Maghsoud Abbaspour

Bio: Maghsoud Abbaspour is an academic researcher from Shahid Beheshti University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Wireless sensor network & Routing protocol. The author has an hindex of 12, co-authored 71 publications receiving 515 citations. Previous affiliations of Maghsoud Abbaspour include University of Toronto & University of Tehran.

An adaptive CSMA/TDMA hybrid MAC for energy and throughput improvement of wireless sensor networks

Abstract: IEEE 802.15.4 as a standard for low rate wireless personal area networks (LR-WPAN) is an applicative choice for implementation of wireless sensor networks. Due to the advantages of this standard and its capabilities for more specification to wireless sensor networks, we were persuaded to resolve some of its proven weaknesses in such environments. The slotted CSMA/CA method utilized in beacon-enabled mode of 802.15.4 causes unacceptable level of energy consumption and throughput in conditions like high loads. To overcome these issues, we proposed an adaptable CSMA/TDMA hybrid channel access method by applying some modifications to the 802.15.4 standard. The energy and throughput improvement is achieved by dedicating a part of the contention access period to a time division medium access protocol (TDMA). To evaluate our proposed method in comparison with 802.15.4, we developed a simulation in OMNeT++. Analysis of the simulation results indicates general improvement of energy consumption and throughput. As a sensor network grows more populated or the load increases, the proposed method shows a better performance in comparison with IEEE 802.15.4 standard.

An Energy-Efficient and High-Quality Video Transmission Architecture in Wireless Video-Based Sensor Networks

Abstract: Technological progress in the fields of Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and wireless communications and also the availability of CMOS cameras, microphones and small-scale array sensors, which may ubiquitously capture multimedia content from the field, have fostered the development of low-cost limited resources Wireless Video-based Sensor Networks (WVSN). With regards to the constraints of videobased sensor nodes and wireless sensor networks, a supporting video stream is not easy to implement with the present sensor network protocols. In this paper, a thorough architecture is presented for video transmission over WVSN called Energy-efficient and high-Quality Video transmission Architecture (EQV-Architecture). This architecture influences three layers of communication protocol stack and considers wireless video sensor nodes constraints like limited process and energy resources while video quality is preserved in the receiver side. Application, transport, and network layers are the layers in which the compression protocol, transport protocol, and routing protocol are proposed respectively, also a dropping scheme is presented in network layer. Simulation results over various environments with dissimilar conditions revealed the effectiveness of the architecture in improving the lifetime of the network as well as preserving the video quality.

A static heuristic approach to detecting malware targets

Abstract: Nowadays malware writers usually employ several obfuscation techniques to evade detection. The number of variants detected each day has been increasing significantly. Unfortunately traditional detection approaches such as signature scanning are becoming inefficient to detect such malwares. Researches show that these obfuscations make some anomalies in Portable Executable files. In this paper, by focusing on important static heuristic features and fuzzy classification algorithms, we tried to detect malwares and packed files. In addition, we used preprocessing to evade anomaly exceptions in benign files that improved our detection results. The experimental results, using over 63000 file samples, indicate that the proposed detector achieves high detection results with low false positive and false negative rates. Furthermore, our experimental results on new malware samples that had been undetectable for many years by antivirus products and new custom packers, show that our system works well with new and unknown samples too. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An anomaly-based botnet detection approach for identifying stealthy botnets

Abstract: Botnets (networks of compromised computers) are often used for malicious activities such as spam, click fraud, identity theft, phishing, and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Most of previous researches have introduced fully or partially signature-based botnet detection approaches. In this paper, we propose a fully anomaly-based approach that requires no a priori knowledge of bot signatures, botnet C&C protocols, and C&C server addresses. We start from inherent characteristics of botnets. Bots connect to the C&C channel and execute the received commands. Bots belonging to the same botnet receive the same commands that causes them having similar netflows characteristics and performing same attacks. Our method clusters bots with similar netflows and attacks in different time windows and perform correlation to identify bot infected hosts. We have developed a prototype system and evaluated it with real-world traces including normal traffic and several real-world botnet traces. The results show that our approach has high detection accuracy and low false positive.

Adaptive Anomaly-Based Intrusion Detection System Using Fuzzy Controller.

Abstract: The main feature of anomaly-based intrusion detection systems is detection of new attacks in the networks, even though numerous false alarms are caused in order to disregard this important feature. Although the previous improved detection models decrease the number of false alarms, but their efficiency due to changes in the normal behavior of the system is not reasonable. In this paper, we present an anomaly-based intrusion detection system to improve the system performance. Fuzzy rule-based modeling and fuzzy controller are used to create a detection model in the training phase and update this model in the test phase respectively. Moreover, the results of system’s predictions buffered and presented to the system user later. After that, system user verifies these decisions and fuzzy controller tunes detection model using system user’s feedbacks. We evaluated our system using the NCL dataset. Our dataset is a subset of KDD-99 dataset that does not contain any duplicated record. Furthermore, it includes a few difficult records that none of common classification methods in this area is able to classify them correctly. We have also proved that our test results can significantly increase the performance of the system about 20 percent using adaptive IDS. We also conclude that our proposed anomaly based intrusion detection increases the accuracy of the system about 15 percent.

Network Anomaly Detection: Methods, Systems and Tools

Abstract: Network anomaly detection is an important and dynamic research area. Many network intrusion detection methods and systems (NIDS) have been proposed in the literature. In this paper, we provide a structured and comprehensive overview of various facets of network anomaly detection so that a researcher can become quickly familiar with every aspect of network anomaly detection. We present attacks normally encountered by network intrusion detection systems. We categorize existing network anomaly detection methods and systems based on the underlying computational techniques used. Within this framework, we briefly describe and compare a large number of network anomaly detection methods and systems. In addition, we also discuss tools that can be used by network defenders and datasets that researchers in network anomaly detection can use. We also highlight research directions in network anomaly detection.

RMST: Reliable Data Transport in Sensor Networks

Abstract: Appearing in 1st IEEE International Workshop on Sensor Net Protocols and Applications (SNPA). Anchorage, Alaska, USA. May 11, 2003. RMST: Reliable Data Transport in Sensor Networks Fred Stann, John Heidemann Abstract – Reliable data transport in wireless sensor networks is a multifaceted problem influenced by the physical, MAC, network, and transport layers. Because sensor networks are subject to strict resource constraints and are deployed by single organizations, they encourage revisiting traditional layering and are less bound by standardized placement of services such as reliability. This paper presents analysis and experiments resulting in specific recommendations for implementing reliable data transport in sensor nets. To explore reliability at the transport layer, we present RMST (Reliable Multi- Segment Transport), a new transport layer for Directed Diffusion. RMST provides guaranteed delivery and fragmentation/reassembly for applications that require them. RMST is a selective NACK-based protocol that can be configured for in-network caching and repair. Second, these energy constraints, plus relatively low wireless bandwidths, make in-network processing both feasible and desirable [3]. Third, because nodes in sensor networks are usually collaborating towards a common task, rather than representing independent users, optimization of the shared network focuses on throughput rather than fairness. Finally, because sensor networks are often deployed by a single organization with inexpensive hardware, there is less need for interoperability with existing standards. For all of these reasons, sensor networks provide an environment that encourages rethinking the structure of traditional communications protocols. The main contribution is an evaluation of the placement of reliability for data transport at different levels of the protocol stack. We consider implementing reliability in the MAC, transport layer, application, and combinations of these. We conclude that reliability is important at the MAC layer and the transport layer. MAC-level reliability is important not just to provide hop-by-hop error recovery for the transport layer, but also because it is needed for route discovery and maintenance. (This conclusion differs from previous studies in reliability for sensor nets that did not simulate routing. [4]) Second, we have developed RMST (Reliable Multi-Segment Transport), a new transport layer, in order to understand the role of in- network processing for reliable data transfer. RMST benefits from diffusion routing, adding minimal additional control traffic. RMST guarantees delivery, even when multiple hops exhibit very high error rates. 1 Introduction Wireless sensor networks provide an economical, fully distributed, sensing and computing solution for environments where conventional networks are impractical. This paper explores the design decisions related to providing reliable data transport in sensor nets. The reliable data transport problem in sensor nets is multi-faceted. The emphasis on energy conservation in sensor nets implies that poor paths should not be artificially bolstered via mechanisms such as MAC layer ARQ during route discovery and path selection [1]. Path maintenance, on the other hand, benefits from well- engineered recovery either at the MAC layer or the transport layer, or both. Recovery should not be costly however, since many applications in sensor nets are impervious to occasional packet loss, relying on the regular delivery of coarse-grained event descriptions. Other applications require loss detection and repair. These aspects of reliable data transport include the provision of guaranteed delivery and fragmentation/ reassembly of data entities larger than the network MTU. Sensor networks have different constraints than traditional wired nets. First, energy constraints are paramount in sensor networks since nodes can often not be recharged, so any wasted energy shortens their useful lifetime [2]. This work was supported by DARPA under grant DABT63-99-1-0011 as part of the SCAADS project, and was also made possible in part due to support from Intel Corporation and Xerox Corporation. Fred Stann and John Heidemann are with USC/Information Sciences Institute, 4676 Admiralty Way, Marina Del Rey, CA, USA E-mail: fstann@usc.edu, johnh@isi.edu. 2 Architectural Choices There are a number of key areas to consider when engineering reliability for sensor nets. Many current sensor networks exhibit high loss rates compared to wired networks (2% to 30% to immediate neighbors)[1,5,6]. While error detection and correction at the physical layer are important, approaches at the MAC layer and higher adapt well to the very wide range of loss rates seen in sensor networks and are the focus of this paper. MAC layer protocols can ameliorate PHY layer unreliability, and transport layers can guarantee delivery. An important question for this paper is the trade off between implementation of reliability at the MAC layer (i.e. hop to hop) vs. the Transport layer, which has traditionally been concerned with end-to-end reliability. Because sensor net applications are distributed, we also considered implementing reliability at the application layer. Our goal is to minimize the cost of repair in terms of transmission.

The case for cyber foraging

Abstract: In this paper, we propose cyber foraging: a mechanism to augment the computational and storage capabilities of mobile devices. Cyber foraging uses opportunistically discovered servers in the environment to improve the performance of interactive applications and distributed file systems on mobile clients. We show how the performance of distributed file systems can be improved by staging data at these servers even though the servers are not trusted. We also show how the performance of interactive applications can be improved via remote execution. Finally, we present VERSUDS: a virtual interface to heteregeneous service discovery protocols that can be used to discover these servers.

Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks: Current Trends and Future Directions

Abstract: Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSNs) have emerged and shifted the focus from the typical scalar wireless sensor networks to networks with multimedia devices that are capable to retrieve video, audio, images, as well as scalar sensor data. WMSNs are able to deliver multimedia content due to the availability of inexpensive CMOS cameras and microphones coupled with the significant progress in distributed signal processing and multimedia source coding techniques. In this paper, we outline the design challenges of WMSNs, give a comprehensive discussion of the proposed architectures, algorithms and protocols for the different layers of the communication protocol stack for WMSNs, and evaluate the existing WMSN hardware and testbeds. The paper will give the reader a clear view of the state of the art at all aspects of this research area, and shed the light on its main current challenges and future trends. We also hope it will foster discussions and new research ideas among its researchers.