Evaluating the Impact of Software Security Tactics: A Design Perspective

Design architecture is the edifice that strengthens the functionalities as well as the security of web applications.In order to facilitate architectural security from the web application’s design phase itself,practitioners are now adopting the novel mechanism of security tactics.With the intent to conduct a research from the perspective of security tactics,the present study employs a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making approach named fuzzy analytic hierarchy process-technique for order preference by similarity ideal solution(AHP-TOPSIS)method for selecting and assessing multi-criteria decisions.The adopted methodology is a blend of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process(fuzzy AHP)and fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity ideal solution(fuzzy TOPSIS).To establish the efficacy of this methodology,the results are obtained after the evaluation have been tested on fifteen different web application projects(Online Quiz competition,Entrance Test,and others)of the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University,Lucknow,India.The tabulated outcomes demonstrate that the methodology of the Multi-Level Fuzzy Hybrid system is highly effective in providing accurate estimation for strengthening the security of web applications.The proposed study will help experts and developers in developing and managing security from any web application design phase for better accuracy and higher security.

An Ensemble Approach to Identify Firearm Listing on Tor Hidden-Services

The ubiquitous nature of the internet has made it easier for criminals to carry out illegal activities online.The sale of illegal firearms and weaponry on dark web cryptomarkets is one such example of it.To aid the law enforcement agencies in curbing the illicit trade of firearms on cryptomarkets,this paper has proposed an automated technique employing ensemble machine learning models to detect the firearms listings on cryptomarkets.In this work,we have used partof-speech(PoS)tagged features in conjunction with n-gram models to construct the feature set for the ensemble model.We studied the effectiveness of the proposed features in the performance of the classification model and the relative change in the dimensionality of the feature set.The experiments and evaluations are performed on the data belonging to the three popular cryptomarkets on the Tor dark web from a publicly available dataset.The prediction of the classification model can be utilized to identify the key vendors in the ecosystem of the illegal trade of firearms.This information can then be used by law enforcement agencies to bust firearm trafficking on the dark web.

Analyzing the Implications of COVID-19 Pandemic through an Intelligent-Computing Technique

The outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2 virus or COVID-19) disease was declared pandemic by the WorldHealth Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. COVID-19 has already affectedmore than 211 nations. In such a bleak scenario, it becomes imperative to analyzeand identify those regions in Saudi Arabia that are at high risk. A preemptivestudy done in the context of predicting the possible COVID-19 hotspots wouldfacilitate in the implementation of prompt and targeted countermeasures againstSARS-CoV-2, thus saving many lives. Working towards this intent, the presentstudy adopts a decision making based methodology of simulation named Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), a multi criteria decision making approach, forassessing the risk of COVID-19 in different regions of Saudi Arabia. AHP givesthe ability to measure the risks numerically. Moreover, numerical assessments arealways effective and easy to understand. Hence, this research endeavour employsFuzzy based computational method of decision making for its empirical analysis.Findings in the proposed paper suggest that Riyadh and Makkah are the mostsusceptible regions, implying that if sustained and focused preventive measuresare not introduced at the right juncture, the two cities could be the worst afflictedwith the infection. The results obtained through Fuzzy based computationalmethod of decision making are highly corroborative and would be very usefulfor categorizing and assessing the current COVID-19 situation in the Kingdomof Saudi Arabia. More specifically, identifying the cities that are likely to beCOVID-19 hotspots would help the country’s health and medical fraternity toreinforce intensive containment strategies to counter the ills of the pandemic insuch regions.

Impact of Tools and Techniques for Securing Consultancy Services

In a digital world moving at a breakneck speed,consultancy services have emerged as one of the prominent resources for seeking effective,sustainable and economically viable solutions to a given crisis.The present day consultancy services are aided by the use of multiple tools and techniques.However,ensuring the security of these tools and techniques is an important concern for the consultants because even a slight malfunction of any tool could alter the results drastically.Consultants usually tackle these functions after establishing the clients’needs and developing the appropriate strategy.Nevertheless,most of the consultants tend to focus more on the intended outcomes only and often ignore the security-specific issues.Our research study is an initiative to recommend the use of a hybrid computational technique based on fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process(AHP)and fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solutions(TOPSIS)for prioritizing the tools and techniques that are used in consultancy services on the basis of their security features and efficacy.The empirical analysis conducted in this context shows that after implementing the assessment process,the rank of the tools and techniques obtained is:A7>A1>A4>A2>A3>A5>A6>A7,and General Electric McKinsey(GE-McKinsey)Nine-box Matrix(A7)obtained the highest rank.Thus,the outcomes show that this order of selection of the tools and techniques will give the most effective and secure services.The awareness about using the best tools and techniques in consultancy services is as important as selecting the most secure tool for solving a given problem.In this league,the results obtained in this study would be a conclusive and a reliable reference for the consultants.

A Usability Management Framework for Securing Healthcare Information System

Transformation from conventional business management systems tosmart digital systems is a recurrent trend in the current era. This has led to digitalrevolution, and in this context, the hardwired technologies in the software industry play a significant role However, from the beginning, software security remainsa serious issue for all levels of stakeholders. Software vulnerabilities lead to intrusions that cause data breaches and result in disclosure of sensitive data, compromising the organizations’ reputation that translates into, financial losses andcompromising software usability as well. Most of the data breaches are financiallymotivated, especially in the healthcare sector. The cyber invaders continuouslypenetrate the E- Health data because of the high cost of the data on the darkweb. Therefore, security assessment of healthcare web-based applicationsdemands immediate intervention mechanisms to weed out the threats of cyberattacks for the sake of software usability. The proposed disclosure is a unique process of three phases that are combined by researchers in order to produce andmanage usability management framework for healthcare information system. Inthis most threatened time of digital era where, Healthcare data industry has bornethe brunt of the highest number of data breach episodes in the last few years. Thekey reason for this is attributed to the sensitivity of healthcare data and the highcosts entailed in trading the data over the dark web. Hence, usability managementof healthcare information systems is the need of hour as to identify the vulnerabilities and provide preventive measures as a shield against the breaches. The proposed unique developed model of usability management workflow is preparedby associating steps like learn;analyze and manage. All these steps gives an allin one package for the healthcare information management industry because thereis no systematic model available which associate identification to implementationsteps with different evaluation steps.

Prediction of COVID-19 Pandemic Spread in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

A significant increase in the number of coronavirus cases can easily be noticed in most of the countries around the world.Inspite of the consistent preventive initiatives being taken to contain the spread of this virus,the unabated increase in the cases is both alarming and intriguing.The role of mathematical models in predicting and estimating the spread of the virus,and identifying various preventive factors dependencies has been found important and effective in most of the previous pandemics like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome(SARS)2003.In this research work,authors have proposed the Susceptible-Infectected-Removed(SIR)model variation in order to forecast the pattern of coronavirus disease(COVID-19)spread for the upcoming eight weeks in perspective of Saudi Arabia.The study has been performed by using SIR model with a proposed simplification using average progression for further estimation ofβandγvalues for better curve fittings ratios.The predictive results of this study clearly show that under the current public health interventions,there will be an increase in the COVID-19 cases in Saudi Arabia in the next four weeks.Hence,a set of strong health primitives and precautionary measures are recommended in order to avoid and prevent the further spread of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia.