International Conference on Systems ICONS 2006 April 27-29, 2006 - Mauritius

Tutorials

Tutorial 1:

Security Issues in Computer Networks

Dr. Indranil Sen Gupta, Indian Institute of Technology, INDIA

Abstract:

Security issues in computer networks have become one of the most important areas of research with the fantastic proliferation of Internet, and the emergence of a series on sensitive on-line applications. Hiding sensitive transactions from intruders as well as providing a reliable means for authenticating oneself is a very important area of research. The proposed tutorial will provide an overview of the security technologies that have been proposed by researchers over the years, with particular focus on those that have been in popular use. Topics like conventional private-key cryptography, authentication, public key cryptography, digital certificates, steganography, etc. would be covered. Some of the popular security protocols used in common Internet applications would also be discussed, like Kerberos, pretty good privacy (PGP), IP security (IPSec) and secure socket layer (SSL). In the final part of the tutorial, various topics related to intrusion detection and system security would be discussed. Specifically, practical techniques of intrusion detection and prevention in an enterprise network, firewall systems, computer viruses, OS security, etc. would be discussed.

Biography

Dr. Indranil Sengupta has obtained his B.Tech., M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Calcutta, India. He joined Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, as a faculty member in 1988, in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, where he is presently a Full Professor. He has over 20 years of teaching and research experience, and has more than 100 publications in different areas of computer science and engineering, including cryptography and network security. He has served as the Associate Head of the Computer and Informatics Center from February 1998 to August 2002, and has been responsible for planning, procuring, deploying and day-to-day running of one of the largest network infrastructures in Asia, comprising of a state-of-the-art Gigabit Ethernet backbone and over 5000 computing nodes spread over a campus of about 5 square kilometers in area. Many security features, some commercially procured and some developed inhouse, have been deployed in the Institute LAN to protect against both external as well as internal hacking attempts. He is the primary investigator of several security related projects funded by the Government of India, Indian Space Research Organization, and the Defense. His research interests include computer networks and Internet applications, cryptography and network security, VLSI design and testing. He is the General Chair for the Asian Test Symposium 2005, being held in Calcutta during December 2005 (http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/ats05/).

Tutorial 2:

Integration of IP with Optical Fiber Networks Through Optical Burst Switching

Mário M. Freire, University of Beira Interior, Portugal

Abstract:In this half-day tutorial, we will review the evolution of optical networks towards the optical Internet, namely first- and second-generation optical networks and the global optical Ethernet. We will also present an overview of optical switching paradigms and technologies in the transition scenario from IPv4 to IPv6. Network architectures for next generation optical Internet networks will be discussed with special focus on the integration of IP over optical networks with optical burst switching (OBS). IPv4/IPv6-compliant burst assembly algorithms will be analyzed and discussed and an assessment of their relative performance will be presented. Special attention will also be paid to resource reservation protocols in OBS networks and contention resolution. Most important one-way resource reservation protocols will be presented and their relative performance will be analyzed. Performance assessment of OBS networks will be discussed for the most important topologies (e.g. NSFNET and EON). Recent technological developments and future trends will also be discussed.

Biography: Mário Freire is an Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics of the University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal, where he is the Head of the Department and the Director of the M. Sc. Programme in Informatics Engineering. He is also the leader of the Networks and Multimedia Computing Group at his Department. His main research interests include: Optical Internet, high speed networks, network security, and web technologies and applications. He has been the editor of two books and has authored or co-authored over 90 papers in international refereed journals and conferences. He is member of the EU IST FP6 Network of Excellence EuroNGI (Design and Engineering of the Next Generation Internet). He is or was a member of Technical Program Committee of several IEEE and IASTED conferences. He was the General Chair of HSNMC'2003, co-chair of ECUMN'2004, Program chair of ICN 2005, and TPC Co-chair of ICIW 2006. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and he is a member of IEEE Computer Society and IEEE Communications Society, a member of the ACM SIGCOMM and ACM SIGSAC, and a member of the Internet Society. He is also the Chair of the IEEE Portugal Section - Computer Society Chapter.

Tutorial 3:

Usability of Mobile Devices and Designing for Mobile Learning

Mohamed Ally, Marguerite Koole, Rory McGreal, Athabasca University, Canada

Abstract: This workshop will be facilitated by three experts in the field of mobile learning.  Firstly, workshop participants will be shown examples of mobile devices so that they can relate to the mobile devices throughout the workshop.  This will be followed by a description of the usability of the different types of mobile devices.  Knowing the usability of the different mobile devices will give workshop participants the knowledge to select the most appropriate device for their mobile learning application.  Finally, guidelines on how to design learning materials for mobile devices will be presented.  The design guidelines presented will be supported by learning theories.  By the end of the workshop, participants will gain the knowledge to select the most appropriate mobile device and to design learning materials for mobile learning.

Biography:

Dr. Ally is an Associate Professor at Athabasca University. He has presented many papers and facilitated many workshops.

Marguerite Koole is an Instructional Media Analyst for the department of Educational Media Development at Athabasca University. Her position involves the design and enhancement of courses for online delivery for the School for Computing and Information Systems as well as the Centre for Work and Community Studies. Marguerite is currently finishing off her Master of Distance Education (MDE). Her thesis focuses on mobile learning theory and mobile device evaluation.

Dr. McGreal is AVP Research at Athabasca University. Previously, he was executive director of TeleEducation NB, a province-wide bilingual distributed distance learning network. Before that, he was responsible for the expansion of Contact North (a distance education network in Northern Ontario) into the high schools of the region.  His Ph.D. degree (1999) in Computer Technology in Education at Nova Southeastern University’s School for Computer and Information Science was taken at a distance using the Internet.