Using Translanguaging in Higher Education to Empower Students' Voices and Enable Epistemological Becoming
- Asfour, Fouad-Martin, Ndabula, Yanela, Chakona, Gamuchirai, Mason, Paul, Oluwole, David O
- Authors: Asfour, Fouad-Martin , Ndabula, Yanela , Chakona, Gamuchirai , Mason, Paul , Oluwole, David O
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/425506 , vital:72251 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.29086/2519-5476/2020/sp31a4"
- Description: This article is based on research conducted by a group of plurilingual postgraduate students from different disciplines who facilitated writing groups at the Centre for Postgraduate Studies at Rhodes University over the past two years. It is based on self-reflective writing of language biographies and aims to raise attention about, and to open up a discussion on, the impact of social and personal language practices. We approach the role of language not only as complex interrogation of academic identity, but also as sense of embodied self, an active element in the formation of geo- and body-politics of knowledge which has been highlighted in recent literature focussing on translanguaging in education and decolonising the curricula of Higher Education. Following selfguided research, we engaged in a critical reflection on the use of home languages in education and consulted relevant literature that argues for the inclusion of translanguaging practices in Higher Education. Our research, therefore, focuses on new epistemologies afforded by a shift away from the monolingual habitus and from the concept of multilingualism towards plurilingualism and translanguaging. Our data suggests that a plurilingual approach towards teaching and learning in Higher Education can afford epistemological access to learners across faculties and disciplines in Higher Education, and we argue that the role of languages of tuition in curricula need to be strategically re-evaluated.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Asfour, Fouad-Martin , Ndabula, Yanela , Chakona, Gamuchirai , Mason, Paul , Oluwole, David O
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/425506 , vital:72251 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.29086/2519-5476/2020/sp31a4"
- Description: This article is based on research conducted by a group of plurilingual postgraduate students from different disciplines who facilitated writing groups at the Centre for Postgraduate Studies at Rhodes University over the past two years. It is based on self-reflective writing of language biographies and aims to raise attention about, and to open up a discussion on, the impact of social and personal language practices. We approach the role of language not only as complex interrogation of academic identity, but also as sense of embodied self, an active element in the formation of geo- and body-politics of knowledge which has been highlighted in recent literature focussing on translanguaging in education and decolonising the curricula of Higher Education. Following selfguided research, we engaged in a critical reflection on the use of home languages in education and consulted relevant literature that argues for the inclusion of translanguaging practices in Higher Education. Our research, therefore, focuses on new epistemologies afforded by a shift away from the monolingual habitus and from the concept of multilingualism towards plurilingualism and translanguaging. Our data suggests that a plurilingual approach towards teaching and learning in Higher Education can afford epistemological access to learners across faculties and disciplines in Higher Education, and we argue that the role of languages of tuition in curricula need to be strategically re-evaluated.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
The listening train: A collaborative, connective aesthetics approach to transgressive social learning
- Authors: McGarry, Dylan K
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/371023 , vital:66404 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/137658"
- Description: This paper explores a personal iterative retrospective of a series of expansive social-learning processes that were collaboratively developed through practice-based enquiry across 17 South African towns/contexts. This reflexive narrative explores the development of a ‘Climate Train’, a mobile social-learning platform, that was conceived and created through a collaborative social movement of ‘cultural practitioners’ ranging from visual artists, poets, film-makers, theatre-makers, guerrilla-gardeners, musicians, facilitators, to educational researchers, among others, who created new ‘connective aesthetic’ social spaces for dialogue and exchange. Drawing from a variety of artistic genres, including but not limited to theatre and social sculpture (an expanded concept of public/participatory art), I reflect on the formative, foundational qualities of these approaches and share insights into social-learning praxis that emerged on the tracks. Of primary focus is the use of aesthetic praxis as a means that transforms how we engage with our inner capacities as well as how we develop our relational sensibilities. Key findings include the vital role of connective aesthetics in establishing imaginal thinking, moral intuition, empathy, participative parity, and emergence, and how these are important for transformation and establishing new capacities for ecological/global citizenship and collaborative intelligence.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: McGarry, Dylan K
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/371023 , vital:66404 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/137658"
- Description: This paper explores a personal iterative retrospective of a series of expansive social-learning processes that were collaboratively developed through practice-based enquiry across 17 South African towns/contexts. This reflexive narrative explores the development of a ‘Climate Train’, a mobile social-learning platform, that was conceived and created through a collaborative social movement of ‘cultural practitioners’ ranging from visual artists, poets, film-makers, theatre-makers, guerrilla-gardeners, musicians, facilitators, to educational researchers, among others, who created new ‘connective aesthetic’ social spaces for dialogue and exchange. Drawing from a variety of artistic genres, including but not limited to theatre and social sculpture (an expanded concept of public/participatory art), I reflect on the formative, foundational qualities of these approaches and share insights into social-learning praxis that emerged on the tracks. Of primary focus is the use of aesthetic praxis as a means that transforms how we engage with our inner capacities as well as how we develop our relational sensibilities. Key findings include the vital role of connective aesthetics in establishing imaginal thinking, moral intuition, empathy, participative parity, and emergence, and how these are important for transformation and establishing new capacities for ecological/global citizenship and collaborative intelligence.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
From academic to political rigour: Insights from the ‘Tarot’ of transgressive research
- Temper, Leah, McGarry, Dylan K, Weber, Lena
- Authors: Temper, Leah , McGarry, Dylan K , Weber, Lena
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/390629 , vital:68570 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/186598"
- Description: The role of science and knowledge production is at a crossroads, as societal transformation calls for challenging dominant forms of knowledge production that have contributed to marginalizing other ways of knowing. This presents a challenge to mainstream science and invites a deeper reflection on our roles as scientists and exploration of alternative engaged, post-normal and activist approaches to research. This paper examines the diverse ways researchers are meeting this challenge. Employing the device of the Tarot deck we describe seven “characters” to illustrate the variety of roles and approaches that trans-disciplinary, transformative, transgressive and activist researchers are engaging in. These characters are used to introduce and develop the concept of political rigour as a means of expanded academic rigour in new emancipatory scientific paradigms. We demonstrate how these Tarot characters can be used as an activity for collective and personal reflexivity and propose ten principles that frequently emerge in a ‘political’ peer review process. We argue that the insights emerging from these strands of radical, critical, engaged and applied forms of scholarship, can significantly improve the understanding of what a “transformative knowledge paradigm” may look like in practice and how it can be mobilized for social change and environmental justice.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Temper, Leah , McGarry, Dylan K , Weber, Lena
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/390629 , vital:68570 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/186598"
- Description: The role of science and knowledge production is at a crossroads, as societal transformation calls for challenging dominant forms of knowledge production that have contributed to marginalizing other ways of knowing. This presents a challenge to mainstream science and invites a deeper reflection on our roles as scientists and exploration of alternative engaged, post-normal and activist approaches to research. This paper examines the diverse ways researchers are meeting this challenge. Employing the device of the Tarot deck we describe seven “characters” to illustrate the variety of roles and approaches that trans-disciplinary, transformative, transgressive and activist researchers are engaging in. These characters are used to introduce and develop the concept of political rigour as a means of expanded academic rigour in new emancipatory scientific paradigms. We demonstrate how these Tarot characters can be used as an activity for collective and personal reflexivity and propose ten principles that frequently emerge in a ‘political’ peer review process. We argue that the insights emerging from these strands of radical, critical, engaged and applied forms of scholarship, can significantly improve the understanding of what a “transformative knowledge paradigm” may look like in practice and how it can be mobilized for social change and environmental justice.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Suitably Strange: Re-imagining learning, scholar-activism, and justice
- Authors: McGarry, Dylan K
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/371005 , vital:66402 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-cristal-v10-n1-a7"
- Description: Using artworks emergent from my career as a pracademic and scholar activist, I attempt to share a ‘tactile theory’ of being and doing, that refer mainly to response-abilities (i.e., abilities to respond in accountable ways) in scholar activist educational sociology. I aim to make visible (and tactile) the sometimes-invisible qualities and practices needed for navigating the eroded and dying ecological relations of our generation, as well as warming up and making pliable the heteronormative, capitalist, patriarchal and anthropocentric conventions that are associated with it. In order to warm and sculpt these normative conventions, I argue for the need for ‘suitably strange’ practice. I present six images and associated prose that aim to optimally disrupt these conventions, towards generative rethinking and embodying learning, scholar activism and justice, and from which I explore a tactile theory, an example and related response-ability for each. I end with a reflection of how these suitably strange artefacts can help us develop a new concept of proactive-cognitive justice or ‘justness’.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: McGarry, Dylan K
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/371005 , vital:66402 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-cristal-v10-n1-a7"
- Description: Using artworks emergent from my career as a pracademic and scholar activist, I attempt to share a ‘tactile theory’ of being and doing, that refer mainly to response-abilities (i.e., abilities to respond in accountable ways) in scholar activist educational sociology. I aim to make visible (and tactile) the sometimes-invisible qualities and practices needed for navigating the eroded and dying ecological relations of our generation, as well as warming up and making pliable the heteronormative, capitalist, patriarchal and anthropocentric conventions that are associated with it. In order to warm and sculpt these normative conventions, I argue for the need for ‘suitably strange’ practice. I present six images and associated prose that aim to optimally disrupt these conventions, towards generative rethinking and embodying learning, scholar activism and justice, and from which I explore a tactile theory, an example and related response-ability for each. I end with a reflection of how these suitably strange artefacts can help us develop a new concept of proactive-cognitive justice or ‘justness’.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Voices of the hungry: A qualitative measure of household food access and food insecurity in South Africa
- Chakona, Gamuchirai, Shackleton, Charlie M
- Authors: Chakona, Gamuchirai , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/398443 , vital:69412 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-017-0149-x"
- Description: South Africa is rated a food secure nation, but large numbers of households within the country have inadequate access to nutrient-rich diverse foods. The study sought to investigate households’ physical and economic access and availability of food, in relation to local context which influences households’ access to and ability to grow food which may affect the dietary quality. We sought to understand self-reported healthy diets, food insecurity from the perspective of people who experienced it, barriers to household food security and perceptions and feelings on food access as well as strategies households use to cope with food shortages and their perceptions on improving household food security.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Chakona, Gamuchirai , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/398443 , vital:69412 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-017-0149-x"
- Description: South Africa is rated a food secure nation, but large numbers of households within the country have inadequate access to nutrient-rich diverse foods. The study sought to investigate households’ physical and economic access and availability of food, in relation to local context which influences households’ access to and ability to grow food which may affect the dietary quality. We sought to understand self-reported healthy diets, food insecurity from the perspective of people who experienced it, barriers to household food security and perceptions and feelings on food access as well as strategies households use to cope with food shortages and their perceptions on improving household food security.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Case Studies for UNECCC, UNESCO and CEE The COPART Climate Train
- Authors: McGarry, Dylan K
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/391120 , vital:68622 , xlink:href="https://eeasa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/EEASA-Bullitin-2016_18-July-issue-42.pdf"
- Description: To create a listening and educational platform that used various disciplines to understand the impact of Climate Change across South Africa. The objective was to create a multigenre educational space for citizens of South Africa as a means to participate in Climate discussions as an alternative to the COP17 negotiations held in South Africa at the time.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: McGarry, Dylan K
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/391120 , vital:68622 , xlink:href="https://eeasa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/EEASA-Bullitin-2016_18-July-issue-42.pdf"
- Description: To create a listening and educational platform that used various disciplines to understand the impact of Climate Change across South Africa. The objective was to create a multigenre educational space for citizens of South Africa as a means to participate in Climate discussions as an alternative to the COP17 negotiations held in South Africa at the time.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Grade-appropriate literacy and South African grade seven learners' classroom writing in English
- Authors: Hendricks, Monica
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: vital:7019 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007173 , https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430600989593
- Description: preprint , This paper reports on the writing of grade 7 learners in English as an additional language at four differently-resourced schools in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Because grade 7 is the start of the senior phase of schooling, it is vital that learners achieve grade-level competence in the language used as medium of instruction. Learning outcome five which states that ‘the learner will be able to use language to think and reason, as well as access, process and use information for learning’ (Department of Education 2002) is particularly relevant. The primary research question asked what the writing practices in grade 7 additional languages were, and how these contribute to the development of learners’ writing. The findings were that literacy practices at all four schools privilege grammar exercises and personal, expressive writing. In terms of Cummins’s (1984) constructs of BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skill) and CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency), learners’ written competencies are mainly conversational (BICS). The personal expressive texts which predominate in learners’ writing have done little to develop a formal, impersonal academic register (CALP). Learners need to become familiar with the more abstract impersonal factual genres associated with disciplinary-based knowledge.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Hendricks, Monica
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: vital:7019 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007173 , https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430600989593
- Description: preprint , This paper reports on the writing of grade 7 learners in English as an additional language at four differently-resourced schools in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Because grade 7 is the start of the senior phase of schooling, it is vital that learners achieve grade-level competence in the language used as medium of instruction. Learning outcome five which states that ‘the learner will be able to use language to think and reason, as well as access, process and use information for learning’ (Department of Education 2002) is particularly relevant. The primary research question asked what the writing practices in grade 7 additional languages were, and how these contribute to the development of learners’ writing. The findings were that literacy practices at all four schools privilege grammar exercises and personal, expressive writing. In terms of Cummins’s (1984) constructs of BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skill) and CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency), learners’ written competencies are mainly conversational (BICS). The personal expressive texts which predominate in learners’ writing have done little to develop a formal, impersonal academic register (CALP). Learners need to become familiar with the more abstract impersonal factual genres associated with disciplinary-based knowledge.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Ways of belonging: meanings of “Nature” among Xhosa-speaking township residents in South Africa
- Cocks, Michelle L, Alexander, Jamie K, Mogano, Lydia, Vetter, Susan M
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Alexander, Jamie K , Mogano, Lydia , Vetter, Susan M
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66021 , vital:28877 , https://doi.org/10.2993/0278-0771-36.4.820
- Description: publisher version , The concept of biocultural diversity, originally used to describe indigenous people and their ways of using and managing natural resources, has more recently been applied within the urban context to understand the variability of interactions between humans and nature. Significant progress has been made internationally in acknowledging the need to preserve and maintain green spaces in urban environments. Current efforts to address the need for greening urban areas in South Africa primarily focus on the establishment and maintenance of botanical gardens and parks as well as various green belts within the urban landscape. South Africa's urban areas are overwhelmingly shaped by the historical segregation of space and stark disparities in wealth. The distribution, quality, and extent of urban green spaces reflect this. Many township dwellers do not have access to these amenities and their interactions with nature are thus usually constrained to access to municipal commonages. This article explores how areas of natural vegetation in municipal commonages on the outskirts of urban centers in South Africa continue to offer places of cultural, spiritual, and restorative importance to Xhosa-speaking township dwellers. A case study from Grahamstown, an urban center in the Eastern Cape with a population of around 80,000, illustrates how ability to access and move through such places contributes to people's well-being, identity formation, and shared heritage. A case is made for adopting a biocultural diversity approach to spatial planning and urban development within the South African context.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Alexander, Jamie K , Mogano, Lydia , Vetter, Susan M
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66021 , vital:28877 , https://doi.org/10.2993/0278-0771-36.4.820
- Description: publisher version , The concept of biocultural diversity, originally used to describe indigenous people and their ways of using and managing natural resources, has more recently been applied within the urban context to understand the variability of interactions between humans and nature. Significant progress has been made internationally in acknowledging the need to preserve and maintain green spaces in urban environments. Current efforts to address the need for greening urban areas in South Africa primarily focus on the establishment and maintenance of botanical gardens and parks as well as various green belts within the urban landscape. South Africa's urban areas are overwhelmingly shaped by the historical segregation of space and stark disparities in wealth. The distribution, quality, and extent of urban green spaces reflect this. Many township dwellers do not have access to these amenities and their interactions with nature are thus usually constrained to access to municipal commonages. This article explores how areas of natural vegetation in municipal commonages on the outskirts of urban centers in South Africa continue to offer places of cultural, spiritual, and restorative importance to Xhosa-speaking township dwellers. A case study from Grahamstown, an urban center in the Eastern Cape with a population of around 80,000, illustrates how ability to access and move through such places contributes to people's well-being, identity formation, and shared heritage. A case is made for adopting a biocultural diversity approach to spatial planning and urban development within the South African context.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2016
The deployment of an e-commerce platform and related projects in a rural area in South Africa
- Dalvit, Lorenzo, Muyingi, H Hyppolite, Terzoli, Alfredo, Thinyane, Mamello
- Authors: Dalvit, Lorenzo , Muyingi, H Hyppolite , Terzoli, Alfredo , Thinyane, Mamello
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428545 , vital:72519 , https://nru.uncst.go.ug/bitstream/handle/123456789/6552/Information%20Communica-tion%20Technologies%20%20page%20410.pdf?sequence=1andisAllowed=y#page=256
- Description: In our paper we describe the development and deployment of an ecommerce platform in Dwesa, a rural area in the former homeland of Transkei in South Africa. The system is designed to promote tourism and advertise local arts, crafts and music, and it entails a number of re-lated projects. Deployment of infrastructure, technical support, promo-tion of the initiative and teaching of computer literacy take place during monthly visits of approximately one week, and involve young research-ers from two universities (one previously disadvantaged; the other his-torically privileged). This ensures a synergy between technical exper-tise and understanding of the local context. Findings so far emphasise the importance of contextualising the intervention to suit local needs and adjust to the local context. The platform is currently being extended to include e-government, e-learning and e-health capabilities. If proven successful, this model can be exported to similar areas in South africa and in the rest of Africa. This could open up potential opportunities for the still unexplored market for ICT in rural Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Dalvit, Lorenzo , Muyingi, H Hyppolite , Terzoli, Alfredo , Thinyane, Mamello
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428545 , vital:72519 , https://nru.uncst.go.ug/bitstream/handle/123456789/6552/Information%20Communica-tion%20Technologies%20%20page%20410.pdf?sequence=1andisAllowed=y#page=256
- Description: In our paper we describe the development and deployment of an ecommerce platform in Dwesa, a rural area in the former homeland of Transkei in South Africa. The system is designed to promote tourism and advertise local arts, crafts and music, and it entails a number of re-lated projects. Deployment of infrastructure, technical support, promo-tion of the initiative and teaching of computer literacy take place during monthly visits of approximately one week, and involve young research-ers from two universities (one previously disadvantaged; the other his-torically privileged). This ensures a synergy between technical exper-tise and understanding of the local context. Findings so far emphasise the importance of contextualising the intervention to suit local needs and adjust to the local context. The platform is currently being extended to include e-government, e-learning and e-health capabilities. If proven successful, this model can be exported to similar areas in South africa and in the rest of Africa. This could open up potential opportunities for the still unexplored market for ICT in rural Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
An Analysis of Network Scanning Traffic as it relates to Scan-Detection in Network Intrusion Detection Systems
- Barnett, Richard J, Irwin, Barry V W
- Authors: Barnett, Richard J , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428156 , vital:72490 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Ir-win/publication/326225058_An_Analysis_of_Network_Scanning_Traffic_as_it_relates_to_Scan-Detec-tion_in_Network_Intrusion_Detection_Systems/links/5b3f21eaa6fdcc8506ffe659/An-Analysis-of-Network-Scanning-Traffic-as-it-relates-to-Scan-Detection-in-Network-Intrusion-Detection-Systems.pdf
- Description: Network Intrusion Detection is, in a modern network, a useful tool to de-tect a wide variety of malicious traffic. The ever present prevalence of scanning activity on the Internet is fair justification to warrant scan de-tection as a component of network intrusion detection. Whilst current systems are able to perform scan-detection, the methods they use are often flawed and exhibit an inability to detect scans in an efficient and scalable manner. Existing research by van Riel and Irwin has illustrated a number of flaws present in the open source systems Snort and Bro. This paper builds on this by describing current research at Rhodes Uni-versity in which these flaws are being addressed. In particular, this re-search will address the flaws in the scan-detection engines in Snort and Bro by developing new plug-ins for these systems which take into con-sideration the improvements which are identified over the course of the research.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Barnett, Richard J , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428156 , vital:72490 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Ir-win/publication/326225058_An_Analysis_of_Network_Scanning_Traffic_as_it_relates_to_Scan-Detec-tion_in_Network_Intrusion_Detection_Systems/links/5b3f21eaa6fdcc8506ffe659/An-Analysis-of-Network-Scanning-Traffic-as-it-relates-to-Scan-Detection-in-Network-Intrusion-Detection-Systems.pdf
- Description: Network Intrusion Detection is, in a modern network, a useful tool to de-tect a wide variety of malicious traffic. The ever present prevalence of scanning activity on the Internet is fair justification to warrant scan de-tection as a component of network intrusion detection. Whilst current systems are able to perform scan-detection, the methods they use are often flawed and exhibit an inability to detect scans in an efficient and scalable manner. Existing research by van Riel and Irwin has illustrated a number of flaws present in the open source systems Snort and Bro. This paper builds on this by describing current research at Rhodes Uni-versity in which these flaws are being addressed. In particular, this re-search will address the flaws in the scan-detection engines in Snort and Bro by developing new plug-ins for these systems which take into con-sideration the improvements which are identified over the course of the research.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Rich Representation and Visualisation of Time-Series Data
- Kerr, Simon, Foster, Greg, Irwin, Barry V W
- Authors: Kerr, Simon , Foster, Greg , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428130 , vital:72488 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Ir-win/publication/265821926_Rich_Representation_and_Visualisation_of_Time-Series_Data/links/5548a1350cf26a7bf4daefb1/Rich-Representation-and-Visualisation-of-Time-Series-Data.pdf
- Description: Currently the majority of data is visualized using static graphs and ta-bles. However, static graphs still leave much to be desired and provide only a small insight into trends and changes between values. We pro-pose a move away from purely static representations of data towards a more fluid and understandable environment for data representation. This is achieved through the use of an application which animates time based data. Animating time based data allows one to see nuances within a dataset from a more comprehensive perspective. This is espe-cially useful within the time based data rich telecommunications indus-try. The application comprises of two parts-the backend manages raw data which is then passed to the frontend for animation. A play function allows one to play through a time series. Which creates a fluid and dy-namic environment for exploring data. Both the advantages and disad-vantages of this approach are investigated and an application is intro-duced which can be used to animate and explore datasets.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Kerr, Simon , Foster, Greg , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428130 , vital:72488 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Ir-win/publication/265821926_Rich_Representation_and_Visualisation_of_Time-Series_Data/links/5548a1350cf26a7bf4daefb1/Rich-Representation-and-Visualisation-of-Time-Series-Data.pdf
- Description: Currently the majority of data is visualized using static graphs and ta-bles. However, static graphs still leave much to be desired and provide only a small insight into trends and changes between values. We pro-pose a move away from purely static representations of data towards a more fluid and understandable environment for data representation. This is achieved through the use of an application which animates time based data. Animating time based data allows one to see nuances within a dataset from a more comprehensive perspective. This is espe-cially useful within the time based data rich telecommunications indus-try. The application comprises of two parts-the backend manages raw data which is then passed to the frontend for animation. A play function allows one to play through a time series. Which creates a fluid and dy-namic environment for exploring data. Both the advantages and disad-vantages of this approach are investigated and an application is intro-duced which can be used to animate and explore datasets.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
gpf: A GPU accelerated packet classification tool
- Nottingham, Alastair, Irwin, Barry V W
- Authors: Nottingham, Alastair , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428103 , vital:72486 , https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/67098560/gPF_A_GPU_Accelerated_Packet_Classificat20210505-17707-zqqa4s.pdf?1620201469=andresponse-content-disposi-tion=inline%3B+filename%3DgPF_A_GPU_Accelerated_Packet_Classificat.pdfandExpires=1714733902andSignature=NQ~1DjH1XOuqF8u1Yq74XyG7kp~y0II81vu40SuWO2GQhSgToTHC7ynbAoP3MGv9do~bX1PCAp2Z2TCKUVHT7CmYNRxDmnpk5G4kefH--0VotMHVtFnHnf5Q9nhrp0MIgSxEhncOrlRx5K5sRhlLkyfDib3RS8Y8vu~FIPvm1DaZrfqCZSpXKmHh9r1etybRBRtUokzayPtgbhE41bQtW9wI8J4-JTQ9doyNC-JflFuEfUnhv5Phf45lr7TALm8G8nGZBp3z9-nSLZDxls2mvvVIANCdutyOMDnMDadGoqjIB2wYwUy~Fm424ZWj7fF89Ytj9xqIU63H4NFE2HodtQ__andKey-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
- Description: This paper outlines the design of gPF, a fast packet classifier optimised for parallel execution on current generation commodity graphics hard-ware. Specifically, gPF leverages the potential for both the parallel classi-fication of packets at runtime, and the use of evolutionary mechanisms, in the form of a GP-GPU genetic algorithm to produce contextually opti-mised filter permutations in order to reduce redundancy and improve the per-packet throughput rate of the resultant filter program. This paper demonstrates that these optimisations have significant potential for im-proving packet classification speeds, particularly with regard to bulk pack-et processing and saturated network environments.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Nottingham, Alastair , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428103 , vital:72486 , https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/67098560/gPF_A_GPU_Accelerated_Packet_Classificat20210505-17707-zqqa4s.pdf?1620201469=andresponse-content-disposi-tion=inline%3B+filename%3DgPF_A_GPU_Accelerated_Packet_Classificat.pdfandExpires=1714733902andSignature=NQ~1DjH1XOuqF8u1Yq74XyG7kp~y0II81vu40SuWO2GQhSgToTHC7ynbAoP3MGv9do~bX1PCAp2Z2TCKUVHT7CmYNRxDmnpk5G4kefH--0VotMHVtFnHnf5Q9nhrp0MIgSxEhncOrlRx5K5sRhlLkyfDib3RS8Y8vu~FIPvm1DaZrfqCZSpXKmHh9r1etybRBRtUokzayPtgbhE41bQtW9wI8J4-JTQ9doyNC-JflFuEfUnhv5Phf45lr7TALm8G8nGZBp3z9-nSLZDxls2mvvVIANCdutyOMDnMDadGoqjIB2wYwUy~Fm424ZWj7fF89Ytj9xqIU63H4NFE2HodtQ__andKey-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
- Description: This paper outlines the design of gPF, a fast packet classifier optimised for parallel execution on current generation commodity graphics hard-ware. Specifically, gPF leverages the potential for both the parallel classi-fication of packets at runtime, and the use of evolutionary mechanisms, in the form of a GP-GPU genetic algorithm to produce contextually opti-mised filter permutations in order to reduce redundancy and improve the per-packet throughput rate of the resultant filter program. This paper demonstrates that these optimisations have significant potential for im-proving packet classification speeds, particularly with regard to bulk pack-et processing and saturated network environments.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
An analysis of logical network distance on observed packet counts for network telescope data
- Irwin, Barry V W, Bartnett, Richard J
- Authors: Irwin, Barry V W , Bartnett, Richard J
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428090 , vital:72485 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Ir-win/publication/228765119_An_Analysis_of_Logical_Network_Distance_on_Observed_Packet_Counts_for_Network_Telescope_Data/links/53e9c5e80cf28f342f414988/An-Analysis-of-Logical-Network-Distance-on-Observed-Packet-Counts-for-Network-Telescope-Data.pdf
- Description: This paper investigates the relationship between the logical distance between two IP addresses on the Internet, and the number of packets captured by a network telescope listening on a network containing one of the addresses. The need for the computation of a manageable measure of quantification of this distance is presented, as an alterna-tive to the raw difference that can be computed between two addresses using their Integer representations. A number of graphical analysis tools and techniques are presented to aid in this analysis. Findings are pre-sented based on a long baseline data set collected at Rhodes Universi-ty over the last three years, using a dedicated Class C (256 IP address) sensor network, and comprising 19 million packets. Of this total, 27% by packet volume originate within the same natural class A network as the telescope, and as such can be seen to be logically close to the collector network.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Irwin, Barry V W , Bartnett, Richard J
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428090 , vital:72485 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Ir-win/publication/228765119_An_Analysis_of_Logical_Network_Distance_on_Observed_Packet_Counts_for_Network_Telescope_Data/links/53e9c5e80cf28f342f414988/An-Analysis-of-Logical-Network-Distance-on-Observed-Packet-Counts-for-Network-Telescope-Data.pdf
- Description: This paper investigates the relationship between the logical distance between two IP addresses on the Internet, and the number of packets captured by a network telescope listening on a network containing one of the addresses. The need for the computation of a manageable measure of quantification of this distance is presented, as an alterna-tive to the raw difference that can be computed between two addresses using their Integer representations. A number of graphical analysis tools and techniques are presented to aid in this analysis. Findings are pre-sented based on a long baseline data set collected at Rhodes Universi-ty over the last three years, using a dedicated Class C (256 IP address) sensor network, and comprising 19 million packets. Of this total, 27% by packet volume originate within the same natural class A network as the telescope, and as such can be seen to be logically close to the collector network.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
A geopolitical analysis of long term internet network telescope traffic
- Irwin, Barry V W, Pilkington, Nik, Barnett, Richard J, Friedman, Blake
- Authors: Irwin, Barry V W , Pilkington, Nik , Barnett, Richard J , Friedman, Blake
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428142 , vital:72489 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Ir-win/publication/228848896_A_geopolitical_analysis_of_long_term_internet_network_telescope_traffic/links/53e9c5190cf2fb1b9b672aee/A-geopolitical-analysis-of-long-term-internet-network-telescope-traffic.pdf
- Description: This paper presents results form the analysis of twelve months of net-work telescope traffic spanning 2005 and 2006, and details some of the tools developed. The most significant results of the analysis are high-lighted. In particular the bulk of traffic analysed had its source in the China from a volume perspective, but Eastern United States, and North Western Europe were shown to be primary sources when the number of unique hosts were considered. Traffic from African states (South Af-rica in particular) was also found to be surprisingly high. This unex-pected result may be due to the network locality preference of many automated agents. Both statistical and graphical analysis are present-ed. It is found that a country with a high penetration of broadband con-nectivity is likley to feature highly in Network telescope traffic, as are networks logically close to the telescope network.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Irwin, Barry V W , Pilkington, Nik , Barnett, Richard J , Friedman, Blake
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428142 , vital:72489 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Ir-win/publication/228848896_A_geopolitical_analysis_of_long_term_internet_network_telescope_traffic/links/53e9c5190cf2fb1b9b672aee/A-geopolitical-analysis-of-long-term-internet-network-telescope-traffic.pdf
- Description: This paper presents results form the analysis of twelve months of net-work telescope traffic spanning 2005 and 2006, and details some of the tools developed. The most significant results of the analysis are high-lighted. In particular the bulk of traffic analysed had its source in the China from a volume perspective, but Eastern United States, and North Western Europe were shown to be primary sources when the number of unique hosts were considered. Traffic from African states (South Af-rica in particular) was also found to be surprisingly high. This unex-pected result may be due to the network locality preference of many automated agents. Both statistical and graphical analysis are present-ed. It is found that a country with a high penetration of broadband con-nectivity is likley to feature highly in Network telescope traffic, as are networks logically close to the telescope network.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
An Evaluation of Trading Bands as Indicators for Network Telescope Datasets
- Cowie, Bradley, Irwin, Barry V W
- Authors: Cowie, Bradley , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428013 , vital:72480 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Ir-win/publication/326225071_An_Evaluation_of_Trading_Bands_as_Indicators_for_Network_Telescope_Datasets/links/5b3f231a4585150d2309e1c0/An-Evaluation-of-Trading-Bands-as-Indicators-for-Network-Telescope-Datasets.pdf
- Description: Large scale viral outbreaks such as Conficker, the Code Red worm and the Witty worm illustrate the importance of monitoring malevolent activity on the Internet. Careful monitoring of anomalous traffic allows organiza-tions to react appropriately and in a timely fashion to minimize economic damage. Network telescopes, a type of Internet monitor, provide ana-lysts with a way of decoupling anomalous traffic from legitimate traffic. Data from network telescopes is used by analysts to identify potential incidents by comparing recent trends with historical data. Analysis of network telescope datasets is complicated by the large quantity of data present, the number of subdivisions within the data and the uncertainty associated with received traffic. While there is considerable research being performed in the field of network telescopes little of this work is concerned with the analysis of alternative methods of incident identifi-cation. This paper considers trading bands, a subfield of technical analysis, as an approach to identifying potential Internet incidents such as worms. Trading bands construct boundaries that are used for meas-uring when certain quantities are high or low relative to recent values. This paper considers Bollinger Bands and associated Bollinger Indica-tors, Price Channels and Keltner Channels. These techniques are evaluated as indicators of malevolent activity by considering how these techniques react to incidents indentified in the captured data from a network telescope.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Cowie, Bradley , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428013 , vital:72480 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Ir-win/publication/326225071_An_Evaluation_of_Trading_Bands_as_Indicators_for_Network_Telescope_Datasets/links/5b3f231a4585150d2309e1c0/An-Evaluation-of-Trading-Bands-as-Indicators-for-Network-Telescope-Datasets.pdf
- Description: Large scale viral outbreaks such as Conficker, the Code Red worm and the Witty worm illustrate the importance of monitoring malevolent activity on the Internet. Careful monitoring of anomalous traffic allows organiza-tions to react appropriately and in a timely fashion to minimize economic damage. Network telescopes, a type of Internet monitor, provide ana-lysts with a way of decoupling anomalous traffic from legitimate traffic. Data from network telescopes is used by analysts to identify potential incidents by comparing recent trends with historical data. Analysis of network telescope datasets is complicated by the large quantity of data present, the number of subdivisions within the data and the uncertainty associated with received traffic. While there is considerable research being performed in the field of network telescopes little of this work is concerned with the analysis of alternative methods of incident identifi-cation. This paper considers trading bands, a subfield of technical analysis, as an approach to identifying potential Internet incidents such as worms. Trading bands construct boundaries that are used for meas-uring when certain quantities are high or low relative to recent values. This paper considers Bollinger Bands and associated Bollinger Indica-tors, Price Channels and Keltner Channels. These techniques are evaluated as indicators of malevolent activity by considering how these techniques react to incidents indentified in the captured data from a network telescope.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
High Speed Lexical Classification of Malicious URLs
- Egan, Shaun P, Irwin, Barry V W
- Authors: Egan, Shaun P , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428055 , vital:72483 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Ir-win/publication/326225046_High_Speed_Lexical_Classification_of_Malicious_URLs/links/5b3f20acaca27207851c60f9/High-Speed-Lexical-Classification-of-Malicious-URLs.pdf
- Description: It has been shown in recent research that it is possible to identify malicious URLs through lexi-cal analysis of their URL structures alone. Lightweight algorithms are defined as methods by which URLs are analyzed that do not use external sources of information such as WHOIS lookups, blacklist lookups and content analysis. These parameters include URL length, number of delimiters as well as the number of traversals through the directory structure and are used throughout much of the research in the paradigm of lightweight classification. Methods which include external sources of information are often called fully featured classifications and have been shown to be only slightly more effective than a purely lexical analysis when considering both false-positives and falsenegatives. This distinction allows these algorithms to be run client side without the introduction of additional latency, but still providing a high level of accuracy through the use of modern techniques in training classifiers. Both AROW and CW classifier update methods will be used as prototype implementations and their effectiveness will be com-pared to fully featured analysis results. These methods are selected because they are able to train on any labeled data, including instances in which their prediction is correct, allowing them to build a confidence in specific lexical features.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Egan, Shaun P , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428055 , vital:72483 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Ir-win/publication/326225046_High_Speed_Lexical_Classification_of_Malicious_URLs/links/5b3f20acaca27207851c60f9/High-Speed-Lexical-Classification-of-Malicious-URLs.pdf
- Description: It has been shown in recent research that it is possible to identify malicious URLs through lexi-cal analysis of their URL structures alone. Lightweight algorithms are defined as methods by which URLs are analyzed that do not use external sources of information such as WHOIS lookups, blacklist lookups and content analysis. These parameters include URL length, number of delimiters as well as the number of traversals through the directory structure and are used throughout much of the research in the paradigm of lightweight classification. Methods which include external sources of information are often called fully featured classifications and have been shown to be only slightly more effective than a purely lexical analysis when considering both false-positives and falsenegatives. This distinction allows these algorithms to be run client side without the introduction of additional latency, but still providing a high level of accuracy through the use of modern techniques in training classifiers. Both AROW and CW classifier update methods will be used as prototype implementations and their effectiveness will be com-pared to fully featured analysis results. These methods are selected because they are able to train on any labeled data, including instances in which their prediction is correct, allowing them to build a confidence in specific lexical features.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Passive Traffic Inspection for Automated Firewall Rule Set Generation
- Pranschke, Georg-Christian, Irwin, Barry V W, Barnett, Richard J
- Authors: Pranschke, Georg-Christian , Irwin, Barry V W , Barnett, Richard J
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428114 , vital:72487 , https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/49200001/Automated_Firewall_Rule_Set_Generation_T20160928-12076-1n830lx-libre.pdf?1475130103=andresponse-content-disposi-tion=inline%3B+filename%3DAutomated_Firewall_Rule_Set_Generation_T.pdfandExpires=1714733377andSignature=Q0miMvZNpP7c60n42m54TvFG4hIdujVJBilbpvDKquBk54RPwU22pH6-40mpmOxIFBllKUmOgZfS9SwzuiANn-AZ2bhAELyZmf2bJ5MgceaYH5wnPjX9VzP04C2BACzhO5YutUfwkysburUx-zNdiemSofx2p1DwOszXaJNauYdP8RcHQmFl8aOnkoc3kmU02eKz8WiQISntJtu5Gpo8txP-Z6f1BEzvlVGd432tndhRwpsEVWGW43~oXsdaWQu72S8pTakgKPREqaD7CUHKMXiiUBfuiSj1nFo2n4xZQlFHqbMT7TAYzBPM0GObe~kBe5s2nY6dnOMUKUsSaeTUtqA__andKey-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
- Description: The introduction of network filters and chokes such as firewalls in exist-ing operational network is often problematic, due to considerations that need to be made to minimise the interruption of existent legitimate traf-fic. This often necessitates the time consuming manual analysis of net-work traffic over a period of time in order to generate and vet the rule bases to minimise disruption of legitimate flows. To improve upon this, a system facilitating network traffic analysis and firewall rule set genera-tion is proposed. The system shall be capable to deal with the ever in-creasing traffic volumes and help to provide and maintain high uptimes. A high level overview of the design of the components is presented. Additions to the system are scoring metrics which may assist the admin-istrator to optimise the rule sets for the most efficient matching of flows, based on traffic volume, frequency or packet count. A third party pack-age-Firewall Builder-is used to target the resultant rule sets to a number of different firewall and network Filtering platforms.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Pranschke, Georg-Christian , Irwin, Barry V W , Barnett, Richard J
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428114 , vital:72487 , https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/49200001/Automated_Firewall_Rule_Set_Generation_T20160928-12076-1n830lx-libre.pdf?1475130103=andresponse-content-disposi-tion=inline%3B+filename%3DAutomated_Firewall_Rule_Set_Generation_T.pdfandExpires=1714733377andSignature=Q0miMvZNpP7c60n42m54TvFG4hIdujVJBilbpvDKquBk54RPwU22pH6-40mpmOxIFBllKUmOgZfS9SwzuiANn-AZ2bhAELyZmf2bJ5MgceaYH5wnPjX9VzP04C2BACzhO5YutUfwkysburUx-zNdiemSofx2p1DwOszXaJNauYdP8RcHQmFl8aOnkoc3kmU02eKz8WiQISntJtu5Gpo8txP-Z6f1BEzvlVGd432tndhRwpsEVWGW43~oXsdaWQu72S8pTakgKPREqaD7CUHKMXiiUBfuiSj1nFo2n4xZQlFHqbMT7TAYzBPM0GObe~kBe5s2nY6dnOMUKUsSaeTUtqA__andKey-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA
- Description: The introduction of network filters and chokes such as firewalls in exist-ing operational network is often problematic, due to considerations that need to be made to minimise the interruption of existent legitimate traf-fic. This often necessitates the time consuming manual analysis of net-work traffic over a period of time in order to generate and vet the rule bases to minimise disruption of legitimate flows. To improve upon this, a system facilitating network traffic analysis and firewall rule set genera-tion is proposed. The system shall be capable to deal with the ever in-creasing traffic volumes and help to provide and maintain high uptimes. A high level overview of the design of the components is presented. Additions to the system are scoring metrics which may assist the admin-istrator to optimise the rule sets for the most efficient matching of flows, based on traffic volume, frequency or packet count. A third party pack-age-Firewall Builder-is used to target the resultant rule sets to a number of different firewall and network Filtering platforms.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
A fuzz testing framework for evaluating and securing network applications
- Zeisberger, Sascha, Irwin, Barry V W
- Authors: Zeisberger, Sascha , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428000 , vital:72479 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Ir-win/publication/327622655_A_Fuzz_Testing_Framework_for_Evaluating_and_Securing_Network_Applications/links/5b9a153b92851c4ba8181b0d/A-Fuzz-Testing-Framework-for-Evaluating-and-Securing-Network-Applications.pdf
- Description: Research has shown that fuzz-testing is an effective means of increasing the quality and security of software and systems. This project proposes the im-plementation of a testing framework based on numerous fuzz-testing tech-niques. The framework will allow a user to detect errors in applications and locate critical areas in the applications that are responsible for the detected errors. The aim is to provide an all-encompassing testing framework that will allow a developer to quickly and effectively deploy fuzz tests on an applica-tion and ensure a higher level of quality control before deployment.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Zeisberger, Sascha , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428000 , vital:72479 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Ir-win/publication/327622655_A_Fuzz_Testing_Framework_for_Evaluating_and_Securing_Network_Applications/links/5b9a153b92851c4ba8181b0d/A-Fuzz-Testing-Framework-for-Evaluating-and-Securing-Network-Applications.pdf
- Description: Research has shown that fuzz-testing is an effective means of increasing the quality and security of software and systems. This project proposes the im-plementation of a testing framework based on numerous fuzz-testing tech-niques. The framework will allow a user to detect errors in applications and locate critical areas in the applications that are responsible for the detected errors. The aim is to provide an all-encompassing testing framework that will allow a developer to quickly and effectively deploy fuzz tests on an applica-tion and ensure a higher level of quality control before deployment.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
JSON schema for attribute-based access control for network resource security
- Linklater, Gregory, Smith, Christian, Connan, James, Herbert, Alan, Irwin, Barry V W
- Authors: Linklater, Gregory , Smith, Christian , Connan, James , Herbert, Alan , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428368 , vital:72506 , https://researchspace.csir.co.za/dspace/bitstream/handle/10204/9820/Linklater_19660_2017.pdf?sequence=1andisAllowed=y
- Description: Attribute-based Access Control (ABAC) is an access control model where authorization for an action on a resource is determined by evalu-ating attributes of the subject, resource (object) and environment. The attributes are evaluated against boolean rules of varying complexity. ABAC rule languages are often based on serializable object modeling and schema languages as in the case of XACML which is based on XML Schema. XACML is a standard by OASIS, and is the current de facto standard for ABAC. While a JSON profile for XACML exists, it is simply a compatibility layer for using JSON in XACML which caters to the XML object model paradigm, as opposed to the JSON object model paradigm. This research proposes JSON Schema as a modeling lan-guage that caters to the JSON object model paradigm on which to base an ABAC rule language. It continues to demonstrate its viability for the task by comparison against the features provided to XACML by XML Schema.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Linklater, Gregory , Smith, Christian , Connan, James , Herbert, Alan , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428368 , vital:72506 , https://researchspace.csir.co.za/dspace/bitstream/handle/10204/9820/Linklater_19660_2017.pdf?sequence=1andisAllowed=y
- Description: Attribute-based Access Control (ABAC) is an access control model where authorization for an action on a resource is determined by evalu-ating attributes of the subject, resource (object) and environment. The attributes are evaluated against boolean rules of varying complexity. ABAC rule languages are often based on serializable object modeling and schema languages as in the case of XACML which is based on XML Schema. XACML is a standard by OASIS, and is the current de facto standard for ABAC. While a JSON profile for XACML exists, it is simply a compatibility layer for using JSON in XACML which caters to the XML object model paradigm, as opposed to the JSON object model paradigm. This research proposes JSON Schema as a modeling lan-guage that caters to the JSON object model paradigm on which to base an ABAC rule language. It continues to demonstrate its viability for the task by comparison against the features provided to XACML by XML Schema.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
An analysis on the re-emergence of SQL Slammer worm using network telescope data
- Chindipha, Stones, D, Irwin, Barry V W
- Authors: Chindipha, Stones, D , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428326 , vital:72503 , https://researchspace.csir.co.za/dspace/bitstream/handle/10204/9705/Chindipha_19658_2017.pdf?sequence=1ansisAllowed=y
- Description: The SQL Slammer worm is a self propagated computer virus that caused a denial of service on some Internet hosts and dramatically slowed down general Internet traffic. An observation of network traffic captured in the Rhodes University’s network telescopes shows that traf-fic observed in it shows an escalation in the number of packets cap-tured by the telescopes between January 2014 and December 2016 when the expected traffic was meant to take a constant decline in UDP packets from port 1434. Using data captured over a period of 84 months, the analysis done in this study identified top ten /24 source IP addresses that Slammer worm repeatedly used for this attack together with their geolocation. It also shows the trend of UDP 1434 packets re-ceived by the two network telescopes from January 2009 to December 2015. In line with epidemic model, the paper has shown how this traffic fits in as SQL Slammer worm attack. Consistent number of packets ob-served in the two telescopes between 2014 and 2016 shows qualities of the Slammer worm attack. Basic time series and decomposition of additive time series graphs have been used to show trend and ob-served UDP packets over the time frame of study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Chindipha, Stones, D , Irwin, Barry V W
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428326 , vital:72503 , https://researchspace.csir.co.za/dspace/bitstream/handle/10204/9705/Chindipha_19658_2017.pdf?sequence=1ansisAllowed=y
- Description: The SQL Slammer worm is a self propagated computer virus that caused a denial of service on some Internet hosts and dramatically slowed down general Internet traffic. An observation of network traffic captured in the Rhodes University’s network telescopes shows that traf-fic observed in it shows an escalation in the number of packets cap-tured by the telescopes between January 2014 and December 2016 when the expected traffic was meant to take a constant decline in UDP packets from port 1434. Using data captured over a period of 84 months, the analysis done in this study identified top ten /24 source IP addresses that Slammer worm repeatedly used for this attack together with their geolocation. It also shows the trend of UDP 1434 packets re-ceived by the two network telescopes from January 2009 to December 2015. In line with epidemic model, the paper has shown how this traffic fits in as SQL Slammer worm attack. Consistent number of packets ob-served in the two telescopes between 2014 and 2016 shows qualities of the Slammer worm attack. Basic time series and decomposition of additive time series graphs have been used to show trend and ob-served UDP packets over the time frame of study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017