global North coverage. Topic modeling uncovers dominant themes in privacy reporting, revealing shifts in media focus from government surveillance to data breaches and tech corporations' role. Notably, the majority of privacy reporting carries a negative sentiment, emphasizing the widespread unease that pervades discussions surrounding privacy matters.
What to Expect When You’re Accessing: An Exploration of User Privacy Rights in People Search Websites
Authors: Take Kejsi , Young Jordyn , Bhalerao Rasika , Gallagher Kevin , Forte Andrea , McCoy Damon , Greenstadt Rachel
Published: July 2024

People Search Websites, a category of data brokers, collect, catalog, monetize and often publicly display individuals' personally identifiable information (PII). We present a study of user privacy rights in 20 such websites assessing the usability of data access and data removal mechanisms. We combine insights from these two processes to determine connections between sites, such as shared access mechanisms or removal effects. We find that data access requests are mostly unsuccessful. Instead, sites cite a variety of legal exceptions or misinterpret the nature of the requests. By purchasing reports, we find that only one set of connected sites provided access to the same report they sell to customers. We leverage a multiple step removal process to investigate removal effects between suspected connected sites. In general, data removal is more streamlined than data access, but not very transparent; questions about the scope of removal and reappearance of information remain. Confirming and expanding the connections observed in prior phases, we find that four main groups are behind 14 of the sites studied, indicating the need to further catalog these connections to simplify removal.
Sloth: Key Stretching and Deniable Encryption using Secure Elements on Smartphones
Authors: Hugenroth Daniel , Sonnino Alberto , Cutler Sam , Beresford Alastair R.
Published: July 2024

Privacy enhancing technologies must not only protect sensitive data in-transit, but also locally at-rest. For example, anonymity networks hide the sender and/or recipient of a message from network adversaries. However, if a participating device is physically captured, its owner can be pressured to give access to the stored conversations. Therefore, client software should allow the user to plausibly deny the existence of meaningful data. Since biometrics can be collected without consent and server-based authentication leaks metadata, implementations typically rely on memorable passwords for local authentication. Traditional password-based key stretching lacks a strict time guarantee due to the ease of parallelized password guessing by attackers. This paper introduces Sloth, a key stretching method leveraging the Secure Element (SE) commonly found in modern smartphones to provide a strict rate limit on password guessing. While this would be straightforward with full access to the SE, Android and iOS only provide a very limited API. Sloth utilizes the existing developer SE API and novel cryptographic constructions to build an effective rate-limit for password guessing on recent Android and iOS devices. Our approach ensures robust security even for short, randomly-generated, six-character alpha-numeric passwords against adversaries with virtually unlimited computing resources. Our solution is compatible with approximately 96% of iPhones and 45% of Android phones and Sloth seamlessly integrates without device or OS modifications, making it immediately usable by app developers today. We formally define the security of Sloth and evaluate its performance on various devices. Finally, we present HiddenSloth, a plausibly-deniable encryption scheme leveraging Sloth. It provides multi-snapshot resistance against adversaries who can covertly capture its on-disk content multiple times.
"My Best Friend's Husband Sees and Knows Everything": A Cross-Contextual and Cross-Country Approach to Understanding Smart Home Privacy
Authors: Despres Tess , Ayala Constantino Marcelino , Zacarias Lizola Naomi , Sánchez Romero Gerardo , He Shijing , Zhan Xiao , Abdi Noura , Abu-Salma Ruba , Such Jose , Bernd Julia
Published: July 2024

As smart home devices proliferate, protecting the privacy of those who encounter the devices is of the utmost importance both within their own home and in other people's homes. In this study, we conducted a large-scale survey (N=1459) with primary users of and bystanders to smart home devices. While previous work has studied people's privacy experiences and preferences either as smart home primary users or as bystanders, there is a need for a deeper understanding of privacy experiences and preferences in different contexts and across different countries. Instead of classifying people as either primary users or bystanders, we surveyed the same participants across different contexts. We deployed our survey in four countries (Germany, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and in two languages (English and Spanish). We found that participants were generally more concerned about devices in their own homes, but perceived video cameras—especially unknown ones—and usability as more concerning in other people's homes. Compared to male participants, female and non-binary participants had less control over configuration of devices and privacy settings—regardless of whether they were the most frequent user. Comparing countries, participants in Mexico were more likely to be comfortable with devices, but also more likely to take privacy precautions around them. We also make cross-contextual recommendations for device designers and policymakers, such as nudges to facilitate social interactions.
The Devil is in the Details: Detection, Measurement and Lawfulness of Server-Side Tracking on the Web
Authors: Fouad Imane , Santos Cristiana , Laperdrix Pierre
Published: July 2024

As online privacy is cementing itself as one of the core pillars of the Internet, major changes are happening across many industries. On the technological side, users are pushing for more privacy-preserving technologies and rely on browsers and extensions that limit online tracking as much as possible. On the legal front, regulations like GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive in Europe have forced companies to change their practices and be more transparent about how they handle user data. For the ad industry, the end of third-party cookies planned for 2025 is having severe ramifications as the main source of data on which this industry is built on will be gone. In this tumultuous context, companies have come up with innovative ways to overcome current and future restrictions. A novel technique which has not received much attention called Server-side tracking (SST) moves its tracking logic away from the user's device onto an external server. In this work, our aim is to detect SST on the web and understand its lawfulness with respect to current legislation. We developed a methodology that relies on crawls spaced 2 years apart performed before and after the introduction of SST to identify trackers that moved behind SST domains and that are now hidden from view. Our results show that 389, out of 7,367 visited websites, track users behind a cloaked domain and that 28 websites perform Server-side tracking in a first-party capacity. We demonstrate that such a tracking technique can overcome the Same-Origin Policy and introduce security vulnerabilities. Together with a legal scholar, we also show that SST entails non-compliant practices and infringes the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive.
Understanding Leakage in Searchable Encryption: a Quantitative Approach
Authors: Boldyreva Alexandra , Gui Zichen , Warinschi Bogdan
Published: July 2024

Searchable encryption, or more generally, structured encryption, permits search over encrypted data. It is an important cryptographic tool for securing cloud storage. The standard security notion for structured encryption mandates that a protocol leaks nothing about the data or queries, except for some allowed leakage, defined by the leakage function. This is due to the fact that some leakage is unavoidable for efficient schemes.\\ Unfortunately, it was shown by numerous works that even innocuous-looking leakage can often be exploited by attackers to undermine users' privacy and recover their queries and/or data, despite the structured encryption schemes being provably secure. Nevertheless, the standard security remains the go-to notion used to show the 'security' of structured encryption schemes. While it is not likely that researchers will design practical structured encryption schemes with no leakage, it is not satisfactory that very few works study ways to assess leakage.This work proposes a novel framework to quantify leakage. Our methodology is inspired by the quantitative information flow, and we call our method q-leakage analysis. We show how $q$-leakage analysis is related to the standard security. We also demonstrate the usefulness of q-leakage analysis by analyzing the security of two existing schemes with complex leakage functions.
Post-quantum XML and SAML Single Sign-On
Authors: Müller Johannes , Oupický Jan
Published: July 2024

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is one of the most popular serialization languages. Since many security protocols are built using XML, it also provides cryptographic functionality. A central framework in this area is the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML). This standard is one of the most widely used options for implementing Single Sign-On (SSO), which allows users to authenticate to different service providers using the credentials from a single identity provider. Like all other security protocols currently in use, the security and privacy of XML-based frameworks such as SAML is threatened by the development of increasingly powerful quantum computers. In fact, future attackers with access to scalable quantum computers will be able to break the currently used cryptographic building blocks and thus undermine the security of the SAML SSO to illegally access sensitive private information. Post-quantum cryptography algorithms have been developed to protect against such quantum attackers. While many security protocols have been migrated into the quantum age by using post-quantum cryptography, no such solutions for XML and the security protocols based on it have been developed, let alone tested. We make the following contributions to fill this gap. We have designed post-quantum solutions for the cryptographic building blocks in XML and integrated them into the SAML SSO protocol. We implemented our solutions in the OpenSAML, Apache Santuario, and BouncyCastle libraries and extensively tested their performance for various post-quantum instantiations. As a result, we have created a comprehensive and solid foundation for post-quantum XML and post-quantum SAML SSO migration.
Simply tell me how---On Trustworthiness and Technology Acceptance of Attribute-Based Credentials
Authors: Crowder Rachel , Price George , Groß Thomas
Published: July 2024

Attribute-based Credential Schemes (ACS) have been long proposed as privacy-preserving means of authentication, yet have not found wide-spread adoption to date. We ask what factors explain whether users will adopt ACS or not. To that end, we aim to comprehend how factors interrelate to predict ACS technology acceptance and to investigate how intrinsic and presentation aspects of the ACS cause the intent to use them. We conducted two between-subject, random-controlled trials with a combined UK-representative sample of N = 812 participants. After having stated their privacy concerns and faith-in-technology, each participant then inspected one variant of an ACS website, which encoded a combination of three intrinsic aspects and three presentation aspects of an ACS. Participants then reported on the perceived trustworthiness, perceived usefulness, and their behavioral intention to adopt the technology. We proposed an extended Technology Acceptance Model incorporating privacy concern and perceived trustworthiness and show in covariance-based structural equation modeling that the model explains user decision making very well. We could show that communicating facilitating conditions and demonstrating results drives the overall technology acceptance. Communicating with simple language impacted the behavioral intent to use the ACS positively. Our work is the first to show cause-effect relations for ACS adoption with substantial sample size. This study not only informs what factors impact the technology acceptance of ACS, but likely also translates to other privacy-enhancing technologies and yields methodological considerations for research into the privacy paradox at large.
Computational Differential Privacy for Encrypted Databases Supporting Linear Queries
Authors: Alborch Escobar Ferran , Canard Sébastien , Laguillaumie Fabien , Phan Duong Hieu
Published: July 2024

Differential privacy is a fundamental concept for protecting individual privacy in databases while enabling data analysis. Conceptually, it is assumed that the adversary has no direct access to the database, and therefore, encryption is not necessary. However, with the emergence of cloud computing and the << on-cloud >> storage of vast databases potentially contributed by multiple parties, it is becoming increasingly necessary to consider the possibility of the adversary having (at least partial) access to sensitive databases. A consequence is that, to protect the on-line database, it is now necessary to employ encryption. At PoPETs'19, it was the first time that the notion of differential privacy was considered for encrypted databases, but only for a limited type of query, namely histograms. Subsequently, a new type of query, summation, was considered at CODASPY'22. These works achieve statistical differential privacy, by still assuming that the adversary has no access to the encrypted database. In this paper, we take an essential step further by assuming that the adversary can eventually access the encrypted data, making it impossible to achieve statistical differential privacy because the security of encryption (beyond the one-time pad) relies on computational assumptions. Therefore, the appropriate privacy notion for encrypted databases that we target is computational differential privacy, which was introduced by Beimel et al. at CRYPTO '08. In our work, we focus on the case of functional encryption, which is an extensively studied primitive permitting some authorized computation over encrypted data. Technically, we show that any randomized functional encryption scheme that satisfies simulation-based security and differential privacy of the output can achieve computational differential privacy for multiple queries to one database. Our work also extends the summation query to a much broader range of queries, specifically linear queries, by utilizing inner-product functional encryption. Hence, we provide an instantiation for inner-product functionalities by proving its simulation soundness and present a concrete randomized inner-product functional encryption with computational differential privacy against multiple queries. In terms of efficiency, our protocol is almost as practical as the underlying inner product functional encryption scheme. As evidence, we provide a full benchmark, based on our concrete implementation for databases with up to 1 000 000 entries. Our work can be considered as a step towards achieving privacy-preserving encrypted databases for a wide range of query types and considering the involvement of multiple database owners.
Are continuous stop-and-go mixnets provably secure?
Authors: Das Debajyoti , Diaz Claudia , Kiayias Aggelos , Zacharias Thomas
Published: July 2024

This work formally analyzes the anonymity guarantees of continuous stop-and-go mixnets and attempts to answer the titular question. Existing mixnet based anonymous communication protocols that aim to provide provable anonymity guarantees rely on round-based communication models, which requires synchronization among all the nodes and clients that is difficult to achieve in practice. Continuous stop-and-go mixnets (e.g., Loopix and Nym) provide a nice alternative by adding a random delay for each message on every hop independent of all other hops and all other messages. The core anonymization technique of continuous mixnets combined with the fact that the messages are sent by the clients to the mixnet at different times makes it a difficult problem to formally prove security for such mixnet protocols; existing end-to-end analyses for such designs provide only experimental evaluations for anonymity and were lacking a comprehensive formal treatment. We are the first to close that gap and provide a formal analysis. We provide two indistinguishability based definitions (of sender anonymity), namely pairwise unlinkability and user unlinkability, tuned specifically for continuous stop-and-go mixnets. We derive the adversarial advantage as a function of the protocol parameters for the two definitions. We show that there is a fundamental lower bound on the adversarial advantage $\delta$ for pairwise unlinkability; however, strong user unlinkability (negligible adversarial advantage) can be achieved if the users message rate ($\lambda_u$) is proportional to message processing rate ($\lambda$) on the nodes.
AUTOLYCUS: Exploiting Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) for Model Extraction Attacks against Interpretable Models
Authors: Oksuz Abdullah Caglar , Halimi Anisa , Ayday Erman
Published: July 2024

Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) aims to uncover the decision-making processes of AI models. However, the data used for such explanations can pose security and privacy risks. Existing literature identifies attacks on machine learning models, including membership inference, model inversion, and model extraction attacks. These attacks target either the model or the training data, depending on the settings and parties involved. XAI tools can increase the vulnerability of model extraction attacks, which is a concern when model owners prefer black-box access, thereby keeping model parameters and architecture private. To exploit this risk, we propose AUTOLYCUS, a novel retraining (learning) based model extraction attack framework against interpretable models under black-box settings. As XAI tools, we exploit Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations (LIME) and Shapley values (SHAP) to infer decision boundaries and create surrogate models that replicate the functionality of the target model. LIME and SHAP are mainly chosen for their realistic yet information-rich explanations, coupled with their extensive adoption, simplicity, and usability. We evaluate AUTOLYCUS on six machine learning datasets, measuring the accuracy and similarity of the surrogate model to the target model. The results show that AUTOLYCUS is highly effective, requiring significantly fewer queries compared to state-of-the-art attacks, while maintaining comparable accuracy and similarity. We validate its performance and transferability on multiple interpretable ML models, including decision trees, logistic regression, naive bayes, and k-nearest neighbor. Additionally, we show the resilience of AUTOLYCUS against proposed countermeasures.
Provable Security for the Onion Routing and Mix Network Packet Format Sphinx
Authors: Scherer Philip , Weis Christiane , Strufe Thorsten
Published: July 2024

Onion routing and mix networks are fundamental concepts to provide users with anonymous access to the Internet. Various corresponding solutions rely on the Sphinx packet format. However, flaws in Sphinx's underlying proof strategy were found recently. It is thus currently unclear which guarantees Sphinx actually provides, and, even worse, there is no suitable proof strategy available. In this paper, we restore the security foundation for all these works by building an analytical framework for Sphinx. We discover that the previously-used Decisional Diffie-Hellman (DDH) assumption is insufficient for a security proof and show that the Gap Diffie-Hellman (GDH) assumption is required instead. We apply it to prove that a slightly adapted version of the Sphinx packet format is secure under the GDH assumption. We are thus, to the best of our knowledge, the first to provide a detailed, in-depth security proof for Sphinx that holds. Our adaptations to Sphinx are necessary, as we demonstrate with an attack on sender privacy that would otherwise be possible in Sphinx's adversary model.
Link Stealing Attacks Against Inductive Graph Neural Networks
Authors: Wu Yixin , He Xinlei , Berrang Pascal , Humbert Mathias , Backes Michael , Gong Neil Zhenqiang , Zhang Yang
Published: July 2024

A graph neural network (GNN) is a type of neural network that is specifically designed to process graph-structured data. Typically, GNNs can be implemented in two settings, including the transductive setting and the inductive setting. In the transductive setting, the trained model can only predict the labels of nodes that were observed at the training time. In the inductive setting, the trained model can be generalized to new nodes/graphs. Due to its flexibility, the inductive setting is the most popular GNN setting at the moment. Previous work has shown that transductive GNNs are vulnerable to a series of privacy attacks. However, a comprehensive privacy analysis of inductive GNN models is still missing. This paper fills the gap by conducting a systematic privacy analysis of inductive GNNs through the lens of link stealing attacks. We propose two types of link stealing attacks, i.e., posterior-only attacks and combined attacks. We define threat models of the posterior-only attacks with respect to node topology and the combined attacks by considering combinations of posteriors, node attributes, and graph features. Extensive evaluation on six real-world datasets demonstrates that inductive GNNs leak rich information that enables link stealing attacks with advantageous properties. Even attacks with no knowledge about graph structures can be effective. We also show that our attacks are robust to different node similarities and different graph features. As a counterpart, we investigate two possible defenses and discover they are ineffective against our attacks, which calls for more effective defenses.
VFLGAN: Vertical Federated Learning-based Generative Adversarial Network for Vertically Partitioned Data Publication
Authors: Yuan Xun , Yang Yang , Gope Prosanta , Pasikhani Aryan , Sikdar Biplab
Published: July 2024

In the current artificial intelligence (AI) era, the scale and quality of the dataset play a crucial role in training a high-quality AI model. However, good data is not a free lunch and is always hard to access due to privacy regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). A potential solution is to release a synthetic dataset with a similar distribution to that of the private dataset. Nevertheless, in some scenarios, it has been found that the attributes needed to train an AI model belong to different parties, and they cannot share the raw data for synthetic data publication due to privacy regulations. In PETS 2023, Xue et al. [29] proposed the first generative adversary network-based model, VertiGAN, for vertically partitioned data publication. However, after thoroughly investigating, we found that VertiGAN is less effective in preserving the correlation among the attributes of different parties. This article proposes a Vertical Federated Learning-based Generative Adversarial Network, VFLGAN, for vertically partitioned data publication to address the above issues. Our experimental results show that compared with VertiGAN, VFLGAN significantly improves the quality of synthetic data. Taking the MNIST dataset as an example, the quality of the synthetic dataset generated by VFLGAN is 3.2 times better than that generated by VertiGAN w.r.t. the Frechet Distance. We also designed a more efficient and effective Gaussian mechanism for the proposed VFLGAN to provide the synthetic dataset with a differential privacy guarantee. On the other hand, differential privacy only gives the upper bound of the worst-case privacy guarantee. This article also proposes a practical auditing scheme that applies membership inference attacks to estimate privacy leakage through the synthetic dataset.
Privacy Protection Behaviors from a New Angle: Exploratory Analysis on a Russian Sample
Authors: Obrezkov Denis
Published: July 2024

To understand why people engage in privacy protection behaviors on the Internet, multiple researchers tried to reveal the underlying factors of the phenomenon. The results were ambiguous. Identifying privacy concerns as a mediating construct, some researchers were able to establish its influence on protection behaviors, others were not. In addition, the structure of hypothesized factors affecting privacy concerns differed from work to work. This paper aims to shed light on the inconsistencies in the previous research. To achieve this, we perform an exploratory analysis of factors affecting privacy protection behavior on the Internet. We conduct a survey on a Russian sample (N=228) and perform the analysis using a technique of structural equation modeling. Our results suggest the following: (a) privacy protection behavior is a multidimensional construct, with each behavior type being affected by its own set of factors; (b) privacy concerns might have a dynamic structure, that is dependent on the context and the environment of the target population. Given these findings, we conclude that future research should consider a specific type of protection behavior together with characteristics of the target population and to refrain from generalization of the results from other domains or protection behavior types.