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Over the years, there has been a significant surge in the popularity of instant messaging applications (IMAs). However, the message notification functionality in IMAs exhibits certain limitations. Some IMAs fail to alert users about new messages after their phone restarts unless they unlock the phone. This is a consequence of end-to-end encryption (E2EE) and the app not knowing the message is in the queue until the app decrypts it. This approach using E2EE is used to prevent offline attacks, as the key is unavailable to decrypt the notification messages. In this paper, we introduce a novel design and implementation of a message notification protocol for IMAs based on the Signal protocol. The proposed protocol aims to securely display notifications on a locked device and ensures that cryptographic keys are stored in a location that is isolated from the user's device to prevent offline attacks. This approach enhances the security of private key storage, safeguarding private keys against various external threats. The innovative design strengthens the off-site key management system, rendering it resilient against offline attacks and mitigating the risk of key compromise. Additionally, the proposed protocol is highly efficient, requiring no specialized hardware for implementation. It offers confidentiality of cryptographic keys and protection against offline attacks, further enhancing the overall security of the system. We evaluate the protocol's effectiveness by analyzing multiple independent implementations that pass a suite of formal tests via ProVerif. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of the digital healthcare and the electronic health records (EHR) requires smooth networking infrastructure to access data using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)-based applications. The new HTTP/3 standard should provide performance and security improvements over HTTP/2. The goal of our work was to test the performance of HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 in the context of the EHRs. We used 45,000 test FHIR Patient resources downloaded and uploaded using 20, 50, 100 and 200 resources per Bundle, which resulted in 2251, 901, 451 and 226 HTTP GET and POST requests respectively. The first test downloading 20 resources per Bundle showed that HTTP/3 outperformed HTTP/2 in the local (mean request time 16.57 ms ± 7.2 standard deviation [SD]) and in the remote network (71.45 ms ± 43.5 SD) which is almost 3 times faster. In the 50 and 100 resources per Bundle test the HTTP/3 protocol demonstrated again more than two times gain in downloading performance for remote requests with mean request time 91.13 ms ± 34.54 SD and 88.09 ms ± 21.66 SD respectively. Furthermore, HTTP/3 outperformed HTTP/2 in the constructed clinical dataset remote transfer. In the upload tests HTTP/3 showed only a slight gain in performance merely in the remote network. The HTTP/3 protocol is a relatively new development and a major improvement for the worldwide web. This new technology is still missing in the digital health and EHRs. Its use could offer a major performance gain in situations where data is gathered from multiple remote locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The past decade has brought prolific developments to power systems that range from large‐scale renewable integration to digital twins. Modern power systems consist of highly variable generation clusters. Hence, monitoring and prediction of power generation has become a vital part of today's power systems. On the other hand, detailed real‐time information of power usage is also a key parameter for the control algorithms used for the demand side management. With this information flow, power systems become smart grids which offer improved service and enable many advanced operations. In this regard, the home area network (HAN), which collects the power consumption/generation of household devices, plays a key role. So far, a number of technologies such as ZigBee, Z‐Wave, and Power Line Communication (PLC) have been considered for the HAN. Yet, widely used wireless local area network (WLAN) technology, Wi‐Fi, was not identified as a prominent candidate due to the limitations in its latency and reliability. However, with the introduction of the IEEE 802.11ax standard, Wi‐Fi 6 was developed, and it demonstrates guaranteed latency and reliability for its users. Thus, with its widespread deployment in households, Wi‐Fi is becoming a natural candidate for HAN. In this article, we present a comprehensive HAN protocol based on Wi‐Fi 6 which can achieve guaranteed latency and reliability for HAN users. The results show that when an efficient resource allocation mechanism is in place, using Wi‐Fi for HAN does not adversely affect the other Wi‐Fi users in the normal WLAN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Network protocol syntax information plays a crucial role in grammar-based fuzzing. Current network protocol syntax extraction methods are less versatile, inefficient, and the extracted information is not comprehensive. This paper proposes a novel method for extracting syntax information, which innovatively extracts network protocol syntax from Wireshark protocol dissector files. The extracted syntax information includes packet types of the protocol, the constituent fields of each packet type, and detailed attributes of each field. Based on this method, an automated system for network protocol syntax information extraction was developed. The experiment was conducted with this system on a variety of protocols including DCCP, DNP3.0, Modbus TCP, and S7COMM. The experimental results show that compared with the current methods, our method has a better performance in terms of efficiency and versatility and at the same time ensures the comprehensiveness and accuracy of the extracted syntax information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Computer Engineering & Applications is the property of Beijing Journal of Computer Engineering & Applications Journal Co Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The importance of the topic under investigation stems from the burgeoning prominence of the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm and the consequent imperative to devise and institute an efficacious methodology for neighbour detection that facilitates supplementary connections to mobile nodes. This research primarily aims to elucidate a mobile handover technique aligning with the neighbour discovery paradigm inherent in 6LoWPAN. The methodological framework employed herein amalgamates a systematic analysis of the foundational tenets governing 6LoWPAN communication standards over the IPv6 protocol in the context of IEEE 802.15.4aa personal wireless networks, supplemented with empirical evaluation of message propagation dynamics among discrete nodes of a designated personal wireless network. The findings of this investigation underscore the pre-eminence of the 6LoWPAN networking standard as a prime vehicle for bolstering the dependable communication of IoT's remote entities, contingent upon the utilization of the IPv6 communication protocol. This iteration of the Internet protocol is superior, particularly in surveillance contexts, given its expansive address capacity (128 bits) juxtaposed against its antecedent, the IPv4 protocol (32 bits). The inherent adaptability of this network connection augments the quality of mobile handover, especially when one considers the real-world application of 6LoWPAN's neighbour discovery auxiliary communication standard. The tangible implications of these findings beckon their potential utility in satiating the demands of IoT system users and actualizing the network collaboration ethos intrinsic to the 6LoWPAN communication standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, there has been a significant surge in the popularity of instant messaging applications (IMAs). However, the message notification functionality in IMAs exhibits certain limitations. Some IMAs fail to alert users about new messages after their phone restarts unless they unlock the phone. This is a consequence of end-to-end encryption (E2EE) and the app not knowing the message is in the queue until the app decrypts it. This approach using E2EE is used to prevent offline attacks, as the key is unavailable to decrypt the notification messages. In this paper, we introduce a novel design and implementation of a message notification protocol for IMAs based on the Signal protocol. The proposed protocol aims to securely display notifications on a locked device and ensures that cryptographic keys are stored in a location that is isolated from the user’s device to prevent offline attacks. This approach enhances the security of private key storage, safeguarding private keys against various external threats. The innovative design strengthens the off-site key management system, rendering it resilient against offline attacks and mitigating the risk of key compromise. Additionally, the proposed protocol is highly efficient, requiring no specialized hardware for implementation. It offers confidentiality of cryptographic keys and protection against offline attacks, further enhancing the overall security of the system. We evaluate the protocol’s effectiveness by analyzing multiple independent implementations that pass a suite of formal tests via ProVerif.

One of the most vastly used protocols to protect services traffic like the web and email is Transport Layer Security (TLS). In 2018 the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standardized the latest version TLS 1.3, Introduced a significant enhancement in the protocol performance, and presented some new features. One of the new features is zero round trip-time (0-RTT) handshake mode, where the client can send the application data to the server within the handshake messages before the TLS connection is fully established. However, this application data is replayable. The replay attacks in 0-RTT handshake mode have been studied, and several mechanisms are proposed for protection, these proposed mechanisms are not able to prevent replay attacks when the server functionality is provided by a distributed environment such as multiple servers in a cloud computing environment or a CDN. This paper introduces TLS Guard as a new mechanism that extends TLS 1.3 to prevent replay attacks in a distributed environment. We evaluated a prototype TLS Guard implementation in controlled experiments and showed that its effect comes at the cost of some CPU overhead. More importantly, we showed that TLS Guard is scalable and tolerates faults without any required changes on the client side.

Network protocol syntax information plays a crucial role in grammar-based fuzzing. Current network protocol syntax extraction methods are less versatile, inefficient, and the extracted information is not comprehensive. This paper proposes a novel method for extracting syntax information, which innovatively extracts network protocol syntax from Wireshark protocol dissector files. The extracted syntax information includes packet types of the protocol, the constituent fields of each packet type, and detailed attributes of each field. Based on this method, an automated system for network protocol syntax information extraction was developed. The experiment was conducted with this system on a variety of protocols including DCCP, DNP3.0, Modbus TCP, and S7COMM. The experimental results show that compared with the current methods, our method has a better performance in terms of efficiency and versatility and at the same time ensures the comprehensiveness and accuracy of the extracted syntax information.

Network protocols, as the communication rules among computer network devices, are the foundation for the normal operation of networks. However, security issues arising from design flaws and implementation vulnerabilities in network protocols pose significant risks to network operations and security. Network protocol fuzzing is an effective technique for discovering and mitigating security flaws in network protocols. It offers unparalleled advantages compared to other security analysis techniques thanks to the minimal requirement for prior knowledge of the target and low deployment complexity. Nevertheless, the randomness in test case generation, uncontrollable test coverage, and unstable testing efficiency introduce challenges in ensuring the controllability of the testing process and results. In order to comprehensively survey the development of network protocol fuzzing techniques and analyze their advantages and existing issues, in this paper, we categorized and summarized the protocol fuzzing and its related techniques based on the generation methods of test cases and testing conditions. Specifically, we overviewed the development trajectory and patterns of these techniques over the past two decades according to chronological order. Based on this analysis, we further predict the future directions of fuzzing techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present,targets of network protocol fuzzing tend to be large protocol entities,and traditional testcase filtering me-thods are mainly based on the running status information of the test object.The larger the test object,the longer it takes to execute a single testcase.Therefore,in view of the problems of long invalid execution time and low efficiency in traditional testcase filtering methods for network protocol fuzzing,a testcase filtering method based on QRNN for network protocol fuzzing is proposed according to strong abilities of recurrent neural network models to process and predict sequence data.The method can automatically filter invalid testcases by learning structural characteristics of the network protocol,including the value range of fields and constraint relationships between fields,and reduce the number of testcases executed by the protocol entity.Experimental results show that,compared with traditional testcase filtering methods for network protocol fuzzing,the proposed method can effectively reduce the time cost of network protocol vulnerability discovery and dramatically improve the efficiency of network protocol fuzzing.

Underwater acoustic (UWA) network protocol design is a challenging task due to several factors, such as slow propagation of acoustic waves, low frequency bandwidth and high bit error and frame error rates often encountered in real UWA environments. In this paper, we consider the design of a robust and scalable data gathering protocol for UWA sensor networks (UASNs), focusing on practical considerations and lessons learnt from multiple lake and sea trials. A cross-layer protocol is presented that integrates a network discovery process, intelligent routing, scheduling via Transmit Delay Allocation MAC (TDA-MAC) and multi-node Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ), to facilitate reliable data gathering in practical UASN deployments. Furthermore, this paper presents the details of a novel experimental testbed and underwater sensor node prototype that were used for the trials reported in this study. Based on the results of the trials, important conclusions are drawn on the protocol features required to achieve reliable networked communication in realistic UWA environments. The insights gained from the trials are valuable both for further development of the proposed data gathering protocol, and for the wider UWA networking research community concerned with developing practical solutions for real-world UASN deployments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article connects mobile terminals through improved network protocols, and connects monitoring devices through improved network protocols in the local area network. At the same time, it can convert mobile terminal requests into requests that comply with improved network protocols and forward them to monitoring devices. Method of three-dimensional feature extraction based on dynamic data. First, normalize the coordinates and scales of the three-dimensional calculus model, and use two kinds of data (voxel representation and pixel representation) to deal with video object recognition. Then construct a convolutional neural network as an input to the network, extract visual information and geometric information, and use deep learning to improve the recognition ability of single-modal features. Based on the convolutional neural network, the geometric descriptor and the view descriptor of the three-dimensional calculus model are extracted separately, and the two feature descriptors are fused in a network to find the association between the patterns. After forming the fused feature descriptor, it is applied to micro Classification and retrieval of integral 3D features. The multi-feature fusion layer can not only learn more distinguishing features of the two descriptors, but also supplement relevant information between the two descriptors. Compared with using these two representations alone, this method produces a much better classifier and improves retrieval efficiency.

Security researchers have identified 14 vulnerabilities affecting the TCP/IP protocol library. A feature of a slow DDoS attack is the use of a vulnerability in the TCP/IP protocol, where interruptions can be caused intentionally or unintentionally as a result of delays in communication channels. The article deals with the problem of detecting a slow distributed denial of service attack. Detecting slow-moving DDoS attacks is known to differ from traffic-based attacks because they do not increase network traffic. Instead of creating a sudden surge of traffic, slow, low-power attacks are conducted with minimal activity and are not registered by systems. They aim to fail the object inconspicuously by creating the minimum number of connections and leaving them unfinished for as long as possible. Typically, attackers send partial HTTP requests and small data packets or activity check messages to keep the connection active. Such attacks are difficult to block and difficult to detect. Due to the low volume of traffic and the fact that attacks can look like standard connections, a different prevention technology is required. Attack sources should be blocked based on the characteristics of the request execution, not on the basis of their reputation. Therefore, it was assumed that the success of a slow DDoS attack depends on the user's behavior. Based on the modeling of the method of detecting slow attacks, research and prediction of the behavior of the individual was carried out, and the trajectory of the behavior of a specific user was proposed. The possibilities of using this method were confirmed by modeling RUDY attacks on HTTP services. The obtained prediction accuracy characteristics depend on the displayed accumulated traffic and attack statistics. The study proves that such a method can be used to detect different types of slow DDoS attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, with the discovery of various security threats, diversification of hacking attacks, and changes in the network environment such as the Internet of Things, security threats on the network are increasing. Attack graph is being actively studied to cope with the recent increase in cyber threats. However, the conventional attack graph generation method is costly and time-consuming. In this paper, we propose a cheap and simple method for generating the attack graph. The proposed approach consists of learning and generating stages. First, it learns how to generate an attack path from the attack graph, which is created based on the vulnerability database, using machine learning and deep learning. Second, it generates the attack graph using network topology and system information with a machine learning model that is trained with the attack graph generated from the vulnerability database. We construct the dataset for attack graph generation with topological and system information. The attack graph generation problem is recast as a multi-output learning and binary classification problem. It shows attack path detection accuracy of 89.52% in the multi-output learning approach and 80.68% in the binary classification approach using the in-house dataset, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mega-constellations have the potential for providing 6G Internet owing to the unique advantage of global coverage. However, current satellite technologies are not omnipotent. There are still many challenging problems that need to be solved for mega-constellations to support 6G, e.g., efficient resource allocation, gratifying mobility management, and large-scale full-time TT&C (tracking, telemetry, and command). This paper starts with a novel definition of LEO mega-constellations and a brief review regarding the current typical mega-constellations, discussing the development direction of the mega-constellation air interface. Then, the key technologies development status of satellite networks is illustrated and analyzed from five aspects: network protocol, multiple access, satellite handover, TT&C, and interference mitigation, especially their adaptability in mega-constellations for 6G global coverage. Finally, considering the features and requirements of 6G, future challenges for mega-constellations and some potential solutions are proposed.

Since decentralized organizations such as blockchain are not recognized as legal persons, questions arise regarding the ability to detect anti-competitive practices and their perpetrators. Under certain circumstances, if a competitor is unreasonably refused in access to technology, it may well be interpreted as creating an obstacle to his/her entry into the market, which may constitute a violation of the legislation of a country on the protection of economic competition. The exchange of information between players of the same market can present antitrust risks if it helps to fix prices for their products/services or to establish other forms of coordination between such players. The purpose of this study is to provide a description of current EU anticompetitive practices in the field of blockchain-technologies application, as well as to identify challenges in the EU antitrust law related to the emergence of blockchain. This article highlights the challenges blockchain poses for analyzing unilateral anti-competitive practices. This study suggests that EU competition law has a lack of operational and measurement tools to map competitive interactions taking place outside the relevant market, which could lead to rather short-sighted competition law enforcement focusing only on horizontal competition restrictions on relevant markets. The relevance of the topic is associated with the fact that the increased popularity of the use of blockchain technology requires an answer to the question of its legal nature and inclusion in the legal field in order to balance the interests of all parties to economic and legal relations.

This article connects mobile terminals through improved network protocols, and connects monitoring devices through improved network protocols in the local area network. At the same time, it can convert mobile terminal requests into requests that comply with improved network protocols and forward them to monitoring devices. Method of three-dimensional feature extraction based on dynamic data. First, normalize the coordinates and scales of the three-dimensional calculus model, and use two kinds of data (voxel representation and pixel representation) to deal with video object recognition. Then construct a convolutional neural network as an input to the network, extract visual information and geometric information, and use deep learning to improve the recognition ability of single-modal features. Based on the convolutional neural network, the geometric descriptor and the view descriptor of the three-dimensional calculus model are extracted separately, and the two feature descriptors are fused in a network to find the association between the patterns. After forming the fused feature descriptor, it is applied to micro Classification and retrieval of integral 3D features. The multi-feature fusion layer can not only learn more distinguishing features of the two descriptors, but also supplement relevant information between the two descriptors. Compared with using these two representations alone, this method produces a much better classifier and improves retrieval efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology advances--such as improving processing power, battery life, and communication functionalities-- contribute to making mobile devices an attractive research area. In 2008, in order to manage mobility, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) developed Proxy Mobile IPv6, which is a network-based mobility management protocol to support seamless connectivity of mobile devices. This protocol can play a key role in volunteer computing paradigms as a user can seamlessly access computing resources. The procedure of user authentication is not defined in this standard; thus, many studies have been carried out to propose suitable authentication schemes. However, in the current authentication methods, with reduced latency and packet loss, some security and privacy considerations are neglected. In this study, we propose a secure and anonymous ticket-based authentication (SATA) method to protect mobile nodes against existing security and privacy issues. The proposed method reduces the overhead of handover authentication procedures using the ticket-based concept.We evaluated security and privacy strengths of the proposed method using security theorems and BAN logic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underwater acoustic (UWA) network protocol design is a challenging task due to several factors, such as slow propagation of acoustic waves, low frequency bandwidth and high bit error and frame error rates often encountered in real UWA environments. In this paper, we consider the design of a robust and scalable data gathering protocol for UWA sensor networks (UASNs), focusing on practical considerations and lessons learnt from multiple lake and sea trials. A cross-layer protocol is presented that integrates a network discovery process, intelligent routing, scheduling via Transmit Delay Allocation MAC (TDA-MAC) and multi-node Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ), to facilitate reliable data gathering in practical UASN deployments. Furthermore, this paper presents the details of a novel experimental testbed and underwater sensor node prototype that were used for the trials reported in this study. Based on the results of the trials, important conclusions are drawn on the protocol features required to achieve reliable networked communication in realistic UWA environments. The insights gained from the trials are valuable both for further development of the proposed data gathering protocol, and for the wider UWA networking research community concerned with developing practical solutions for real-world UASN deployments.

Since decentralized organizations such as blockchain are not recognized as legal persons, questions arise regarding the ability to detect anti-competitive practices and their perpetrators. Under certain circumstances, if a competitor is unreasonably refused in access to technology, it may well be interpreted as creating an obstacle to his/her entry into the market, which may constitute a violation of the legislation of a country on the protection of economic competition. The exchange of information between players of the same market can present antitrust risks if it helps to fix prices for their products/services or to establish other forms of coordination between such players. The purpose of this study is to provide a description of current EU anticompetitive practices in the field of blockchain-technologies application, as well as to identify challenges in the EU antitrust law related to the emergence of blockchain. This article highlights the challenges blockchain poses for analyzing unilateral anti-competitive practices. This study suggests that EU competition law has a lack of operational and measurement tools to map competitive interactions taking place outside the relevant market, which could lead to rather short-sighted competition law enforcement focusing only on horizontal competition restrictions on relevant markets. The relevance of the topic is associated with the fact that the increased popularity of the use of blockchain technology requires an answer to the question of its legal nature and inclusion in the legal field in order to balance the interests of all parties to economic and legal relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the analysis of the evolution history of existing network protocol technologies,the innovative guiding principles applicable to the future data network unified protocol system was proposed.By dividing the nature of network functions into the connections between network elements,five areas of protocol innovation such as data plane,control plane,user plane,management control and intrinsic network security were proposed.The implementation and application of the protocol system in many heterogeneous scenario were analyzed.Finally,the rationality of the protocol innovation guidelines was verified by analyzing the protocol innovation process in deterministic network forwarding technology and intrinsic security network technology.

In recent years, the fuzzing technology is widely used to detect the software vulnerabilities owing to the coverage improvement in the target program and the easiness of use. However, it is less efficient to fuzz the stateful protocols due to the difficulties like maintaining states and dependencies of messages. To address these challenges, we present SPFuzz, a framework for building flexible, coverage-guided stateful protocol fuzzing. We define a language in SPFuzz to describe the protocol specifications, protocol states transitions and dependencies for generating valuable test cases, maintaining correct messages in session states and handling protocol dependencies by updating message data in time. The SPFuzz adopts a three-level mutation strategy, namely head, content, and sequence mutation strategy to drive the fuzzing process to cover more paths, in conjunction with the method to randomly assign weights to messages and strategies. We use the following metrics to evaluate the performance of SPFuzz and other frameworks upon three protocol implementations, i.e., Proftpd, Oftpd, and OpenSSL, which are three-granularity coverages specifically function, basic block, and edge. In experiments, the SPFuzz framework outperforms the existing stateful protocol fuzzing tool Boofuzz by an average of 69.12% in three granularities coverage tests. This demonstrates that the SPFuzz has the ability to explore more and deeper paths of the target program. We further triggered CVE-2015-0291 in OpenSSL 1.0.2 with the SPFuzz, which proves the validity and utility of our framework.

With the development of the terrestrial network and the increase in demand for providing global Internet access, using the integrated space-terrestrial network (ISTN) has attracted significant attention to provide the global Internet service. However, ISTN faces a unique set of challenges, such as time-varying link quality and dynamic link connection in its space network, and the significant differences between space network and the terrestrial network of ITSN. These unique characteristics may impose an adverse impact on network protocols of ISTN. The focus of this paper is to design a network protocol validation testbed (NPVT) for ISTN. Using the static hardware devices with real network protocols, the proposed testbed was designed to emulate the dynamic space network based on the satellite operational data, and then to provide a near-real space network environment for the validation of diverse network protocols. To further support network protocol validation when space network and terrestrial network are integrated, we integrated the testbed with the terrestrial operational next-generation Internet (i.e., CERNET2) and mobile communication network at the backbone level. The extensive experiments demonstrated that NPVT is capable of validating diverse network protocols in complicated and dynamic scenarios.

With the ever growing number of edge devices, the idea of resource sharing systems is becoming more appealing. Multiplayer games are a growing area of interest due to the scalability issues of current client-server architectures. A paradigm shift from centralized to decentralized architectures that would allow greater scalability has gained a lot of interest within the industry and academic community. Research on peer to peer network protocols for multiplayer games was mainly focused on cheat detection. Previously proposed solutions address the cheat detection issues on a protocol level but do not provide a holistic solution for the architecture. Additionally, existing solutions introduce some level of centralization, which inherently introduces single point of failures. We propose a blockchain-based, completely decentralized architecture for edge devices with no single point of failure. Our solution relies on an innovative consensus mechanism based on verifiable delay functions that additionally allows the network to derive verifiable randomness. We present simulation results that show the assignment of players and referees to instances is pseudo-random, which inherently prevents collusion-based cheats and vulnerabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To protect the information from being intercepted by third parties during the network communication process, this paper proposes a new type of data steganography technology based on network data flow. Using the network protocol itself and the relationship between data packets in the entire network data stream to perform network data steganography, transfer hidden data, and perform secondary identity authentication. Different from the traditional steganography method, this method can encode the hidden data and send the interval value by embedding the data packet, thereby hiding and transmitting the hidden data. In this technology, the operation of hidden data does not affect the user's access request for real network data, and it can perform processes such as hidden data transfer and secondary authentication without the user being able to detect it. Through experimental verification and evaluation, our method improves the concealment of the steganographic channel, is not easy to attract attention and has no obvious statistical characteristics of the traffic, and can improve the concealment and robustness of the steganography technology based on network data streams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article introduces the OSI-interlayer consistency problem, gives the possible solution through the use of developed theoretical foundations the OSI-interlayer protocol consistency. It is known that the formation and organization of data transfer subject to TCP/IP protocol stack, which is the most popular and common in today's networks. In fact, TCP/IP – a systematic set of protocols, is divided into four levels, which are correlated to the OSI reference model. Analysis of the existing scientific approaches to solve the network management problems led to the conclusion about need of their further development and identify contradictory situation, which became the basis of new actual problem. Namely, there are contradictions between the requirements for ICS:between the requirement to improve the effectiveness of ICS, which requires additional costs and the requirement of reducing the cost of the ICS building&between the requirement to improve the effectiveness of ICS, which requires protocols development, and requirement to reduce the protocols cost. The basic hypothesis is advanced that the effective maintenance of interlayer coordination is possible through the use of the proposed technology of permanent horizontal communication in the OSI model layer.

Cyberattacks on the Industrial Control System (ICS) have recently been increasing, made more intelligent by advancing technologies. As such, cybersecurity for such systems is attracting attention. As a core element of control devices, the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) in an ICS carries out on-site control over the ICS. A cyberattack on the PLC will cause damages on the overall ICS, with Stuxnet and Duqu as the most representative cases. Thus, cybersecurity for PLCs is considered essential, and many researchers carry out a variety of analyses on the vulnerabilities of PLCs as part of preemptive efforts against attacks. In this study, a vulnerability analysis was conducted on the XGB PLC. Security vulnerabilities were identified by analyzing the network protocols and memory structure of PLCs and were utilized to launch replay attack, memory modulation attack, and FTP/Web service account theft for the verification of the results. Based on the results, the attacks were proven to be able to cause the PLC to malfunction and disable it, and the identified vulnerabilities were defined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most vastly used protocols to protect services traffic like the web and email is Transport Layer Security (TLS). In 2018 the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standardized the latest version TLS 1.3, Introduced a significant enhancement in the protocol performance, and presented some new features. One of the new features is zero round trip-time (0-RTT) handshake mode, where the client can send the application data to the server within the handshake messages before the TLS connection is fully established. However, this application data is replayable. The replay attacks in 0-RTT handshake mode have been studied, and several mechanisms are proposed for protection, these proposed mechanisms are not able to prevent replay attacks when the server functionality is provided by a distributed environment such as multiple servers in a cloud computing environment or a CDN. This paper introduces TLS Guard as a new mechanism that extends TLS 1.3 to prevent replay attacks in a distributed environment. We evaluated a prototype TLS Guard implementation in controlled experiments and showed that its effect comes at the cost of some CPU overhead. More importantly, we showed that TLS Guard is scalable and tolerates faults without any required changes on the client side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identities of packet senders and receivers are treated as important privacy information in communication networks. Any packet can be attributed to its sender for evaluating its credibility. Existing studies mainly rely on third-party agents that contain the packet sender's identity to ensure the sender's privacy preservation and credibility. In this case, packet senders run the risk that their privacy might be leaked by the agent. To this end, this paper proposes a Privacy Preserved and Credible Network Protocol (PCNP), which authorizes the agent to hide the identities of senders and receivers, while guaranteeing the credibility of a packet. The feasibility of the PCNP deployment is analyzed, and its performance is evaluated through extensive experiments. • Privacy Protection for both the sender and the receiver. • Avoiding the risk of privacy leak by a third-party proxy. • New credibility metrics are proposed to determine how long to block the unwanted traffic. • Good compatibility with the existing and future network architectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teleconferencing is the act of meeting and exchanging information through a telecommunication medium. In teleconferencing system, network engineers are faced with different challenges like best protocols requirements; impact of Quality of Service (QoS) to be used to meet up with the latest network protocols and appliances in the design of teleconference system. This paper presented a comparative analysis on two network protocols in a teleconference system, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) versus a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) was evaluated and compared applying Optimized Network Engineering Tools (OPNET) simulator. The experimental result showed differences in number of videoconference sessions, with few Packet Per Seconds (PPS) recorded in both the UDP and TCP, thereby reflecting the correctness of this comparative evaluation task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Telecommunications Science is the property of Beijing Xintong Media Co., Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract—The development of wireless communication technologies attracts increased interest to scenarios that impose severe restrictions on data transmission reliability and latency. Such scenarios include real-time applications, such as industrial automation, remote control, video streaming, and virtual reality. It is very difficult to satisfy the requirements imposed on the quality of service with the currently widespread communication technologies. Specifically, it is currently impossible to guarantee a low delay in Wi-Fi networks due to some peculiarities of the applied channel access methods. In this work, we study an approach that provides a low latency and high reliability of communications in Wi-Fi networks on the basis of an additional radio air interface. This approach is studied using the mathematical model of a heterogeneous network, which consists of devices that generate prioritized and non-prioritized data packets. The results of studies show that this approach provides the ability to satisfy the requirements of real-time applications, when certain restrictions on the intensity of prioritized traffic are met. In this case, a decrease in the throughput for non-prioritized traffic is insignificant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Target tracking in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) contributes to the design of many types of applications, namely: traffic management, security, car recovery and apprehension of an illegal runaway target. Inter-vehicular communication allows vehicles to participate and collaborate in the tracking process. For such applications, a large volume of data can be required to be transferred between the participating vehicles and a control center, which can easily congest the wireless network in a VANET and decrease the tracking efficiency if not managed properly. Therefore, one important challenge in this context is optimizing bandwidth usage to avoid collisions, delays and accelerate the overall tracking process. Thus, we propose a collaborative tracking protocol for VANETs based on a new strategy that we named virtual RSUs, which aims essentially to ensure the network communication coverage during the tracking process on the one hand, and on the other hand, to optimize bandwidth usage during the overall tracking process. In addition, in order to deal with uncertainties and enhance the tracking precision and further decrease the network load, we propose a theoretical pertinence level assignment strategy based on the Transferable Belief Model (TBM), that takes the target detection notifications as inputs. We believe this protocol holds potentials to serve as a basic algorithm to implement vehicle tracking applications for VANETs. Simulative study demonstrates clearly that the proposed protocol provides better performance in terms of network load for target tracking in a VANET as compared to a previous approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connection establishment is a fundamental function for any connection-oriented network protocol and the efficiency of this function defines the flexibility and responsiveness of the protocol. This process initializes data transmission and performs transmission parameters negotiation, what makes it mandatory process and integral part of entire transmission. Thus, the duration of the connection establishment will affect the transmission process duration. This paper describes an implementation of a handshake algorithm, designed for connection with multiple peers, that is used in Reliable Multi-Destination Transport (RMDT) protocol, its optimization and testing.