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Quantum Technologies
No full textpeer reviewedThis open access book invites readers to explore the emerging opportunities and strategic significance of quantum technologies in the context of cybersecurity. It collects the latest trends and insights into the evolution of quantum computing and quantum communication, offering valuable guidance. To this end, it brings together comprehensive trends, research, and insights from more than 40 leading experts from around the globe to provide a deep understanding of the opportunities, challenges, and implications of quantum technologies for cyber defence.
Divided in three parts, the book examines core advancements in various types of quantum technologies and also addresses the key obstacles that limit progress. It explores the potential disruptions to current cryptographic standards alongside potential solutions, as well as global quantum strategies and tools designed to monitor trends in quantum technologies.
This is the third book in a series published by the Technology Monitoring (TM) team of the Cyber-Defence Campus. It serves as a resource for researchers, cybersecurity specialists, policymakers, and industry leaders navigating the rapidly evolving quantum landscape. It aims to foster informed decision-making and encourage collaboration across sectors
The world as it is: Kantian realism past and present
No full textpeer reviewedI first discuss Michael Devitt’s criticism of Kant's empirical realism. Devitt’s criticism helps to appreciate the contemporary relevance of empirical realism. Devitt profiles the kind of realism he advocates not least by criticizing Kant for his, as he coins it, ‘Weak, or Fig-Leaf, Realism’. According to ‘Weak, or Fig-Leaf, Realism’, ‘[s]omething objectively exists independently of the mental.’ For Devitt this kind of realism ‘is so weak as to be uninteresting’ such that in the end it turns out to be nothing over and above a kind of anti-realism. I argue that the ‘Fig-Leaf’-objection does not do justice to empirical realism and, as a first step of my overall argument, that Kantian empirical realism cannot be reproached with not being a genuine form of realism. This step is required to not let the consideration of empirical realism in the contemporary debate stop for the merely strategic allegation that Kantian realism cannot enter the debate because it is not realism (sec. 1). To show what empirical realism amounts to, I will then discuss the relation between empirical and transcendental realism. Kant’s juxtaposition of empirical and transcendental realism clarifies that for the natural and human sciences to be able to operate from a common ground these objects must be objects of the same kind, i.e., the same spatio-temporal system of experience. In the second step of my overall argument, I argue that unlike transcendental realism, empirical realism can provide the theoretical framework based on which the natural and human sciences contribute to the same common realist world view (sec. 2). At least until the late 1990ies, Hilary Putnam subscribes to major ideas of empirical realism. Putnam sees in Kant’s empirical realism the paradigm of his ‘internal realism’. Internal realism is the view that the question about the existence of the external world cannot be meaningfully formulated and answered from a god’s eye perspective but only relative to a conceptual system, i.e., to a theory or conceptual scheme. To further profile Kant’s concept of realism, I will enquire the connection between Kant’s and Putnam’s concepts of realism. Comparing empirical and internal realism is extremely helpful to understand in what sense Kant lays the foundation for our contemporary conception of a realist worldview that does not eliminate but has the potential to integrate the human sciences (sec. 3). The final step of my argument will be a sketch of how Kant conceives of a realist picture of an integrated science. More specifically, I will indicate at how Kant understands history as a human science and how the human sciences fit into the one realist picture of the world we live in (sec. 4)
Secure authentication and traceability of physical objects
No full textpeer reviewedWe study how to authenticate objects, a problem that is relevant to buyers who seek proof that a purchase is authentic. Typically, manufacturers watermark their goods or assign them IDs with a certificate of authenticity; then, buyers can check for the presence of the watermark or verify the authenticity of the certificate, matching it with the good’s ID. However, this solution falls short when manufacturers and buyers are geographically separated, such as in retail or online purchases. Since certificates can be forged and goods can be substituted with substandard clones, buyers should verify the authenticity of the goods directly. This suggests a process: honest manufacturers should provide goods with an ID and securely register it along with some unforgeable and unique data that can be (re)generated only from the original physical object. In turn, buyers can verify whether the data registered under that ID matches the data retrieved by the buyer for the good just acquired. Such enrollment and authentication processes are complex when realized as protocols because they must withstand attacks against both the physical object and the communication channel. We propose a cyber-physical solution that relies on two elements: (i) a material inseparably joined with an object from which cryptographically strong digital identities can be generated; (ii) two novel cryptographic protocols that ensure data integrity and secure authentication of agents and objects. We present a comprehensive threat model for the artifact authenticity service. We also implemented and optimized the image processing pipeline, which takes under two seconds per image set, representing a notable improvement over previous versions
Le banquet des fraudeurs (H. Storck, 1952). Blurring the borders between commission and reality
No full textpeer reviewedLe banquet des fraudeurs (1952) is an atypical work in Henri Storck's filmography. An anomaly in a career mainly devoted to documentaries for some, a hybrid film of multiple concessions or political instrumentalisations for others, this first feature-length fiction film, shot in part in what was to become the Meuse-Rhine Euregio, resists many of the analytical grids developed through contact with the Belgian filmmaker's rich filmography. The film's stylistic heterogeneity is no accident. By turns a pastoral comedy, a film noir or a propaganda film, Le banquet des Fraudurs seems to be influenced, depending on the sequence, by the cinema of the Popular Front, the German ‘Trümmerfilm’, film noir and even Soviet fiction of the late 1920s.
Faced with this initial heterogeneity, which we will recall in the introduction, our paper aims to identify the historical, economic and political determinants of a film that is also, in many respects, a work that gives a very precise account of the multiple and sometimes restrictive paths open to an internationally enowned Belgian filmmaker at the start of the 1950s. We will do this in three stages. In the first part of our talk, we will look back at the political and economic genesis of the film, focusing not only on the decisive role played by Charles Spaak, but also on the more discreet role played by Eugen Kogon.Nourished by these initial elements, we will then offer an analysis of certain dramaturgical components of the film, with a particular focus on its direction—complex yet essential for identifying the film’s target audience—and its use of multilingualism. Finally, in a third stage, drawing on the insights from the first two sections, we will attempt to present a clear picture of the film’s political thesis, and more specifically, the way it utilises the creation of the Benelux—not so much to document it, but rather to serve the purpose of another form of union
TATA: Benchmark NIDS Test Sets Assessment and Targeted Augmentation
No full textpeer reviewedResearch works on Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDSs) using Machine Learning (ML) usually reports very high detection rate, often well above 90%. However, these results typically originate from overly simplistic NIDS datasets, where the test set, often just a subset of the overall dataset, mirrors the training set distribution, failing to rigorously assess the NIDS’s robustness under more varied conditions. To address this shortcoming, we propose a method for Test sets Assessment and Targeted Augmentation (TATA). TATA is a model-agnostic approach that assesses and augments the quality of benchmark ML–based NIDS test sets. First, TATA encodes both training and test sets in a structured latent space via a contrastive autoencoder, defining three quality metrics (diversity, proximity, and scarcity) to identify test set gaps where the ML-based classification is harder. Next, TATA employs a reinforcement learning (RL) approach guided by these metrics, configuring a testbed that produces realistic data specifically targeting these gaps, creating a more robust test set. Using CIC-IDS2017 and CSE-CIC-IDS2018, we observe a positive correlation between higher metric values and increased detection difficulty, confirming their utility as meaningful indicators of test set robustness. With the same datasets, TATA’s RL-based augmentation significantly raises detection difficulty for multiple NIDS models, revealing previously overlooked weaknesses
Multiorbital nonterrestrial networks for heterogeneous service delivery: architecture, resource management, and use cases
No full texteditorial reviewedThis chapter introduces the innovative concept of multiorbital nonterrestrial networks (NTNs), which harnesses the potential of satellites operating across low Earth orbit (LEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO), and geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) to provide services within a diverse traffic ecosystem. The network architecture is characterized by hybrid gateway stations (HGS), strategically positioned to manage the satellite constellations effectively. These HGS incorporate both distributed units (DUs) responsible for antenna management across different orbital planes and a centralized unit (CU) for signal processing and modulation, ensuring seamless communication within and between orbits. Leveraging the 3GPP protocol stack, the network enables efficient resource management across all layers, optimizing resource allocation in response to dynamic traffic demands. Various techniques for efficient resource utilization are explored, offering insights into the effective operation of multiorbital NTNs. Through comprehensive use case analyses, the potential applications of multiorbital NTNs in dynamic service delivery scenarios are examined, highlighting their versatility and adaptability in meeting evolving communication needs
Beyond Accessibility: How Intelligent Assistive Technologies Improve Activities of Daily Life for Visually Impaired People in South Africa
No full textpeer reviewedOur study explores how intelligent assistive technologies (IATs) can enable visually impaired people (VIPs) to overcome barriers to inclusion in a digital society to ultimately improve their quality of life. Drawing on the Social Model of Disability (SMD), which frames disability as a consequence of social and institutional barriers rather than individual impairments, we employ semi-structured interviews and an online qualitative survey with n=61 VIPs in South Africa. Using descriptive statistics and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), we uncover nine configurations, clustered along three broader combinations of conditions, that support and hinder IAT-mediated inclusion. Most notably, we identify that autonomy of VIPs and accessibility of IATs are primary predictors of IAT's ability to achieve social participation. Our findings contribute to Information Systems (IS) literature at the intersection of technology and social participation. We further formulate implications for research and policymakers to foster social inclusion of VIPs in the Global South.R-AGR-3728 - PEARL/IS/13342933/DFS - FRIDGEN Gilbert9. Industry, innovation and infrastructure10. Reduced inequalitie
Families at a Loss: The Asymmetric Relationship Between Income Changes and Child Human Capital
Full text linkpeer reviewedI here assess the link between distributional changes in family income and child human capital.
Using a value-added model and data from a UK child cohort, I show evidence of an asymmetric effect of income gains and losses on child non-cognitive development. Only income losses are associated with a reduction in children’s socio-emotional health – with one-third of the effect operating through measures of maternal well-being – while no effect is found for income gains. This is consistent with a model of human-capital formation where the quality and quantity of parental inputs react to changes in family income asymmetrically
A Comprehensive Study of Machine Learning Techniques for Log-Based Anomaly Detection
Full text linkpeer reviewedThe growth of systems complexity increases the need of automated techniques
dedicated to different log analysis tasks such as Log-based Anomaly Detection
(LAD). The latter has been widely addressed in the literature, mostly by means
of different deep learning techniques. Nevertheless, the focus on deep learning
techniques results in less attention being paid to traditional Machine Learning
(ML) techniques, which may perform well in many cases, depending on the context
and the used datasets. Further, the evaluation of different ML techniques is
mostly based on the assessment of their detection accuracy. However, this is is
not enough to decide whether or not a specific ML technique is suitable to
address the LAD problem. Other aspects to consider include the training and
prediction time as well as the sensitivity to hyperparameter tuning. In this
paper, we present a comprehensive empirical study, in which we evaluate
different supervised and semi-supervised, traditional and deep ML techniques
w.r.t. four evaluation criteria: detection accuracy, time performance,
sensitivity of detection accuracy as well as time performance to hyperparameter
tuning. The experimental results show that supervised traditional and deep ML
techniques perform very closely in terms of their detection accuracy and
prediction time. Moreover, the overall evaluation of the sensitivity of the
detection accuracy of the different ML techniques to hyperparameter tuning
shows that supervised traditional ML techniques are less sensitive to
hyperparameter tuning than deep learning techniques. Further, semi-supervised
techniques yield significantly worse detection accuracy than supervised
techniques.LOGODOR - Automated Log Smell Detection and Remova