Matching Items (546)
Filtering by
- Creators: Department of Information Systems
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
Description
Corporations invest considerable resources to create, preserve and analyze
their data; yet while organizations are interested in protecting against
unauthorized data transfer, there lacks a comprehensive metric to discriminate
what data are at risk of leaking.
This thesis motivates the need for a quantitative leakage risk metric, and
provides a risk assessment system, called Whispers, for computing it. Using
unsupervised machine learning techniques, Whispers uncovers themes in an
organization's document corpus, including previously unknown or unclassified
data. Then, by correlating the document with its authors, Whispers can
identify which data are easier to contain, and conversely which are at risk.
Using the Enron email database, Whispers constructs a social network segmented
by topic themes. This graph uncovers communication channels within the
organization. Using this social network, Whispers determines the risk of each
topic by measuring the rate at which simulated leaks are not detected. For the
Enron set, Whispers identified 18 separate topic themes between January 1999
and December 2000. The highest risk data emanated from the legal department
with a leakage risk as high as 60%.
their data; yet while organizations are interested in protecting against
unauthorized data transfer, there lacks a comprehensive metric to discriminate
what data are at risk of leaking.
This thesis motivates the need for a quantitative leakage risk metric, and
provides a risk assessment system, called Whispers, for computing it. Using
unsupervised machine learning techniques, Whispers uncovers themes in an
organization's document corpus, including previously unknown or unclassified
data. Then, by correlating the document with its authors, Whispers can
identify which data are easier to contain, and conversely which are at risk.
Using the Enron email database, Whispers constructs a social network segmented
by topic themes. This graph uncovers communication channels within the
organization. Using this social network, Whispers determines the risk of each
topic by measuring the rate at which simulated leaks are not detected. For the
Enron set, Whispers identified 18 separate topic themes between January 1999
and December 2000. The highest risk data emanated from the legal department
with a leakage risk as high as 60%.
ContributorsWright, Jeremy (Author) / Syrotiuk, Violet (Thesis advisor) / Davulcu, Hasan (Committee member) / Yau, Stephen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
This thesis proposed a novel approach to establish the trust model in a social network scenario based on users' emails. Email is one of the most important social connections nowadays. By analyzing email exchange activities among users, a social network trust model can be established to judge the trust rate between each two users. The whole trust checking process is divided into two steps: local checking and remote checking. Local checking directly contacts the email server to calculate the trust rate based on user's own email communication history. Remote checking is a distributed computing process to get help from user's social network friends and built the trust rate together. The email-based trust model is built upon a cloud computing framework called MobiCloud. Inside MobiCloud, each user occupies a virtual machine which can directly communicate with others. Based on this feature, the distributed trust model is implemented as a combination of local analysis and remote analysis in the cloud. Experiment results show that the trust evaluation model can give accurate trust rate even in a small scale social network which does not have lots of social connections. With this trust model, the security in both social network services and email communication could be improved.
ContributorsZhong, Yunji (Author) / Huang, Dijiang (Thesis advisor) / Dasgupta, Partha (Committee member) / Syrotiuk, Violet (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Due to the shortcomings of modern Mobile Device Management solutions, businesses
have begun to incorporate forensics to analyze their mobile devices and respond
to any incidents of malicious activity in order to protect their sensitive data. Current
forensic tools, however, can only look a static image of the device being examined,
making it difficult for a forensic analyst to produce conclusive results regarding the
integrity of any sensitive data on the device. This research thesis expands on the
use of forensics to secure data by implementing an agent on a mobile device that can
continually collect information regarding the state of the device. This information is
then sent to a separate server in the form of log files to be analyzed using a specialized
tool. The analysis tool is able to look at the data collected from the device over time
and perform specific calculations, according to the user's specifications, highlighting
any correlations or anomalies among the data which might be considered suspicious
to a forensic analyst. The contribution of this paper is both an in-depth explanation
on the implementation of an iOS application to be used to improve the mobile forensics
process as well as a proof-of-concept experiment showing how evidence collected
over time can be used to improve the accuracy of a forensic analysis.
have begun to incorporate forensics to analyze their mobile devices and respond
to any incidents of malicious activity in order to protect their sensitive data. Current
forensic tools, however, can only look a static image of the device being examined,
making it difficult for a forensic analyst to produce conclusive results regarding the
integrity of any sensitive data on the device. This research thesis expands on the
use of forensics to secure data by implementing an agent on a mobile device that can
continually collect information regarding the state of the device. This information is
then sent to a separate server in the form of log files to be analyzed using a specialized
tool. The analysis tool is able to look at the data collected from the device over time
and perform specific calculations, according to the user's specifications, highlighting
any correlations or anomalies among the data which might be considered suspicious
to a forensic analyst. The contribution of this paper is both an in-depth explanation
on the implementation of an iOS application to be used to improve the mobile forensics
process as well as a proof-of-concept experiment showing how evidence collected
over time can be used to improve the accuracy of a forensic analysis.
ContributorsWhitaker, Jeremy (Author) / Ahn, Gail-Joon (Thesis advisor) / Doupe, Adam (Committee member) / Yau, Stephen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Rapid growth of internet and connected devices ranging from cloud systems to internet of things have raised critical concerns for securing these systems. In the recent past, security attacks on different kinds of devices have evolved in terms of complexity and diversity. One of the challenges is establishing secure communication in the network among various devices and systems. Despite being protected with authentication and encryption, the network still needs to be protected against cyber-attacks. For this, the network traffic has to be closely monitored and should detect anomalies and intrusions. Intrusion detection can be categorized as a network traffic classification problem in machine learning. Existing network traffic classification methods require a lot of training and data preprocessing, and this problem is more serious if the dataset size is huge. In addition, the machine learning and deep learning methods that have been used so far were trained on datasets that contain obsolete attacks. In this thesis, these problems are addressed by using ensemble methods applied on an up to date network attacks dataset. Ensemble methods use multiple learning algorithms to get better classification accuracy that could be obtained when the corresponding learning algorithm is applied alone. This dataset for network traffic classification has recent attack scenarios and contains over fifteen attacks. This approach shows that ensemble methods can be used to classify network traffic and detect intrusions with less training times of the model, and lesser pre-processing without feature selection. In addition, this thesis also shows that only with less than ten percent of the total features of input dataset will lead to similar accuracy that is achieved on whole dataset. This can heavily reduce the training times and classification duration in real-time scenarios.
ContributorsPonneganti, Ramu (Author) / Yau, Stephen (Thesis advisor) / Richa, Andrea (Committee member) / Yang, Yezhou (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
The advertising agency, in its variety of forms, is one of the most powerful forces in the modern world. Its products are seen globally through various multimedia outlets and they strongly impact culture and economy. Since its conception in 1843 by Volney Palmer, the advertising agency has evolved into the recognizable—and unrecognizable—firms scattered around the world today. In the United States alone, there are roughly 13.4 thousand agencies, many of which also have branches in other countries. The evolution of the modern advertising agency coincided with, and even preceded, some of the major inflection points in history. Understanding how and why changes in advertising agencies affected these inflection points provides a glimpse of understanding into the relationship between advertising, business, and societal values.
In the pages ahead we will explore the future of the advertising industry. We will analyze our research to uncover the underlying trends pointing towards what is to come and work to apply those explanations to our understanding of advertising in the future.
In the pages ahead we will explore the future of the advertising industry. We will analyze our research to uncover the underlying trends pointing towards what is to come and work to apply those explanations to our understanding of advertising in the future.
ContributorsHarris, Chase (Co-author) / Potthoff, Zachary (Co-author) / Gray, Nancy (Thesis director) / Samper, Adriana (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The town of Guadalupe, Arizona has a long history of divided residents and high poverty rates. The high levels of poverty in the town can be attributed to numerous factors, most notably high rates of drug abuse, low high school graduation rates, and teen pregnancy. The town has named one of its most pressing issues of today to be youth disengagement. There are currently a handful of residents and community members passionate about finding a solution to this issue. After working with Guadalupe's Ending Hunger Task Force and resident youth, I set out to create a program design for a Guadalupe Youth Council. This council will contribute to combating youth disengagement. The program design will assist the task force in creating a standing youth council and deciding on the structure and role the council has in the town. I will offer learning outcomes and suggestions to the Task Force, youth council staff, and the youth of the youth council. This study contains an analysis of relevant literature, youth focus group results and data, and how the information gathered has contributed to the design of the youth council. The results of this study contain recommendations about four themes within the program design of a youth council: size, recruitment, activities and engagement, and adult support. The results also explore how the youth council will impact the power, policy, and behavior of Guadalupe youth.
ContributorsBalderas, Erica Theresa (Author) / Wang, Lili (Thesis director) / Avalos, Francisco (Committee member) / School of Community Resources and Development (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This thesis project was conducted to create a practical tool to help micro and small local food enterprises identify potential strategies and sources of finance. Currently, many of these enterprises are unable to obtain the financial capital needed to start-up or maintain operations.
Sources and strategies of finance studied and ultimately included in the tool were Loans, Equity, Membership, Crowdfunding, and Grants. The tool designed was a matrix that takes into account various criteria of the business (e.g. business lifecycle, organizational structure, business performance) and generates a financial plan based on these criteria and how they align with the selected business strategies. After strategies are found, stakeholders can search through an institutional database created in conjunction with the matrix tool to find possible institutional providers of financing that relate to the strategy or strategies found.
The tool has shown promise in identifying sources of finance for micro and small local food enterprises in practical use with hypothetical business cases, however further practical use is necessary to provide further input and revise the tool as needed. Ultimately, the tool will likely become fully user-friendly and stakeholders will not need the assistance of another expert helping them to use it. Finally, despite the promise of the tool itself, the fundamental and underlying problem that many of these businesses face (lack of infrastructure and knowledge) still exists, and while this tool can also help capacity-building efforts towards both those seeking and those providing finance, an institutional attitude adjustment towards social and alternative enterprises is necessary in order to further simplify the process of obtaining finance.
Sources and strategies of finance studied and ultimately included in the tool were Loans, Equity, Membership, Crowdfunding, and Grants. The tool designed was a matrix that takes into account various criteria of the business (e.g. business lifecycle, organizational structure, business performance) and generates a financial plan based on these criteria and how they align with the selected business strategies. After strategies are found, stakeholders can search through an institutional database created in conjunction with the matrix tool to find possible institutional providers of financing that relate to the strategy or strategies found.
The tool has shown promise in identifying sources of finance for micro and small local food enterprises in practical use with hypothetical business cases, however further practical use is necessary to provide further input and revise the tool as needed. Ultimately, the tool will likely become fully user-friendly and stakeholders will not need the assistance of another expert helping them to use it. Finally, despite the promise of the tool itself, the fundamental and underlying problem that many of these businesses face (lack of infrastructure and knowledge) still exists, and while this tool can also help capacity-building efforts towards both those seeking and those providing finance, an institutional attitude adjustment towards social and alternative enterprises is necessary in order to further simplify the process of obtaining finance.
ContributorsDwyer, Robert Francis (Author) / Wiek, Arnim (Thesis director) / Forrest, Nigel (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
RecyclePlus is an iOS mobile application that allows users to be knowledgeable in the realms of sustainability. It gives encourages users to be environmental responsible by providing them access to recycling information. In particular, it allows users to search up certain materials and learn about its recyclability and how to properly dispose of the material. Some searches will show locations of facilities near users that collect certain materials and dispose of the materials properly. This is a full stack software project that explores open source software and APIs, UI/UX design, and iOS development.
ContributorsTran, Nikki (Author) / Ganesh, Tirupalavanam (Thesis director) / Meuth, Ryan (Committee member) / Watts College of Public Service & Community Solut (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
In the past ten years, the United States’ sound recording industries have experienced significant decreases in employment opportunities for aspiring audio engineers from economic imbalances in the music industry’s digital streaming era and reductions in government funding for career and technical education (CTE). The Recording Industry Association of America reports promises of music industry sustainability based on increasing annual revenues in paid streaming services and artists’ high creative demand. The rate of new audio engineer entries in the sound recording subsection of the music industry is not viable to support streaming artists’ high demand to engineer new music recordings. Offering CTE programs in secondary education is rare for aspiring engineers with insufficient accessibility to pursue a post-secondary or vocational education because of financial and academic limitations. These aspiring engineers seek alternatives for receiving an informal education in audio engineering on the Internet using video sharing services like YouTube to search for tutorials and improve their engineering skills. The shortage of accessible educational materials on the Internet restricts engineers from advancing their own audio engineering education, reducing opportunities to enter a desperate job market in need of independent, home studio-based engineers. Content creators on YouTube take advantage of this situation and commercialize their own video tutorial series for free and selling paid subscriptions to exclusive content. This is misleading for newer engineers because these tutorials omit important understandings of fundamental engineering concepts. Instead, content creators teach inflexible engineering methodologies that are mostly beneficial to their own way of thinking. Content creators do not often assess the incompatibility of teaching their own methodologies to potential entrants in a profession that demands critical thinking skills requiring applied fundamental audio engineering concepts and techniques. This project analyzes potential solutions to resolve the deficiencies in online audio engineering education and experiments with structuring simple, deliverable, accessible educational content and materials to new entries in audio engineering. Designing clear, easy to follow material to these new entries in audio engineering is essential for developing a strong understanding for the application of fundamental concepts in future engineers’ careers. Approaches to creating and designing educational content requires translating complex engineering concepts through simplified mediums that reduce limitations in learning for future audio engineers.
ContributorsBurns, Triston Connor (Author) / Tobias, Evan (Thesis director) / Libman, Jeff (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This paper looks at the growth of influencer marketing in application and how it has shifted the relationship between brands and consumers. Barriers to enter the space and methods of practice are discussed and analyzed to project the accessibility of obtaining influencer status. Best practices for brands and influencers are outlined based on research, and key findings are analyzed from interviewed participants that play an active role in the field. Another component of the paper includes the discussion of the significance of platform dependence regarding influencers and brands using social media channels to reach consumers. The dynamic of the relationship that exists between consumers, brands and platforms is demonstrated through a model to demonstrate the interdependence of the relationship. The final component of the paper involves the exploration of the field as an active participant through an experiment that was conducted by the researcher on behalf of the question: can anyone be an influencer? The answer to this question is explored through personal accounts on the journey during an eight month process of testing content creation and promotion to build awareness and increase engagement. The barriers to enter the space as an influencer and to collaborate with brands is addressed through the process of testing tactics and strategies on social channels, along with travel expeditions across Arizona to contribute to content creation purposed into blog articles. The findings throughout the paper are conclusive that the value of influencer marketing is increasing as more brands validate and utilize this method in their marketing efforts.
ContributorsDavis, Natalie Marie (Author) / Giles, Bret (Thesis director) / Schlacter, John (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05