Formal security policy implementations in network firewalls.
Journal Article
Macfarlane, R., Buchanan, W. J., Ekonomou, E., Uthmani, O., Fan, L., & Lo, O. (2012)
Formal security policy implementations in network firewalls. Computers and Security, 31(2), 253-270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2011.10.003
Network security should be based around security policies. From high-level natural language, non-technical, policies created by management, down to device and vendor specific ...
Evaluation of Live Forensic Techniques in Ransomware Attack Mitigation
Journal Article
Davies, S. R., Macfarlane, R., & Buchanan, W. J. (2020)
Evaluation of Live Forensic Techniques in Ransomware Attack Mitigation. Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation, 33, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsidi.2020.300979
Ransomware continues to grow in both scale, cost, complexity and impact since its initial discovery nearly 30 years ago. Security practitioners are engaged in a continual "arm...
Review of e-Health Frameworks.
Conference Proceeding
Prajapati, B., Buchanan, W. J., Smales, A., Macfarlane, R., & Spyra, G. (2015)
Review of e-Health Frameworks. In Health Informatics Conference 2015
In order to improve the quality of health care and widen the accessibility, health care providers are consistently looking to inject information and communication technology t...
Comparison of Entropy Calculation Methods for Ransomware Encrypted File Identification
Journal Article
Davies, S., Macfarlane, R., & Buchanan, W. (2022)
Comparison of Entropy Calculation Methods for Ransomware Encrypted File Identification. Entropy, 24(10), Article 1503. https://doi.org/10.3390/e24101503
Ransomware is a malicious class of software that utilises encryption to implement an attack on system availability. The target’s data remains encrypted and is held captive by ...
Teaching penetration and malware analysis in a cloud-based environment.
Presentation / Conference
Buchanan, W. J., Ramsay, B., Macfarlane, R., Smales, A., & Russell, G. (2015, June)
Teaching penetration and malware analysis in a cloud-based environment. Paper presented at UK Workshop on Cybersecurity Training & Education, Liverpool
This paper outlines evaluation of running a private Cloud-based system over two semesters at Edinburgh Napier University for two modules: Security Testing and Advanced Network...
Distance Measurement Methods for Improved Insider Threat Detection
Journal Article
Lo, O., Buchanan, W. J., Griffiths, P., & Macfarlane, R. (2018)
Distance Measurement Methods for Improved Insider Threat Detection. Security and Communication Networks, 2018, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/5906368
Insider threats are a considerable problem within cyber security and it is often difficult to detect these threats using signature detection. Increasing machine learning can p...
Fast contraband detection in large capacity disk drives.
Journal Article
Penrose, P., Buchanan, W. J., & Macfarlane, R. (2015)
Fast contraband detection in large capacity disk drives. Digital Investigation, 12(S1), S22-S29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diin.2015.01.007
In recent years the capacity of digital storage devices has been increasing at a rate that has left digital forensic services struggling to cope. There is an acknowledgement t...
D-FET – A community cloud for enhancing skills using virtualised environments and cloud-based infrastructures.
Presentation / Conference
Buchanan, W. J., & Macfarlane, R. (2011, June)
D-FET – A community cloud for enhancing skills using virtualised environments and cloud-based infrastructures. Paper presented at Scottish Higher Education Employability Conference: Strengthening Partnerships with Employers, Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh
The use of virtualised and cloud-based environments provide an excellent opportunity to enhance learning and to provide students with skills which match exactly to the require...
A methodology for the security evaluation within third-party Android Marketplaces
Journal Article
Buchanan, W. J., Chiale, S., & Macfarlane, R. (2017)
A methodology for the security evaluation within third-party Android Marketplaces. Digital Investigation, 23, 88-98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diin.2017.10.002
This paper aims to evaluate possible threats with unofficial Android marketplaces, and geo localize the malware distribution over three main regions: China, Europe; and Russia...
Differential Area Analysis for Ransomware Attack Detection within Mixed File Datasets
Journal Article
Davies, S. R., Macfarlane, R., & Buchanan, W. J. (2021)
Differential Area Analysis for Ransomware Attack Detection within Mixed File Datasets. Computers and Security, 108, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2021.102377
The threat from ransomware continues to grow both in the number of affected victims as well as the cost incurred by the people and organisations impacted in a successful attac...