Remote Access Communications Security: Analysis of User Authentication Roles in Organizations

Remote access is a means of accessing resources outside one’s immediate physical location. This has made employee mobility more effective and productive for most organizations. Remote access can be achieved via various channels of remote communication, the most common being Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). The demand for remote access is on the rise, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, and will continue to increase as most organizations are re-structuring to make telecommuting a permanent part of their mode of operation. Employee mobility, while presenting organizations with some advantages, comes with the associated risk of exposing corporate cyber assets to attackers. The remote user and the remote connectivity technology present some vulnerabilities which can be exploited by any threat agent to violate the confidentiality, integrity and availability (CIA) dimensions of these cyber assets. So, how are users and remote devices authenticated? To what extent is the established connection secured? With employee mobility on the rise, it is necessary to analyze the user authentication role since the mobile employee is not under the monitoring radar of the organization, and the environment from which the mobile employee connects may be vulnerable. In this study, an experiment was setup to ascertain the user authentication roles. The experiment showed the process of 2FA in user authentication and it proved to be an effective means of improving user authentication during remote access. This was depicted via the use of what the user has (mobile phone/soft-token) as a second factor in addition to what the user knows, i.e. password. This authentication method overcomes the security weaknesses inherent in single-factor user authentication via the use of password only. However, the results also showed that though 2FA user authentication ensures security, the remote devices could exhibit further vulnerabilities and pose serious risks to the organization. Thus, a varied implementation was recommended to further enhance the security of remote access communication with regards to the remote user authentication.

RIS Assisted Dual-Function Radar and Secure Communications Based on Frequency-Shifted Chirp Spread Spectrum Index Modulation

Reconfigurable intelligent surface(RIS)assisted dual-function radar communications(DFRC)system is a promising integrated sensing and communication(ISAC)technology for future 6G.In this paper,we propose a scheme of RIS-assisted DFRC system based on frequency shifted chirp spread spectrum index modulation(RDFI)for secure communications.The proposed RDFI achieves the sensing and transmission of target location information in its radar and communication modes,respectively.In both modes,the frequency-shifted chirp spread spectrum index modulation(FSCSS-IM)signal is used as the baseband signal for radar and communications,so that the signal sent by the radar also carries information.This scheme implements the RIS-assisted beamforming in the communication mode through the azimuth information of the target acquired in the radar mode,so that the signal received from the eavesdropper is distorted in amplitude and phase.In addition,this paper analyzes the radar measurement accuracy and communication security of the FSCSS-IM signal using ambiguity function and secrecy rate(SR)analysis,respectively.Simulation results show that RDFI achieves both excellent bit error rate(BER)performance and physical layer security of communications.

ZTE Communications Special Issue on Security and Privacy in Communications

Modern communication allows billions of objects in the physical world as well as virtual environments to exchange data with each other in an autonomous way so as to create smart environments. However, modern communication also introduces new challenges for the security of systems and processes and the privacy of individuals. There is an increasing demand for development of new security and privacy approaches to guarantee the security, privacy, integ- rity, and availability of resources in modern communication.

Physical Layer Security for Wireless and Quantum Communications

his special issue is dedicated to security problems in wireless and quan-turn communications. Papers for this issue were invited, and after peer review, eight were selected for publication. The first part of this issue comprises four papers on recent advances in physical layer security forwireless networks. The second Part comprises another four papers on quantum com- munications.

Multivariate Aggregated NOMA for Resource Aware Wireless Network Communication Security

NonorthogonalMultiple Access(NOMA)is incorporated into the wireless network systems to achieve better connectivity,spectral and energy effectiveness,higher data transfer rate,and also obtain the high quality of services(QoS).In order to improve throughput and minimum latency,aMultivariate Renkonen Regressive Weighted Preference Bootstrap Aggregation based Nonorthogonal Multiple Access(MRRWPBA-NOMA)technique is introduced for network communication.In the downlink transmission,each mobile device’s resources and their characteristics like energy,bandwidth,and trust are measured.Followed by,the Weighted Preference Bootstrap Aggregation is applied to recognize the resource-efficient mobile devices for aware data transmission by constructing the different weak hypotheses i.e.,Multivariate Renkonen Regression functions.Based on the classification,resource and trust-aware devices are selected for transmission.Simulation of the proposed MRRWPBA-NOMA technique and existing methods are carried out with different metrics such as data delivery ratio,throughput,latency,packet loss rate,and energy efficiency,signaling overhead.The simulation results assessment indicates that the proposed MRRWPBA-NOMA outperforms well than the conventional methods.

Energy-efficient joint UAV secure communication and 3D trajectory optimization assisted by reconfigurable intelligent surfaces in the presence of eavesdroppers

We consider a scenario where an unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV),a typical unmanned aerial system(UAS),transmits confidential data to a moving ground target in the presence of multiple eavesdroppers.Multiple friendly reconfigurable intelligent surfaces(RISs) help to secure the UAV-target communication and improve the energy efficiency of the UAV.We formulate an optimization problem to minimize the energy consumption of the UAV,subject to the mobility constraint of the UAV and that the achievable secrecy rate at the target is over a given threshold.We present an online planning method following the framework of model predictive control(MPC) to jointly optimize the motion of the UAV and the configurations of the RISs.The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated via computer simulations.

Chaotic Map-Based Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol with Low-Latency for Metasystem

With the rapid advancement in exploring perceptual interactions and digital twins,metaverse technology has emerged to transcend the constraints of space-time and reality,facilitating remote AI-based collaboration.In this dynamic metasystem environment,frequent information exchanges necessitate robust security measures,with Authentication and Key Agreement(AKA)serving as the primary line of defense to ensure communication security.However,traditional AKA protocols fall short in meeting the low-latency requirements essential for synchronous interactions within the metaverse.To address this challenge and enable nearly latency-free interactions,a novel low-latency AKA protocol based on chaotic maps is proposed.This protocol not only ensures mutual authentication of entities within the metasystem but also generates secure session keys.The security of these session keys is rigorously validated through formal proofs,formal verification,and informal proofs.When confronted with the Dolev-Yao(DY)threat model,the session keys are formally demonstrated to be secure under the Real-or-Random(ROR)model.The proposed protocol is further validated through simulations conducted using VMware workstation compiled in HLPSL language and C language.The simulation results affirm the protocol’s effectiveness in resisting well-known attacks while achieving the desired low latency for optimal metaverse interactions.

Application of periodic orbit theory in chaos-based security analysis

Chaos-based encryption schemes have been studied extensively, while the security analysis methods for them are still problems to be resolved. Based on the periodic orbit theory, this paper proposes a novel security analysis method. The periodic orbits theory indicates that the fundamental frequency of the spiraling orbits is the natural frequency of associated linearized system, which is decided by the parameters of the chaotic system. Thus, it is possible to recover the plaintext of secure communication systems based on chaotic shift keying by getting the average time on the spiraling orbits. Analysis and simulation results show that the security analysis method can break chaos shift keying secure communication systems, which use the parameters as keys.

Air-Ground Integrated Low-Energy Federated Learning for Secure 6G Communications

Federated learning(FL)is a distributed machine learning approach that could provide secure 6G communications to preserve user privacy.In 6G communications,unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs)are widely used as FL parameter servers to collect and broadcast related parameters due to the advantages of easy deployment and high flexibility.However,the challenge of limited energy restricts the populariza⁃tion of UAV-enabled FL applications.An airground integrated low-energy federated learning framework is proposed,which minimizes the overall energy consumption of application communication while maintaining the quality of the FL model.Specifically,a hierarchical FL framework is proposed,where base stations(BSs)aggregate model parameters updated from their surrounding users separately and send the aggregated model parameters to the server,thereby reducing the energy consumption of communication.In addition,we optimize the deploy⁃ment of UAVs through a deep Q-network approach to minimize their energy consumption for transmission as well as movement,thus improv⁃ing the energy efficiency of the airground integrated system.The evaluation results show that our proposed method can reduce the system en⁃ergy consumption while maintaining the accuracy of the FL model.

The Security Analysis of Two-Step Quantum Direct Communication Protocol in Collective-Rotation Noise Channel

To analyze the security of two-step quantum direct communication protocol （QDCP） by using Einstein-Podolsky Rosen pair proposed by Deng et al. [Phys. Rev. A 68 （2003）042317] in collective-rotation noise channel, an excellent model of noise analysis is proposed. In the security analysis, the method of the entropy theory is introduced, and is compared with QDCP, an error rate point Qo（M ： （Q0, 1.0）） is given. In different noise levels, if Eve wants to obtain the same amount of information, the error rate Q is distinguishable. The larger the noise level ~ is, the larger the error rate Q is. When the noise level ~ is lower than 11%, the high error rate is 0.153 without eavesdropping. Lastly, the security of the proposed protocol is discussed. It turns out that the quantum channel will be safe when Q 〈 0.153. Similarly, if error rate Q〉 0.153 = Q0, eavesdropping information I 〉 1, which means that there exist eavesdroppers in the quantum channel, and the quantum channel will not be safe anymore.

Guest Editorial Special Issue on Network and Communication Security

Because of the advanced developments in information technology and networking, a user can easily communicate with others via the Internet. In daily life, users can buy a lot of products through the e-commerce market. Thus, how to protect users＇ private data from being compromised on the Internet has become a very important research issue in recent years.

Announcing a Special Issue on Network and Communication Security

Journal of Electronic Science and Technology （JEST） invites manuscript submissions in the area of Network and Communication Security （NCS）. This special issue of JEST will focus on recent theoretical and application achievements in NCS. It is intended to highlight and summarize the major developments that have occurred over the past few years. Topic scopes to be covered include：

Robust Authentication and Session Key Agreement Protocol for Satellite Communications

Satellite networks are recognized as the most essential communication infrastructures in the world today,which complement land networks and provide valuable services for their users.Extensive coverage and service stability of these networks have increased their popularity.Since eavesdropping and active intrusion in satellite communications are much easier than in terrestrial networks,securing satellite communications is vital.So far,several protocols have been proposed for authentication and key exchange of satellite communications,but none of them fullymeet the security requirements.In this paper,we examine one of these protocols and identify its security vulnerabilities.Moreover,we propose a robust and secure authentication and session key agreement protocol using the elliptic curve cryptography(ECC).We show that the proposed protocol meets common security requirements and is resistant to known security attacks.Moreover,we prove that the proposed scheme satisfies the security features using the Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications(AVISPA)formal verification tool and On-the fly Model-Checker(OFMC)and ATtack SEarcher(ATSE)model checkers.We have also proved the security of the session key exchange of our protocol using theReal orRandom(RoR)model.Finally,the comparison of our scheme with similar methods shows its superiority.

Improving the security of secure deterministic communication scheme based on quantum remote state preparation

The security of the quantum secure deterministic communication scheme [Chin. Phys.16 （2007） 2549] is reexamined. A security loophole is pointed out. Taking advantage of this loophole, an eavesdropper can steal all the secret messages without being detected by an intercept-and-resend attack strategy. Furthermore, a possible improvement on this protocol is presented. It makes the modified protocol secure against this kind of attack.

CHAOS-BASED SECURE COMMUNICATIONS

With the massive increase of wirelessly connected devices and the rapid development of the Internet, information is transmitted more and more frequently. Since the information transmissions over these networks are greatly threatened not only by the imperfection of channels but also by the potential attackers or eavesdroppers, security and reliability become some of the crucial requirements for our future networks. Due to the complex dynamic behavior, ergodicity, wide spectrum and sensitivity to initial values, chaos signals show most required attributes of good cryptosystems and great potentials in optical fiber communications for desirable spatial accuracy and distance. In this context, it has become imperative to investigate and apply chaos theories to solve emerging secure communication problems in various networks. This includes leveraging chaos systems and signals to address a wide range of secure communication challenges in optical fiber communications, chaos cipher, image encryption, etc.

Relay Selection Strategy in the Secure Cooperative Communications System

With the low cost and low hardware complex considerations,cooperative systems are a tendency in the future communications.This work considers the secure cooperative communications systems.For a practical situation in the system,the scenario includes multiple source stations,multiple relay stations,multiple destination stations,and eavesdroppers.To analyze the optimal relay selection in the system,we begin with the performance analysis for a single source station and a single destination station.By applying two cooperative models,the amplify-andforward（AF） mode and decode-and-forward（DF）mode,the secrecy capacity is derived.Then,we apply the derived results to the considered environment to find the optimal relay assignment.By the way,the relay selection can be obtained by the exhaustive search algorithm.However,there are a lot of steps needed if the number of source stations is large.Hence,applying the characters of the cooperative modes in the relay selection,the pre-selection step is proposed with a mathematical derivation.It could be used for the practical situation without a long-time calculation.

Security for Industrial Communication Systems

B. Remote Access to Stand-Alone Embedded Systems Industrial controllers, especially for power system and transportation applications, are often deployed as stand-alone systems in a geographically dispersed area. Maintenance and service costs of stand-alone embedded systems can be reduced when they can be

Security for Industrial Communication Systems

B. Network Architectures This section describes the main types of industrial and utility communication network topologies and protocols, in preparation for the discussion of specific security issues in the later sections. Communication networks for industrial automation are typically built in hierarchi-

Security for Industrial Communication Systems

D.Security on the Field Bus and Device Level As described in SectionⅢ-B,Fig.2,in- dustrial communication networks involve a number of levels.The lowest level\is closest to the application specific devices such as sensors,meters,and actuators.A large number of specialized and partly proprietary commu- nication systems,media,and protocols can be found on this level.Most were developed at a time when security issues were of lesser con- cern than today,and when no practical secu- rity measures were available.

Security for Industrial Communication Systems

E. Security of Embedded Systems for Industrial Control and Communication Industrial automation controllers are typically implemented on embedded computers. Such embedded systems have to cope with restrictions on cost, real-time performance, power consumption, and other constraints which are even more demanding than in large workstations. A reference discusses these aspects with the example of a thermostat con-