Duncan Hodges
CREST Outputs
Projects
Articles
Academic Publications
CLICKA: Collecting and leveraging identity cues with keystroke dynamics
The way in which IT systems are usually secured is through the use of username and password pairs. However, these credentials are all too easily lost, stolen or compromised. The use of behavioural biometrics can be used to supplement these credentials to provide a greater level of assurance in the identity of an authenticated user. However, user behaviours can also be used to ascertain other identifiable information about an individual. In this paper we build upon the notion of keystroke dynamics (the analysis of typing behaviours) to infer an anonymous user’s name and predict their native language. This work found that there is a discernible difference in the ranking of bigrams (based on their timing) contained within the name of a user and those that are not. As a result we propose that individuals will reliably type information they are familiar with in a discernibly different way. In our study we found that it should be possible to identify approximately a third of the bigrams forming an anonymous users name purely from how (not what) they type.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2022.102780Cyber-enabled burglary of smart homes
Over the last few years, there has been a steady increase in smart home technology's pervasiveness, to the degree where consumer IoT is part of many homes. As our homes become complex cyber-physical spaces, the risk to our physical security from attacks originating in cyberspace becomes much more significant. Within the literature, there is much discussion about the technical vulnerabilities within the smart home. However, this is often not linked to a rich understanding of how an attacker could exploit them. In this paper, we focus on residential burglary and develop a rich understanding of the process by which residential burglary is committed and the effect of the smart home on this process. By combining two areas of the academic literature, residential burglary and smart-home security, this paper provides an academically grounded discussion that places the nascent vulnerabilities associated with the smart-home into the context of the process by which burglary is committed. The commission of residential burglary is a complex decision-making process, which the public often simplifies into planned or unplanned crimes; this is a dangerous oversimplification. The analysis identifies some increased risk during the target selection stage phase. However, in the short term, residential burglars are unlikely to exploit smart home technology routinely.
Hodges, Duncan. (2021). Cyber-Enabled Burglary of Smart Homes. Computers & Security. 110. 102418
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2021.102418
Projects
Articles
Academic Publications
CLICKA: Collecting and leveraging identity cues with keystroke dynamics
The way in which IT systems are usually secured is through the use of username and password pairs. However, these credentials are all too easily lost, stolen or compromised. The use of behavioural biometrics can be used to supplement these credentials to provide a greater level of assurance in the identity of an authenticated user. However, user behaviours can also be used to ascertain other identifiable information about an individual. In this paper we build upon the notion of keystroke dynamics (the analysis of typing behaviours) to infer an anonymous user’s name and predict their native language. This work found that there is a discernible difference in the ranking of bigrams (based on their timing) contained within the name of a user and those that are not. As a result we propose that individuals will reliably type information they are familiar with in a discernibly different way. In our study we found that it should be possible to identify approximately a third of the bigrams forming an anonymous users name purely from how (not what) they type.
Cyber-enabled burglary of smart homes
Over the last few years, there has been a steady increase in smart home technology's pervasiveness, to the degree where consumer IoT is part of many homes. As our homes become complex cyber-physical spaces, the risk to our physical security from attacks originating in cyberspace becomes much more significant. Within the literature, there is much discussion about the technical vulnerabilities within the smart home. However, this is often not linked to a rich understanding of how an attacker could exploit them. In this paper, we focus on residential burglary and develop a rich understanding of the process by which residential burglary is committed and the effect of the smart home on this process. By combining two areas of the academic literature, residential burglary and smart-home security, this paper provides an academically grounded discussion that places the nascent vulnerabilities associated with the smart-home into the context of the process by which burglary is committed. The commission of residential burglary is a complex decision-making process, which the public often simplifies into planned or unplanned crimes; this is a dangerous oversimplification. The analysis identifies some increased risk during the target selection stage phase. However, in the short term, residential burglars are unlikely to exploit smart home technology routinely.
Hodges, Duncan. (2021). Cyber-Enabled Burglary of Smart Homes. Computers & Security. 110. 102418