Time Lower Bounds for Permutation Routing on Multi-Dimensional Bused Meshes
We present time lower bounds for the permutation routing problem on three- and higher-dimensional n x…x n meshes with buses. We prove an (r–1)n/r lower bound for the general case of an r-dimensional bused mesh, r≥2, which is not as strong for low-dimensional as for higher-dimensional cases. We then use a different approach to construct a 0.705n lower bound for the three-dimensional case.

title: Denial of service against the Domain Name System
abstract: Because many network services rely on the Domain Name System, denial-of-service attacks against it can be particularly damaging. This article analyzes such threats and reviews existing and proposed countermeasures for addressing them.

title: Routing with Locality on Meshes with Buses
abstract: Routing with locality is studied for meshes with buses. In this problem, packets' distances are bounded by a value,d, which is less than the diameter of the network. This problem arises naturally when specific known algorithms are implemented on meshes. Solving this problem in ordinary meshes requires at least a routing time ofdsteps. To do better than this, we propose adding a kind of short bus to ordinary meshes. By using a technique which we call iterative walk-and-ride, we show how the routing time can be reduced by approximately one-third for solving the problem (including the multipacket version) on one- and two-dimensional short-bus meshes. The bounds we develop are tight.

title: A formal-specification based approach for protecting the domain name system
abstract: Many network applications depend on the security of the domain name system (DNS). Attacks on the DNS can cause denial of service and entity authentication to fail. In our approach, we use formal specifications to characterize DNS clients and DNS name servers, and to define a security goal. A name server should only use DNS data that is consistent with data from name servers that manage the corresponding domains (i.e. authoritative name servers). To enforce the security goal, we formally specify a DNS wrapper that examines the incoming and outgoing DNS messages of a name server to detect messages that could cause violations of the security goal, cooperates with the corresponding authoritative name servers to diagnose those messages, and drops the messages that are identified as threats. Based on the wrapper specification, we implemented a wrapper prototype and evaluated its performance. Out experiments show that the wrapper incurs reasonable overhead and is effective against DNS attacks such as cache poisoning and certain spoofing attacks.

title: Automatic analysis of firewall and network intrusion detection system configurations
abstract: Given a network that deploys multiple firewalls and network intrusion detection systems (NIDSs), ensuring that these security components are correctly configured is a challenging problem. Although models have been developed to reason independently about the effectiveness of firewalls and NIDSs, there is no common framework to analyze their interaction. This paper presents an integrated, constraint-based approach for modeling and reasoning about these configurations. Our approach considers the dependencies among the two types of components, and can reason automatically about their combined behavior. We have developed a tool for the specification and verification of networks that include multiple firewalls and NIDSs, based on this approach. This tool can also be used to automatically generate NIDS configurations that are optimal relative to a given cost function.

title: Modeling multistep cyber attacks for scenario recognition
abstract: Efforts toward automated detection and identification of multistep cyber attack scenarios would benefit significantly from a methodology and language for modeling such scenarios. The Correlated Attack Modeling Language (CAML) uses a modular approach, where a module represents an inference step and modules can be linked together to detect multistep scenarios. CAML is accompanied by a library of predicates, which functions as a vocabulary to describe the properties of system states and events. The concept of attack patterns is introduced to facilitate reuse of generic modules in the attack modeling process. CAML is used in a prototype implementation of a scenario recognition engine that consumes first-level security alerts in real time and produces reports that identify multistep attack scenarios discovered in the alert stream.

title: A three-layer architecture for e-contract enforcement in an e-service environment
abstract: In an e-service environment, contracts are important for attaining business process interoperability and enforcing their proper enactment.  In the document layer, contracts are composed of different types of clauses. In the business layer, e-contract enforcement activities are defined through the realization of contract clauses as business rules in event-condition-action (ECA) form. In the implementation layer, cross-organizational e-contract enforcement interfaces are implemented with contemporary Enterprise Java Bean and Web services. We present a methodology for the engineering of e-contracts enforcement from a high-level document-view down to the implementation layer based on this architecture, using a supply-chain example. As a result, e-contracts can be seamlessly defined and enforced. Conceptual models of various layers are given in the Unified Modeling Language (UML).

title: Insensitive bounds for the moments of the sojourn time distribution in the M/G/1 processor-sharing queue
abstract: This paper studies the M/G/1 processor-sharing (PS) queue, in particular the sojourn time distribution conditioned on the initial job size. Although several expressions for the Laplace-Stieltjes transform (LST) are known, these expressions are not suitable for computational purposes. This paper derives readily applicable insensitive bounds for all moments of the conditional sojourn time distribution. The instantaneous sojourn time, i.e., the sojourn time of an infinitesimally small job, leads to insensitive upper bounds requiring only knowledge of the traffic intensity and the initial job size. Interestingly, the upper bounds involve polynomials with so-called Eulerian numbers as coefficients. In addition, stochastic ordering and moment ordering results for the sojourn time distribution are obtained.

title: An integrated method for effective behaviour analysis of distributed systems
abstract: Behavioral analysis is a valuable aid for the design and maintenance of well-behaved distributed systems. Dataflow and reachability analyses are two orthogonal, but complementary, behavioral analysis techniques. Individually, each of these techniques may be inadequate for the analysis of large-scale distributed systems. On the one hand, dataflow analysis algorithms, while tractable, may not be sufficiently accurate to provide meaningful detection of errors. On the other hand, reachability analysis, while providing exhaustive analysis, may be computationally too expensive for complex systems. In this paper, we present a method which integrates dataflow and reachability analysis techniques to provide a flexible and effective means for analysing distributed systems at the preliminary and final design stages respectively. We also describe some effective measures taken to improve the adequacy of the individual analysis techniques using the concepts of action dependency and context constraints. A prototype supporting the method has been built, and its performance is described in this paper. A realistic example of a distributed track control system is used as a case study.<<ETX>>

title: A commutative encrypted protocol for the privacy protection of watermarks in digital contents
abstract: Analysis by Forrester research revealed that 18% of global exports will flow online in 2004 and that the volume of e-commerce will surpass $400 billion. Digital rights protection is a major issue in the e-commerce of multimedia contents. Watermarking technology has been proposed as a promising enabling technology for the rights protection of multimedia digital contents. A unique watermark is embedded in each piece of multimedia contents before it is distributed to a customer. When unauthorized copies of a piece of contents are found, the customer who owns the contents can be readily identified by means of the embedded watermark. However, the unauthorized copies may also come from the content provider itself. It is therefore a challenging problem to determine whether an unauthorized copy is distributed by an unethical customer or by an unethical content provider. In this paper, we propose a watermarking protocol to address the problem using cryptographic technologies. Our protocol employs a commutative encryption algorithm to protect the privacy of watermarks. Information is doubly locked by two encryption keys kept separately by a customer and a content provider. In the protocol, a customer only gets a piece of watermarked multimedia contents in a transaction and the content provider has no idea how the watermark is formed. This facilitates the authority to determine the unethical party in case of unauthorized distribution of digital contents. We also discuss a couple of common attacks and show that our protocol can defend successfully against them.

title: A metamodel based model transformation approach
abstract: The information transformation problem of model driven software development (MDSD) processes is gaining increasing attentions. In this paper, we present an indepth analysis of the major causes leading to the ambiguities of existing transformation. A metamodel based approach is then proposed to address these causes. A mechanism to generate transformation rules is devised based on a classification of the UML metamodel elements to be used in subsequent transformation processes. Some other critical issues relating to the generated transformation system are also discussed.