PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem, wherein it is impossible for an electronic content information provider to provide commercially secure and effective method, for a configurable general-purpose electronic commercial transaction/distribution control system. SOLUTION: In this system, having at least one protected processing environment for safely controlling at least one portion of decoding of digital information, a secure content distribution method comprises a process for encapsulating digital information in one or more digital containers; a process for encrypting at least a portion of digital information; a process for associating at least partially secure control information for managing interactions with encrypted digital information and/or digital container; a process for delivering one or more digital containers to a digital information user; and a process for using a protected processing environment, for safely controlling at least a portion of the decoding of the digital information. COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a423264.pdf

Systems and Methods for Secure Transaction Management and Electronic Rights Protection

National Institute of Standards and Technology における超伝導研究及び生活

Rights management information is used at least in part in a matching, narrowcasting, classifying and/or selecting process. A matching and classification utility system comprising a kind of Commerce Utility System is used to perform the matching, narrowcasting, classifying and/or selecting. The matching and classification utility system may match, narrowcast, classify and/or select people and/or things, non-limiting examples of which include software objects. The Matching and Classification Utility system may use any pre-existing classification schemes, including at least some rights management information and/or other qualitative and/or parameter data indicating and/or defining classes, classification systems, class hierarchies, category schemes, class assignments, category assignments, and/or class membership. The Matching and Classification Utility may also use at least some rights management information together with any artificial intelligence, expert system, statistical, computational, manual, or any other means to define new classes, class hierarchies, classification systems, category schemes, and/or assign persons, things, and/or groups of persons and/or things to at least one class.

Systems and methods for matching, selecting, narrowcasting, and/or classifying based on rights management and/or other information

Information privacy refers to the desire of individuals to control or have some influence over data about themselves. Advances in information technology have raised concerns about information privacy and its impacts, and have motivated Information Systems researchers to explore information privacy issues, including technical solutions to address these concerns. In this paper, we inform researchers about the current state of information privacy research in IS through a critical analysis of the IS literature that considers information privacy as a key construct. The review of the literature reveals that information privacy is a multilevel concept, but rarely studied as such. We also find that information privacy research has been heavily reliant on studentbased and USA-centric samples, which results in findings of limited generalizability. Information privacy research focuses on explaining and predicting theoretical contributions, with few studies in journal articles focusing on design and action contributions. We recommend that future research should consider different levels of analysis as well as multilevel effects of information privacy. We illustrate this with a multilevel framework for information privacy concerns. We call for research on information privacy to use a broader diversity of sampling populations, and for more design and action information privacy research to be published in journal articles that can result in IT artifacts for protection or control of information privacy.

http://ftp.misq.org/skin/frontend/default/misq/pdf/appendices/2011/BelangerCrosslerAppendices.pdf

Privacy in the digital age: a review of information privacy research in information systems

Electronic steganographic techniques can be used to encode a rights management control signal onto an information signal carried over an insecure communications channel. Steganographic techniques ensure that the digital control information is substantially invisibly and substantially indelibly carried by the information signal. These techniques can provide end-to-end rights management protection of an information signal irrespective of transformations between analog and digital. An electronic appliance can recover the control information and use it for electronic rights management to provide compatibility with a Virtual Distribution Environment. In one example, the system encodes low data rate pointers within high bandwidth time periods of the content signal to improve overall control information read/seek times.

Steganographic techniques for securely delivering electronic digital rights management control information over insecure communication channels

Steganography is the art of hiding the fact that communication is taking place, by hiding information in other information. Many different carrier file formats can be used, but digital images are the most popular because of their frequency on the Internet. For hiding secret information in images, there exists a large variety of steganographic techniques some are more complex than others and all of them have respective strong and weak points. Different applications have different requirements of the steganography technique used. For example, some applications may require absolute invisibility of the secret information, while others require a larger secret message to be hidden. This paper intends to give an overview of image steganography, its uses and techniques. It also attempts to identify the requirements of a good steganographic algorithm and briefly reflects on which steganographic techniques are more suitable for which applications.

/pdf/an-overview-of-image-steganography-4v02g65fke.pdf

An overview of image steganography.

Computer Forensics is essential for the successful prosecution of computer criminals. For a forensic investigation to be performed successfully there are a number of important steps that have to be considered and taken. The aim of this paper is to define a clear, step-by-step framework for the collection of evidence suitable for presentation in a court of law. Existing forensic models will be surveyed and then adapted to create a specific application framework for single computer, entry point forensics.

/pdf/framework-for-a-digital-forensic-investigation-1xgnd13uqv.pdf

Framework for a Digital Forensic Investigation.

On metadata context in Database Forensics

Smartphones are the latest technology trend of the 21st century. Today's social expectation of always staying connected and the need for an increase in productivity are the reasons for the increase in smartphone usage. One of the leaders of the smartphone evolution is Google's Android Operating System (OS). The openness of the design and the ease of customizing are the aspects that are placing Android ahead of the other smartphone OSs. Such popularity has not only led to an increase in Android usage but also to the rise of Android malware. Although such malware is not having a significant impact on the popularity of Android smartphones, it is however creating new possibilities for threats. One such threat is the impact of botnets on Android smartphones. Recently, malware has surfaced that revealed specific characteristics relating to traditional botnet activities. Malware such as Geinimi, Pjapps, DroidDream, and RootSmart all display traditional botnet functionalities. These malicious applications show that Android botnets is a reality. From a security perspective it is important to understand the underlying structure of an Android botnet. This paper evaluates Android malware with the purpose of identifying specific trends and characteristics relating to botnet behaviour. The botnet trends and characteristics are detected by a comprehensive literature study of well-known Android malware applications. The identified characteristics are then further explored in terms of the Android Botnet Development Model and the Android Botnet Discovery Process. The common identified trends and characteristics aid the understanding of Android botnet activities as well as the possible discovery of an Android bot.

/pdf/android-botnets-on-the-rise-trends-and-characteristics-xynrildi8g.pdf

Android botnets on the rise: Trends and characteristics

Cloud Computing is gaining acceptance and increasing in popularity. Organizations often rely on Cloud resources to effectively replace their in house computer systems. In a Cloud environment an instance is typically accepted to be a virtual system resource established within that Cloud. Multiple instances can be contained a single node. The Cloud itself consists of multiple nodes. The Cloud structure has no predefined or fixed boundaries. Digital Forensics (DFs) can be considered the science of finding a root cause of a particular incident. Isolating the incident environment is generally accepted within the Forensic Community to be an integral part of a Forensic process. We consider this isolation is also needed in a Digital Forensic Investigations (DFIs). The isolation prevents any further contamination or tampering of possible evidence. In order to isolate the incident the Cloud instance is isolated. The node instance is effectively placed in a controlled environment to enable a controlled DF investigation to be conducted. This paper will introduce possible techniques to isolate these Cloud instances to facilitate an investigation. The techniques include, but are not limited to Instance Relocation, Server Farming, Address Relocation, Failover, Sandboxing, Man in the Middle (MITM) and Let’s Hope for the Best (LHFTB). A discussion of each of these techniques will be given. This discussion will include a description of each techniques, the advantages and disadvantages of using the techniques and the visibility of the techniques.

/pdf/isolating-a-cloud-instance-for-a-digital-forensic-yruzlrnj4g.pdf

Martin S. Olivier

Papers

An overview of image steganography.

Framework for a Digital Forensic Investigation.

On metadata context in Database Forensics

Android botnets on the rise: Trends and characteristics

Isolating a cloud instance for a digital forensic investigation.