MSc.ISS Theses and Dissertations (2019)

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http://hdl.handle.net/11071/6753

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Access controls on IP based cameras in IoT ecosystem
(Strathmore University, 2019) Muya, Mary Wairimu
Internet of things (IoT) is a concept of connected things that allows embedded devices, sensors and actuators to interconnect and share data thus bridging the gap between physical devices and virtual objects. The concept of IoT started gaining popularity in 2010, with its popularity impressively outgrowing other concepts up to date. The growth of IoT has seen more than 30% companies globally initiating the process of deploying IoT. IoT security has been a challenge due to its nascent market where manufacturers focus much on getting the product to the market rather than building security from start. Internet Protocol (IP) based cameras are among the most popular IoT devices. Governments, corporations to small business and homeowners are using cameras for surveillance among other activities, with their popularity growing due to their ability to collect and transmit data remotely. As cameras are expected to perform sophisticated tasks, it is important to protect the cameras and data they handle.The focus of this dissertation is to come up with an access control solution for IP based cameras, in efforts to reduce vulnerabilities associated with identity and access management. This dissertation adopted Rapid Application Development (RAD) methodology to develop the proposed solution. The methodology provided flexibility in changing requirements and testing the prototype at an early stage to continuously improve the system. Must, Should, Could, Would Not (MoSCoW) method was used to identify and rank requirements in evaluating the gaps that existed in the market, as this dissertation could not address all the vulnerabilities the method helped in picking the vulnerabilities to be handled first.The tested and validated prototype provides a mechanism to restrict factory set authentication credentials, system access lockouts and sending of alerts in cases of suspicious login attempts. The prototype demonstrate how Integrity of camera feeds can be maintained by using a combination of interplanetary file system (IPFS) and Blockchain. The solution also records and stores system logs in immutable format to support forensic investigations
Employee awareness on social engineering threats in the financial sector
(Strathmore University, 2019) Wokabi, Francis Mwangi
Despite the great gains that have been achieved through use of the Internet, a lot of threats have also emanated in equal measure from its increased usage. Some of the threats are largely associated with cyber-attacks. From identity theft, phishing, tailgating, shoulder surfing and google hacking among others. Generally, most of these attacks would typically begin with the very basic stage or phase known as social engineering. Financial institutions are at high risk today as attackers use various forms of attacks to social engineer the employees that work in the financial sector. The use of trickery and deception by cyber criminals to gain the trust of employees has made them the most vulnerable element of a computer system. The aim of this study was to identify the various forms of social engineering attacks in the financial sector and to develop a web-based assessment tool that will enable financial institutions to enhance the preparedness of their employees by assessing their awareness levels with respect to social engineering threats. The tool was used to achieve this by administering assessment tests to employees and the results from the assessment tests were used to determine training requirements for the employees. The proposed tool was developed using the Rapid Application Development (RAD) approach or methodology through a series of continuous testing and integration phases to ensure that the final product met the specified requirements. The results from the testing phases of the development revealed that the system is robust enough to handle requests from more than 80 users and it’s performance is not degraded even as the number of users increase. The system has an accuracy rate of 100% when it comes to scoring questions. In addition to this, the tests showed that the system has an overall average response time of between one to five minutes when responding to user requests.
Developing an automated malware detection, analysis and reporting tool for MS-Windows
(Strathmore University, 2019) Mutyethau, David Matingi
Memory and computer forensics is a field that has witnessed a lot of advancements in the recent past. Memory forensics enables investigators acquire and investigate the content of a computer’s RAM while computer forensics enable the investigator to acquire information from the hard drive. While valuable artifacts can be extracted from computers, the use of this technique presents several challenges, such as, data acquisition, searching for artifacts and data analysis of extracted information. The variants of malware families share typical behavioral patterns reflecting their origin and purpose. The behavioral patterns obtained either statically or dynamically can be exploited to detect and classify unknown malwares into their known families using machine learning techniques. This dissertation aims to create a malware detection, analysis and reporting tool that shall be open source, user friendly, intuitive and automated for MS Windows. The tool shall assist forensic investigators in discovering crucial information in the suspect computer such as malware present. The tool shall analyse content stored in the computer’s hard drive and captured memory images. This shall include analysis of single files, folders, hard disk partitions and the entire hard disk. For live memory, the tool shall aim to determine processes and files that were open or present at time of live analysis.
A Web based tool for securing digital evidence
(Strathmore University, 2019) Warutumo, Collins Sebastian
Digital forensics is defined as a scientific knowledge and methods applied to the identification, acquisition, preservation, examination, and analysis of information stored or transmitted in binary form in a manner acceptable for application in legal matters. Digital forensics has increased its importance as there have been increase in the number of cyber cases involving digital forensics, official cybercrime report predicts the cases will be quadruple and will cost $6 trillion dollars by 2021. Preserving integrity of evidence in digital investigations is important as in helps the courts in delivering fair judgements.The aim of this dissertation is to develop an automated tool that helps investigators to maintain the integrity of digital evidence at acquisition phase, so as it is used to deliver a fair judgement in a court of law. The tool preserves the integrity of evidence using encryption, hashing and access controls amongst other controls. This ensures that evidence is secure as it has all attributes of security (confidentiality, availability and integrity).There are a variety of available solutions which preserve the integrity of evidence but they are not effective in terms of integrity of evidence. The developed system has the addressed the existing gaps. The study uses agile methodology, this is because it allows for fast implementation of prototype in a in short period of time hence making it efficient. Agile methodology guided on the development of the tool that is accurate, robust and secures. The main components of the system are the evidence collection and reporting modules. The result of the solution is to enhance efficiency in digital investigations by ensuring integrity of evidence. The focus of this research is integrity of evidence. The problem addressed in this research is evidence alteration at the acquisition phase which interferes with the integrity of data. The tests conducted evaluated the system’s performance which showed that resource retrieval speed averaged a few seconds leading to a high-performance rating. The response rate of the system is high, this is shown by the turnaround time of receiving requests from the server. The system’s compatibility tests show it is accessible in many browsers. The system exhibited high accuracy results in terms on preservation of integrity of evidence.
LAN security vulnerability analysis framework: case of National Irrigation Board
(Strathmore University, 2019) Wambugu, Nancy Muthoni
In today’s environment, many organisation like National Irrigation Board, have adopted open policies on the utilization of LAN where users may plug in unknown devices. Without the right network frameworks, it is difficult to manage network devices that are connected to the Local Area Network in an ad hoc manner. These LAN devices may have vulnerabilities that can expose entire network to security threats. The study used case study research design and applied existing network exploration frameworks and security policies to collect data for analysis. Network exploration was carried out on the devices connected to the LAN of National Irrigation Board. Research findings showed the need for implementing a framework that checks the security vulnerability of devices connected to the LAN of National Irrigation Board. The framework was developed to allow a Network Administrator identify devices that are plugged into the LAN, analyse vulnerabilities and take remedial action based on the analysis outcome. This ensured that the devices connected to the LAN do not pose a security threat to the entire network. The framework used policy-based network security metrics that were generated from an Institution’s ICT Security Policy. Using the regression method, the metrics were quantified, weighted and applied on each computer on the LAN to generate the Security Score Index. Based on the outcome of the analysis, a decision was made on whether to allow or disconnect the LAN device from the network.

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