Saudi Consensus on the Usage of Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter-2 Inhibitors on the Management of Chronic Kidney Diseases

According to recent epidemiological data, chronic kidney diseases (CKDs) affect approximately 10% of the global population. Like many countries, CKD is a significant public health issue in Saudi Arabia. The prevalence of CKD in Saudi Arabia is estimated to be around 4.5% of the adult population, with a higher prevalence in older age groups. Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2is) are a class of oral medications used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In addition to their glucose-lowering effects, SGLT2i have been shown to have beneficial effects on kidney function in patients with or without T2DM. Therefore, a Saudi task force gathered to develop an explicit, evidence-based consensus on SGLT2i use in CKD Saudi patients. A panel of 14 experts made up a task force. An initial concept proposal was obtained. The proposal was divided into several topics discussed on 24 May 2023. A literature review was carried out. The literature search was completed on 3rd June 2023. A drafted report was distributed to the entire panel. Approval of the recommendations required consensus, defined as a majority approval (i.e. above 75%). The recommendations were revised to accommodate any differences of opinion until a consensus was reached. Recommendations were finally formulated on 21st June 2023. Subsequently, the panel reviewed and discussed the supporting rationale of the revised recommendations. This article presents these practical recommendations.

Mordell Elliptic Curve Based Design of Nonlinear Component of Block Cipher

Elliptic curves(ECs)are deemed one of the most solid structures against modern computational attacks because of their small key size and high security.In many well-known cryptosystems,the substitution box(Sbox)is used as the only nonlinear portion of a security system.Recently,it has been shown that using dynamic S-boxes rather than static S-boxes increases the security of a cryptosystem.The conferred study also extends the practical application of ECs in designing the nonlinear components of block ciphers in symmetric key cryptography.In this study,instead of the Mordell elliptic curve(MEC)over the prime field,the Galois field has been engaged in constructing the S-boxes,the main nonlinear component of the block ciphers.Also,the proposed scheme uses the coordinates of MEC and the operation of the Galois field to generate a higher number of S-boxes with optimal nonlinearity,which increases the security of cryptosystems.The proposed S-boxes resilience against prominent algebraic and statistical attacks is evaluated to determine its potential to induce confusion and produce acceptable results compared to other schemes.Also,the majority logic criteria(MLC)are used to assess the new S-boxes usage in the image encryption application,and the outcomes indicate that they have significant cryptographic strength.

Risks behind Device Information Permissions in Android OS

In the age of smartphones, people do most of their daily work using their smartphones due to significant improvement in smartphone technology. When comparing different platforms such as Windows, iOS, Android, and Blackberry, Android has captured the highest percentage of total market share [1]. Due to this tremendous growth, cybercriminals are encouraged to penetrate various mobile marketplaces with malicious applications. Most of these applications require device information permissions aiming to collect sensitive data without user’s consent. This paper investigates each element of system information permissions and illustrates how cybercriminals can harm users’ privacy. It presents some attack scenarios using READ_PHONE_STATE permission and the risks behind it. In addition, this paper refers to possible attacks that can be performed when additional permissions are combined with READ_PHONE_STATE permission. It also discusses a proposed solution to defeat these types of attacks.

DroidData: Tracking and Monitoring Data Transmission in the Android Operating System

Most of the millions of Android users worldwide use applications from the official Android market (Google Play store) and unregulated alternative markets to get more functionality from their devices. Many of these applications transmit sensitive data stored on the device, either maliciously or accidentally, to outside networks. In this paper, we will study the ways that Android applications transmit data to outside servers and propose a user-friendly application, DroidData, to inform and protect the user from these security risks. We will use tools such as TaintDroid, AppIntent, and Securacy to propose an application that reveals what types of data are being transmitted from apps, the location to which the data is being transmitted, whether the data is being transmitted through a secure channel (such as HTTPS) and whether the user is aware that the information is being transmitted. The application will generate a report that allows the user to block the application that leaks sensitive information. In doing so, we will examine the importance, relevance, and prevalence of these Android Data security issues.