http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/services/Feed ${session.getAttribute("locale")} 5 http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:10863 The rising popularity of Web 2.0 applications has seen an increase in the volume of user-generated content. Web Applications allow users to define policies that specify how they wish their content to be accessed. In large Web 2.0 applica- tions these policies can become quite complex, with users having to make decisions such as ’who can access my image library?’, or ’should my mobile number be made available to 3rd party agencies?’. As the policy size grows, the ability for every- day users to comprehend and manage their policy diminishes. This paper presents a model of policy configuration that harnesses the power of the Internet community by presenting average-sets of policy configuration. These policy ”profiles” allow users to select a default set of policy values that line up with the average case, as presented by the application population. Policies can be promoted at an application level or at a group level. An XML approach is presented for representing the policy profiles. The approach allows for easy profile comparison and merging. A storage mecha- nism is also presented that describes how these policies should be made persistent in a distributed data storage system. 2012-09-18T02:36:45.427Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:10861 The World Wide Web is a constantly changing environment in which academia, industry and interest groups participate to innovate and design the next evolution of online user interaction. The ad-hoc nature in which new web-based systems and technologies have been developed has led to an increasingly diverse environment, with ill defined interactions and fuzzy classification systems. Recently, business pioneers in the industry have attempted to classify web applications into large groupings based on certain key characteristics. The high-level taxonomy presented in this paper provides a way to scientifically classify web applications. By classifying applications and studying the progression from one classification to the next, predictions can be made as to the direction of future web application development. After presenting a formal classification model this research discusses how this model can be used to compare existing web technologies and design the next generation of the World Wide Web. 2012-05-29T05:16:55.523Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:10862 Current Internet trends have caused us to outgrow existing online data storage paradigms. This paper presents an extended model for distributed online data storage. The model addresses issues of data duplication, data freshness and data ownership, while facilitating two modes of data access - direct and indirect. Direct data access is implemented using advanced handoff techniques while indirect access is implemented using robust server-to-server protocols that enforce strict policies on data management. Results are presented that compare this solution to existing technologies and an example migration path is described for existing Web 2.0 applications wishing to adopt this new paradigm. 2012-05-29T05:06:55.963Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:10842 From an consumer perspective the Cloud is opaque. Online storage and the rise of web applications are changing the way users work. There continues though to be no distinction from a user experience point of view between accessing a Cloud-based application and accessing a web application deployed on a classic server. We propose a new paradigm for online application development which takes the best from web applications, thick client applications and the new "application store" market. This approach expands the cloud to encompass all resources that belong to a user; be it local client resources or server-farm resources procured using a traditional cloud model. By implementing these concepts we can bring the benefits of cloud computing directly to the end user while breaking developers out of the confines of the web browser. 2012-05-23T05:41:09.351Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:6535 With the recent increase in web application reliance on user-generated content, issues such as data duplication, data age and data ownership are becoming an increasing problem. It is now common to have multiple distinct web applications storing duplicate copies of a user’s personal information in distinct storage formats and locations. This paper proposes a change in paradigm that places the ownership of a user’s personal data back into their own hands by moving the storage of that data away from web applications and onto private storage nodes exposed by 3rd party providers. Web applications can then subscribe to various pieces of data under electronic contracts that govern the data’s usage. 2012-04-02T00:07:06.917Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:6534 Cloud Computing allows us to abstract distributed, elastic IT resources behind an interface that promotes scalability and dynamic resource allocation. The boundary of this cloud sits outside the application and the hardware that hosts it. For the end user, a web application deployed on a cloud is presented no differently to a web application deployed on a stand-alone web server. This model works well for web applications but fails to cater for distributed applications containing components that execute both locally for the user and remotely using non-local resources. This research proposes extending the concept of the cloud to encompass not only server-farm resources but all resources accessible by the user. This brings the resources of the home PC and personal mobile devices into the cloud and promotes the deployment of highly-distributed component based applications with fat user interfaces. This promotes the use of the Internet itself as a platform. We compare this to the standard Web 2.0 approach and show the benefits that deploying fat-client component based systems provide over classic web applications. We also describe the benefits that expanding the cloud provides to component migration and resources utilisation. 2012-04-02T00:07:06.495Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:4479 As the complexity of web applications increases new challenges are faced in relation to data integrity and system scalability. Traditional client server fat applications allow for a high level of transactionality between the client and server, due largely to transactional protocols and tight coupling between components. Transactional functionality within web applications is historically limited to within the web server hosting the application. The scope of the traditional transaction in this context does not extend outside of the web server and its attached services. This paper proposes that web applications can achieve increased system integrity by extending the scope of the transaction to encompass tasks performed by the web browser. An additional layer is introduced to the standard HTTP protocol to facilitate the new functionality, and a simulator is presented as the basis for further research. 2012-03-07T23:10:04.845Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:6922 Vast quantities of information is now being stored online. Web applications currently rely on monolithic storage structures which place the sole responsibility of data storage, protection and maintenance on the web application provider. This research introduces the concept of a de-centralised approach for information storage online. Distributed storage techniques are used to address concerns with the classic monolithic approach while also addressing issues such as data ownership concerns for personal information. The research results in the presentation on an API that allows distributed storage of information with seamless integration of data into the traditional Web 2.0 model. 2012-03-07T22:45:30.976Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:6923 The modern day Internet has evolved over the past 35 years from a single-purpose research network to a massively connected network of peers hosting a major percentage of world-wide communications. This evolutionary process has created a network that is performing tasks which were never in its original design. While emerging overlays such as peer-to-peer networking have spawned in an attempt to cope with the restrictive original design, core-level issues hamper further development. As the Internet grows into an increasingly connected and dynamic network these design flaws will continue to cause problems. It is proposed to investigate the use of distributed computing and software runtime environments to host the next generation of Internet applications, in much the same way as the current crop of Internet browsers host thin web applications. This research will define a runtime environment that allows developers to create distributed, component-based applications for which the system manages cross-platform issues such as data persistence, and component-interaction issues such as concurrency. A detailed application programming interface (API) specification and software prototype will be developed to demonstrate how such a runtime environment can be used to address the concept of using the Internet as a platform for large-scale applications, while resolving known issues with such existing designs as Cloud Computing and Software-as-a-service (SAAS). 2012-03-07T22:44:40.248Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:2511 In the Web Services environment, traditional ACID transactions are not always sufficient to support the activities that businesses would like to process. While Web Services transactions standards do exist, it is still difficult for an end-user to combine services from loosely-coupled providers into a single action to be performed. We describe the use of a "Super Browser" that enables users to more easily find and combine Webapplications into a single activity that they can view and manipulate throughout its life-cycle. 2010-05-04T05:50:01.828Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:2512 Modern operating systems offer a large array of features in their network subsystems that support fine-grained access control, monitoring and accounting. Such features allow a system administrator to account and filter outgoing network connections based on attributes such as the destination IP address and port number of the connection. With the increase in multi-user systems such as grid networks and shared Web hosting, the complexity of these tasks has increased. Current operating systems lack the ability to determine the intent of a network connection based on the connection's technical characteristics alone. This paper presents a new mechanism by which applications themselves are given the ability to pass meta information to the network subsystem, allowing it to take advantage of application specific data. 2010-04-27T06:03:08.923Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:2513 One of the largest threats to network security in Internet-connected corporate networks is attack via worms. Worms infiltrate the network and compromise security, consuming processor cycles and network bandwidth that would otherwise be available for corporate use. This research analyses a particular strain of network worm called the "Ethical worm", which is targeted towards beneficial means rather than malicious. Also presented is a design for an Ethical worm generation toolkit (named WEWorm) that will aid System administrators in the cleanup of an infected network. 2010-04-27T06:03:05.997Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:2514 Continued growth in peer-to-peer (P2P) networking is introducing new challenges for network designers and administrators. P2P communication is no longer the sole domain of the home-based, technically savvy user. Instead, corporations are now starting to investigate the use of P2P communication as a valid technology for distributing data to a large user base. Existing network protocols that support P2P communication, such as UPnP, do not scale well to larger corporate and institutional networks. This paper introduces a new, dynamic system that is capable of supporting P2P communication in a large array of networks designs ranging from smaller home networks to larger corporate networks that contain multiple layers of firewalls and proxies. 2010-04-27T06:03:03.878Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:3127 In this paper we discuss how operating system design and implementation influence the methodology for computer forensics investigations, with the focus on forensic acquisition of memory. In theory the operating system could support such investigations both in terms of tools for analysis of data and by making the system data readily accessible for analysis. Conventional operating systems such as Windows and UNIX derivatives offer some memory-related tools that are geared towards the analysis of system crashes, rather than forensic investigations. In this paper we demonstrate how techniques developed for persistent operating systems, where lifetime of data is independent of the method of its creation and storage, could support computer forensics investigations delivering higher efficiency and accuracy. It is proposed that some of the features offered by persistent systems could be built into conventional operating systems to make illicit activities easier to identify and analyse. We further propose a new technique for forensically sound acquisition of memory based on the persistence paradigm. 2010-04-27T05:14:27.779Z ]]>