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Publications

Publications by CSE

2022

Phishing and Advanced Persistent Threats

Authors
Brandao, PR; S Mamede, H;

Publication
Journal of Mathematical & Computer Applications

Abstract
The paper addresses one of the techniques mor used by Advanced Persistent Threats attacks, phishing. The paper demonstrates the complexity of the technique, explains how attacks can be carried out, and presents defense techniques, and strategies against phishing attacks. The article also presents a summary description of what an Advanced Persistent Threat attack is. This description characterizes this type of attack.

2022

Middleware for the Internet of Things: a systematic literature review

Authors
Medeiros R.; Fernandes S.; Queiroz P.G.G.;

Publication
Forum for Nordic Dermato-Venerology

Abstract
The Internet of Things (IoT) emerged to describe a network of connected things on a large scale to offer services to a large number of applications in different environments and domains. Middleware is software that seeks to facilitate the management and communication of all these things, providing the necessary functionalities to manage things, to discover, to compose services, and perform communication. For this reason, several proposals for middleware solutions for IoT have been developed. In this article, we conducted a systematic review of the literature to bring together middleware solutions for IoT, identifying the requirements and communication protocols used. In addition, we present some gaps and directions for future research in the development of IoT middleware.

2022

Moodbuster (E-MODEL): The feasibility of digital cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for depressed older adults: Study protocol of two pilot feasibility studies (Preprint)

Authors
Amarti, K; Schulte, MHJ; Kleiboer, AM; van Genugten, CR; Oudega, M; Sonnenberg, C; Gonçalves, GC; Rocha, A; Riper, H;

Publication

Abstract
BACKGROUND

Internet-based interventions can be effective in the treatment of depression. However, internet-based interventions for older adults with depression are scarce and little is known about their feasibility and effectiveness.

OBJECTIVE

To present the design of two studies aiming to assess the feasibility of internet-based cognitive behavioural treatment (CBT) for older adults with depression (E-MODEL). We will assess the feasibility of an online, guided version of E-MODEL among depressed older adults from the general population as well as the feasibility of a blended format (combining integrated face-to-face sessions and internet-based modules) in specialised mental health care outpatient clinic.

METHODS

A single-group pretest-posttest design will be applied for both settings. The primary outcome of the studies will be feasibility in terms of (a) acceptance and satisfaction (measured with the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire-8, (b) usability (measured with the System Usability Scale) and (c) engagement (measured with the Twente Engagement with Ehealth Technologies Scale). Secondary outcomes include: (a) severity of depressive symptoms (PHQ-8), (b) participant and therapist experience with the digital technology (with the use of qualitative interviews), (c) working alliance between patient and practitioner (from both perspectives; WAI-SF), (d) technical alliance between patient and the platform (WAI-TECH-SF) and (e) uptake in terms of attemped and completed modules. N=30 older adults with mild to moderate depressive symptoms (score between 5 and 11 as measured with the Geriatric Depression Scale 15) will be recruited from the general population. N=15 older adults with moderate to severe depressive symptoms (GDS-15 score between 8 and 15) will be recruited from a specialised mental health care outpatient clinic.

RESULTS

A mixed-method approach of quantitative and qualitative analyses will be adopted. Both the primary and secondary outcomes will be additionally explored with an individual semistructured interview and synthesized descriptively. Descriptive statistics (Mean and SDs) will be used to examine the primary and secondary outcome measures. Within-group depression severity will be analyzed using a two-tailed paired sample t-test to investigate differences between time points. The interviews will be recorded and analyzed using thematic analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this pilot study will show whether this platform is feasible among the older adult population in a blended and guided format in the two settings as well as a first exploration of the size of the effect of E-MODEL in terms of decrease of depressive symptoms.

2022

Managing Gamified Programming Courses with the FGPE Platform

Authors
Paiva, JC; Queiros, R; Leal, JP; Swacha, J; Miernik, F;

Publication
INFORMATION

Abstract
E-learning tools are gaining increasing relevance as facilitators in the task of learning how to program. This is mainly a result of the pandemic situation and consequent lockdown in several countries, which forced distance learning. Instant and relevant feedback to students, particularly if coupled with gamification, plays a pivotal role in this process and has already been demonstrated as an effective solution in this regard. However, teachers still struggle with the lack of tools that can adequately support the creation and management of online gamified programming courses. Until now, there was no software platform that would be simultaneously open-source and general-purpose (i.e., not integrated with a specific course on a specific programming language) while featuring a meaningful selection of gamification components. Such a solution has been developed as a part of the Framework for Gamified Programming Education (FGPE) project. In this paper, we present its two front-end components: FGPE AuthorKit and FGPE PLE, explain how they can be used by teachers to prepare and manage gamified programming courses, and report the results of the usability evaluation by the teachers using the platform in their classes.

2022

Verified Password Generation from Password Composition Policies

Authors
Grilo, M; Campos, J; Ferreira, JF; Almeida, JB; Mendes, A;

Publication
INTEGRATED FORMAL METHODS, IFM 2022

Abstract
Password managers (PMs) are important tools that enable the use of stronger passwords, freeing users from the cognitive burden of remembering them. Despite this, there are still many users who do not fully trust PMs. In this paper, we focus on a feature that most PMs offer that might impact the user's trust, which is the process of generating a random password. We present three of the most commonly used algorithms and we propose a solution for a formally verified reference implementation of a password generation algorithm. We use EasyCrypt to specify and verify our reference implementation. In addition, we present a proof-of-concept prototype that extends Bitwarden to only generate compliant passwords, solving a frequent users' frustration with PMs. This demonstrates that our formally verified component can be integrated into an existing (and widely used) PM.

2022

AIDA-DB: A Data Management Architecture for the Edge and Cloud Continuum

Authors
Faria, N; Costa, D; Pereira, J; Vilaça, R; Ferreira, L; Coelho, F;

Publication
19th IEEE Annual Consumer Communications & Networking Conference, CCNC 2022, Las Vegas, NV, USA, January 8-11, 2022

Abstract
There is an increasing demand for stateful edge computing for both complex Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) and application services in emerging 5G networks. Managing a mutable persistent state in the edge does however bring new architectural, performance, and dependability challenges. Not only it has to be integrated with existing cloud-based systems, but also cope with both operational and analytical workloads and be compatible with a variety of SQL and NoSQL database management systems. We address these challenges with AIDA-DB, a polyglot data management architecture for the edge and cloud continuum. It leverages recent development in distributed transaction processing for a reliable mutable state in operational workloads, with a flexible synchronization mechanism for efficient data collection in cloud-based analytical workloads. © 2022 IEEE.

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