From the Publisher:
A valuable reference for the novice as well as for the expert who needs a wider scope of coverage within the area of cryptography, this book provides easy and rapid access of information and includes more than 200 algorithms and protocols; more than 200 tables and figures; more than 1,000 numbered definitions, facts, examples, notes, and remarks; and over 1,250 significant references, including brief comments on each paper.

Handbook of Applied Cryptography

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

We will review some of the major results in random graphs and some of the more challenging open problems. We will cover algorithmic and structural questions. We will touch on newer models, including those related to the WWW.

Random graphs

Cryptosystem designers frequently assume that secrets will be manipulated in closed, reliable computing environments. Unfortunately, actual computers and microchips leak information about the operations they process. This paper examines specific methods for analyzing power consumption measurements to find secret keys from tamper resistant devices. We also discuss approaches for building cryptosystems that can operate securely in existing hardware that leaks information.

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Differential Power Analysis

We study two families of error-correcting codes defined in terms of very sparse matrices "MN" (MacKay-Neal (1995)) codes are recently invented, and "Gallager codes" were first investigated in 1962, but appear to have been largely forgotten, in spite of their excellent properties The decoding of both codes can be tackled with a practical sum-product algorithm We prove that these codes are "very good", in that sequences of codes exist which, when optimally decoded, achieve information rates up to the Shannon limit This result holds not only for the binary-symmetric channel but also for any channel with symmetric stationary ergodic noise We give experimental results for binary-symmetric channels and Gaussian channels demonstrating that practical performance substantially better than that of standard convolutional and concatenated codes can be achieved; indeed, the performance of Gallager codes is almost as close to the Shannon limit as that of turbo codes

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Good error-correcting codes based on very sparse matrices

There has been a lot of noise about the millennium bug, but little hard data. Many organisations have spent a fortune on the problem but refuse to share their findings. Governments tell their citizens not to panic while making panicky contingency plans in private. Few of the ‘experts’ in the field are willing to predict the outcome. Here I report the results of an examination of the systems used in Cambridge University. The University is a federation of somewhat over a hundred and fifty departments, institutes and colleges which between them provide a very broad sample of small-to-medium sized enterprises. While colleges provide accommodation and catering services, our medical departments are involved in treating patients, our science laboratories operate major capital equipment and our aerial photography unit conducts flight operations. The sample may thus be more informative than a random sample of similar size. The surprising discovery is that although some systems have been fixed or replaced, none of the bugs found so far would have had a serious impact on our business operations even if they had been ignored until January 2000. So the UK government anxiety about the millennium bug compliance of small-to-medium sized enterprises appears misplaced. The average small business owner, who is doing absolutely nothing about the bug, appears to be acting quite rationally. This does not mean that the millennium bug is harmless. There are still risks to the economy and to public safety, but in the UK at least they appear to be minor. This article recounts my own experiences; but when I talk to engineers who have worked with the bug elsewhere, they seem fairly typical.

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The Millennium Bug – Reasons not to Panic

Background. The establishment of a dedicated neurocritical care unit (NCCU) is well known to offer benefits to patients. These units are optimised to care for patients with various brain and spine pathologies. Complications peculiar to such units in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are relatively undocumented. Objectives. To determine the complications in a NCCU at Groote Schuur Hospital (GSH) over one year and their association with length of stay (LOS) and mortality. Methods. A retrospective review of complications of patients admitted to the NCCU at GSH from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020 as per NCCU patient data registry (HREC ethics approval: R012/2015). Results. A total of 850 patients were admitted to the NCCU, with a median age of 43 years (high care) and 41 years (ICU), predominantly male (64%). The overall complication incidence rate was 38.2%. The statistically significant complications ( p -value <0.05) were metabolic abnormalities (and their subcategories) as well as infection (subcategories ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), surgical site infection (SSI), central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) and deep-vein thrombosis (DVT). The most common complication was metabolic abnormalities at 28.2%, specifically sodium aberrations. LOS has been shown to have a statistically significant association with frequency of complications. Mortality, on the other hand, does not have a statistically significant association. Conclusion. Complications in a dedicated NCCU in South Africa are mostly metabolic abnormalities and infections. The complications are associated with LOS and not with mortality.

A retrospective review of complications in a South African neurocritical care unit over one year

Our increasing reliance on digital technology for personal, economic, and government affairs has made it essential to secure the communications and devices of private citizens, businesses, and governments. This has led to pervasive use of cryptography across society. Despite its evident advantages, law enforcement and national security agencies have argued that the spread of cryptography has hindered access to evidence and intelligence. Some in industry and government now advocate a new technology to access targeted data: client-side scanning (CSS). Instead of weakening encryption or providing law enforcement with backdoor keys to decrypt communications, CSS would enable on-device analysis of data in the clear. If targeted information were detected, its existence and, potentially, its source, would be revealed to the agencies; otherwise, little or no information would leave the client device. Its proponents claim that CSS is a solution to the encryption versus public safety debate: it offers privacy -- in the sense of unimpeded end-to-end encryption -- and the ability to successfully investigate serious crime. In this report, we argue that CSS neither guarantees efficacious crime prevention nor prevents surveillance. Indeed, the effect is the opposite. CSS by its nature creates serious security and privacy risks for all society while the assistance it can provide for law enforcement is at best problematic. There are multiple ways in which client-side scanning can fail, can be evaded, and can be abused.

Bugs in our Pockets: The Risks of Client-Side Scanning

There has been substantial commentary on the role of cyberattacks and civilian hacktivists in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Drawing on a range of data sources, we argue that the widely-held narrative of a significant cyberwar fought by committed civilians and volunteer `hacktivists' linked to cybercrime groups has likely been overhyped. We collected 358k web defacement attacks, 1.7M reflected DDoS attacks, and 441 announcements (with 58k replies) of a volunteer hacking discussion group for two months before and four months after the invasion. To enrich our quantitative understanding, we conducted interviews with individuals who were active in defacing Russian and Ukrainian websites. Our findings indicate that the conflict briefly but significantly caught the attention of the low-level cybercrime community, with notable increases in both defacement and DDoS attacks targeting Russia and Ukraine. However, the role of these players in the so-called cyberwarfare is minor, and they do not resemble the `hacktivists' imagined in popular criminological accounts. Initial waves of interest led to more attackers participating in defacement campaigns, but rather than targeting critical infrastructure, there were mass attacks against random websites within `.ru' and `.ua'. We find little evidence of high-profile actions of the kind hypothesised by the prevalent narrative. The much-vaunted role of the IT Army of Ukraine co-ordination group is mixed; their promoted targets were seldom defaced although sometimes subjected to DDoS attacks. Our main finding is that there was a clear loss of interest in carrying out defacement and DDoS attacks after just a few weeks. Contrary to the prediction of some commentators, the involvement of civilian hacktivists from low-level crime groups in the conflict appears to have been minor, short-lived, and fleeting.

Getting Bored of Cyberwar: Exploring the Role of Civilian Hacktivists in the Russia-Ukraine Conflict

tion did not participate) due to parental nonconsent and absenteeism, and the inclusion of a high number of schools from outer London. On the other hand, it may simply be a regional variation, but this is unlikely as the study covered a fairly large area. More importantly, I would like to take issue with Dr Chadwick and colleagues' playing down of the effects of absenteeism as it is bound to influence the findings in school surveys. It would have been useful to know whether those absent on the survey day were legally absent or were playing truant. I have the impression that they were playing truant as the authors make a point of emphasising that \"despite the strong association between absenteeism and drug abuse, only a minority of absentees abuse drugs\"; this association is found only in truancy. None the less, their statement is rather too optimistic. Although it ma' apply to solvents, it is dangerous to generalise to other drugs. American studies apart (and they support what follows), detailed results from my own London based survey showed that 46%', of truants have at any time used drugs or solvents as compared with 27% of adolescents in a control group.' For solvents alone the rates were 19% for the truants and 10% for non-truants, and most were infrequent users. Except for solvents, truants tended to use drugs more frequently than non-truants.

Ross Anderson

Papers

The Millennium Bug – Reasons not to Panic

A retrospective review of complications in a South African neurocritical care unit over one year

Bugs in our Pockets: The Risks of Client-Side Scanning

Getting Bored of Cyberwar: Exploring the Role of Civilian Hacktivists in the Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Neurophysiological consequences of volatile substance abuse: Authors' reply