Search Results (18)

The number of devices connected within organisational networks through ”Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) initiatives has steadily increased. BYOD security risks have resulted in significant privacy and security issues impacting organisational security. Many researchers have reviewed security and privacy issues in BYOD policies. However, not all of them have fully investigated security and privacy requirements. In addition to describing a system’s capabilities and functions, these requirements also reflect the system’s ability to eliminate various threats. This paper aims to conduct a comprehensive review of privacy and security criteria in BYOD security policies, as well as the various technical policy methods used to mitigate these threats, to identify future research opportunities. This study reviews existing research and highlights the following points: (1) classification of privacy and security requirements in the context of BYOD policies; (2) comprehensive analyses of proposed state-of-the-art security policy technologies based on three layers of security BYOD policies, followed by analyses of these technologies in terms of the privacy requirements they satisfy; (3) technological trends; (4) measures employed to assess the efficacy of techniques to enhance privacy and security; and (5) future research in the area of BYOD security and privacy. Full article

Organisations are adopting new IT strategies such as “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) and remote working. These trends are highly beneficial both for enterprise owners and employees in terms of increased productivity and reduced costs. However, security issues such as unauthorised access as well as privacy concerns pose significant obstacles. These can be overcome by adopting access control techniques and a dynamic security and privacy policy that governs these issues where they arise. Policy decision points in traditional access control systems, such as role-based access control (RBAC), attribute-based access control (ABAC), or relationship-based access control (ReBAC), may be limited because the status of access control can vary in response to minor changes in user and resource properties. As a result, system administrators rely on a solution for constructing complex rules with many conditions and permissions for decision control. This results in access control issues, including policy conflicts, decision-making bottlenecks, delayed access response times and mediocre performance. This paper proposes a policy decision-making and access control-based supervised learning algorithm. The algorithm enhances policy decision points (PDPs). This is achieved by transforming the PDP’s problem into a binary classification for security access control that either grants or denies access requests. Also, a vector decision classifier based on the supervised machine learning algorithm is developed to generate an accurate, effective, distributed and dynamic policy decision point (PDP). Performance was evaluated using the Kaggle-Amazon access control policy dataset, which compared the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism to previous research benchmarks in terms of performance, time and flexibility. The proposed solution obtains a high level of privacy for access control policies because the PDP does not communicate directly with the policy administration point (PAP). In conclusion, PDP-based ML generates accurate decisions and can simultaneously fulfill multiple massive policies and huge access requests with 95% Accuracy in a short response time of around 0.15 s without policy conflicts. Access control security is improved by making it dynamic, adaptable, flexible and distributed. Full article

To address a business need, most organizations allow employees to use their own devices to enhance productivity and job satisfaction. For this purpose, the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy provides controllable access for employees to organize data through their personal devices. Although the BYOD practice implies plenty of advantages, this also opens the door to a variety of security risks. This study investigates these security risks and proposes a complementary encryption approach with a digital signature that uses symmetric and asymmetric algorithms, depending on the organization’s digital certificate, to secure sensitive information stored in employees’ devices within the framework of BYOD policies. The method uses Advanced Encryption System (AES), Blowfish, RSA and ElGamal with a digital signature to achieve strong encryption and address critical security considerations such as user authentication, confidentiality and data integrity. The proposed encryption approach offers a robust and effective cryptographic solution for securing sensitive information in organizational settings that involve BYOD policies. The study includes experimental results demonstrating the proposed approach’s efficiency and performance, with reasonable encryption and decryption times for different key and file sizes. The results of the study revealed that AES and Blowfish have the best execution time. AES has a good balance of security and performance. RSA performs better than ElGamal in encryption and signature verification, while RSA is slower than ElGamal in decryption. The study also provides a comparative analysis with previous studies of the four encryption algorithms, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. Full article

Background and Objectives: Outcome data from wearable devices are increasingly used in both research and clinics. Traditionally, a dedicated device is chosen for a given study or clinical application to collect outcome data as soon as the patient is included in a study or undergoes a procedure. The current study introduces a new measurement strategy, whereby patients’ own devices are utilized, allowing for both a pre-injury baseline measure and ability to show achievable results. Materials and Methods: Patients with a pre-existing musculoskeletal injury of the upper and lower extremity were included in this exploratory, proof-of-concept study. They were followed up for a minimum of 6 weeks after injury, and their wearable outcome data (from a smartphone and/or a body-worn sensor) were continuously acquired during this period. A descriptive analysis of the screening characteristics and the observed and achievable outcome patterns was performed. Results: A total of 432 patients was continuously screened for the study, and their screening was analyzed. The highest success rate for successful inclusion was in younger patients. Forty-eight patients were included in the analysis. The most prevalent outcome was step count. Three distinctive activity data patterns were observed: patients recovering, patients with slow or no recovery, and patients needing additional measures to determine treatment outcomes. Conclusions: Measuring outcomes in trauma patients with the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategy is feasible. With this approach, patients were able to provide continuous activity data without any dedicated equipment given to them. The measurement technique is especially suited to particular patient groups. Our study’s screening log and inclusion characteristics can help inform future studies wishing to employ the BYOD design. Full article

In recent years, desktop computer use has decreased while smartphone use has increased. This trend is also prevalent in the Middle East, particularly in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Therefore, the Saudi government has prioritised overcoming the challenges that smartphone users face as smartphones are considered critical infrastructure. The high number of information security (InfoSec) breaches and concerns has prompted most government stakeholders to develop comprehensive policies and regulations that introduce inclusive InfoSec systems. This has, mostly, been motivated by a keenness to adopt digital transformations and increase productivity while spending efficiently. This present study used quantitative measures to assess user acceptance of bring your own device (BYOD) programmes and identifies the main factors affecting their adoption using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model. Constructs, such as the perceived business (PT-Bs) and private threats (PT-Ps) as well as employer attractiveness (EA), were also added to the UTAUT model to provide the public, private, and non-profit sectors with an acceptable method of adopting BYOD programmes. The factors affecting the adoption of BYOD programmes by the studied sectors of the KSA were derived from the responses of 857 participants. Full article

Although mobile devices support physicians in a variety of ways in everyday clinical practice, the use of (personal) mobile devices poses potential risks for information security, data protection, and patient safety in hospitals. We used a cross-sectional survey-based study design to assess the current state of smartphone use among resident physicians in hospitals and to investigate the relationships between working conditions, current smartphone usage patterns, and security-related behavior. In total, data from 343 participating physicians could be analyzed. A large majority (98.3%) used their smartphones during clinical practice. Of the respondents who used a smartphone during clinical practice, only 4.5% were provided with a smartphone by their employer. Approximately three-quarters of the respondents who used their smartphones for professional communication never/almost never used dedicated GDPR-compliant messenger services. Using a hierarchical regression model, we found a significant effect of the organizational resources Social Support (Supervisor) and Information Security-related Communication on security-related behavior during the selection of medical apps (App Selection). Smartphones are an important part of digital support for physicians in everyday clinical practice. To minimize the risks of use, technical and organizational measures should be taken by the hospital management, resulting, for example, in a Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) initiative. Full article

Over the past three decades, the Technology Acceptance model (TAM) has garnered considerable attention in higher education. COVID-19 boosted the development of TAM as multiple studies were rapidly undertaken during the pandemic. This, however, created a gap in our current understanding of the directions and trends of TAM advancement. The purpose of this study is to obtain insight into the advancement of TAM throughout the pandemic. It would assist researchers in comprehending the advancement and direction of TAM studies in higher education, such as gaining an understanding of the prevalent external variables for TAM, the statistical analysis employed, research methodologies, the technologies studied, and the geographic location of the research conducted. Finally, research gaps and future directions for TAM studies are presented. A systematic review utilizing PRISMA was conducted on 104 sampled publications. It was found that self-efficacy, subjective norms, experience, and enjoyment were the external variables most frequently used in TAM, while internal motivation received minimal attention. The existing studies have focused mainly on student samples, so further investigation is needed into lecturers, higher education personnel, and mixed groups. Further study is also required on qualitative and mixed methods, with the partial least square structural equation model currently dominating statistical analysis. Future technologies such as 5G, AI, cloud computing, augmented reality, virtual reality, and BYOD represent new TAM-related research gaps. The majority of studies have been undertaken in Asian countries, such as China and those in southeast Asia. This new systematic literature review provides insight into the trend of TAM advancement in the sustainability of higher education during the pandemic, the identified research gaps, and recommendations for future research directions. These findings also serve as a reference for future research by enhancing the foundation established by previous reviews and research on TAM, thereby facilitating the model’s ongoing expansion. Full article

BYOD is defined as the act of bringing your own gadget, facilities, or device to the organization or institution. The concept of BYOD has spread almost to many sectors, especially in education, due to a shortage of financial resources in the aftermath of the Novel Coronavirus 2019 pandemic. BYOD is a helpful concept in face-to-face education by giving the needy access to adequate resources. However, most of the time, students especially in higher learning institutions, are having a problem accessing adequate resources and facilities standards that may influence their productivity, performance, and perceived benefits. Moreover, the inadequacy of standardized facilities and requirements may also deprive the students of necessary productivity standards. Furthermore, the pandemic of Novel Coronavirus 2019 has transformed the current workplace practices, changing the work-life environment and warranting further exploration. Therefore, the purpose of this study is twofold; first, to identify user behavior intention to adopt BYOD, and second, to propose a conceptual model of BYOD underlying the interrelationship between BYOD antecedents and productivity. A structured literature review methodology was adopted, and a conceptual model was developed for further exploration of the topic. The contribution of this paper is as follows; first, this study identifies the antecedents of behavioral intention to adopt BYOD in the aftermath of the Novel Coronavirus 2019. Second, this study proposes a conceptual model underlying the relationship between BYOD antecedent, behavioral intention to adopt BYOD, and its impact in terms of productivity. Full article

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 has transformed how individuals work and learn and how they can apply cyber-security requirements in their, mostly remote, environments. This transformation also affected the university student population; some needed to adjust to new remote work settings, and all needed to adjust to the new remote study environment. In this online research study, we surveyed a large number of university students (n = 798) to understand their expectations in terms of support and help for this new remote work and study environment. We also asked students to report on their practices regarding remote location and Wi-Fi security settings, smart home device usage, BYOD (bring your own device) and personal device usage and social engineering threats, which can all lead to compromised security. A key aspect of our work is a comparison between the practices of students having work experience with the practices of students having no such additional experience. We identified that both the expectations and the level of cyber-security awareness differ significantly between the two student populations and that cyber-security awareness is increased by work experience. Work experience students are more aware of the cyber-security risks associated with a remote environment, and a higher portion of them know the dedicated employee whom they can contact in the event of incidents. We present the organizational security practices through the lens of employees with initial work experience, contributing to a topic that has so far received only limited attention from researchers. We provide recommendations for remote study settings and also for remote work environments, especially where the existing research literature survey results differ from the findings of our survey. Full article

The prevalence and maturity of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) security along with subsequent frameworks and security mechanisms in Australian organisations is a growing phenomenon somewhat similar to other developed nations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, even organisations that were previously reluctant to embrace BYOD have been forced to accept it to facilitate remote work. The aim of this paper is to discover, through a study conducted using a survey questionnaire instrument, how employees practice and perceive the BYOD security mechanisms deployed by Australian businesses which can help guide the development of future BYOD security frameworks. Three research questions are answered by this study: What levels of awareness do Australian businesses have for BYOD security aspects? How are employees currently responding to the security mechanisms applied by their organisations for mobile devices? What are the potential weaknesses in businesses’ IT networks that have a direct effect on BYOD security? Overall, the aim of this research is to illuminate the findings of these research objectives so that they can be used as a basis for building new and strengthening existing BYOD security frameworks in order to enhance their effectiveness against an ever-growing list of attacks and threats targeting mobile devices in a virtually driven work force. Full article

The continuous rise in food scarcity is creating an alarming situation in underdeveloped countries and Pakistan is no exception. According to the Global Hunger Report published in 2020, Pakistan was ranked 88th among 107 countries, with 28.5% of the population under-nourished. To address the situation, food resources need to be more effectively utilized. To reduce food wastage, various efforts have been made to identify the issues associated with the lack of adoption of food wastage mobile application(s). Using purposeful sampling and data from 150 respondents collected from a public sector university and a software house, participants’ experience in using selected food wastage mobile applications were evaluated. In terms of usability parameters, the study proposes improvements in the prototype design. Full article

The aim of this investigation was to explore student behaviour when students brought their own digital devices into a lecture theatre. A total of 361 undergraduate psychology students from the University of Liverpool who used at least one digital device during lecture time fully completed an online questionnaire (159 first-, 124 second- and 78 third-year psychology students) during the 2018–2019 academic year. Although all the three years of undergraduate students brought laptops and/or smartphones into a lecture theatre, there was no significant difference in academic performance over the years of studies. The findings have linked student multitasking processes in a lecture theatre to Social Cognitive Theory principles (reciprocal interactions between behaviours, learning environment, and individuals). There was a significant difference between the three years regarding the use of applications and student characteristics after controlling for the different types of devices. Students who used only one application during lecture time were more likely to achieve higher academic performance as they were less distracted from their primary tasks of processing and retaining information. Overall, this investigation concluded the importance of reconsidering the teaching delivery process so as to avoid students’ escapism using devices during lecture theatres due to their engagement level and lecture norm pressures. Full article

As Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy has become widely accepted in the enterprise, anyone with a mobile device that supports Wi-Fi tethering can provide an active wireless Internet connection to other devices without restriction from network administrators. Despite the potential benefits of Wi-Fi tethering, it raises new security issues. The open source nature of mobile operating systems (e.g., Google Android or OpenWrt) can be easily manipulated by selfish users to provide an unfair advantage throughput performance to their tethered devices. The unauthorized tethering can interfere with nearby well-planned access points (APs) within Wi-Fi networks, which results in serious performance problems. In this paper, we first conduct an extensive evaluation study and demonstrate that the abuse of Wi-Fi tethering that adjusts the clear channel access parameters has strong adverse effects in Wi-Fi networks, while providing the manipulated device a high throughput gain. Subsequently, an online detection scheme diagnoses the network condition and detects selfish tethering devices by passively exploiting the packet loss information of on-going transmissions. Our evaluation results show that the proposed method accurately distinguishes the manipulated tethering behavior from other types of misbehavior, including the hidden node problem. Full article

Higher education is changing, and a new normal is coming. Students are even more demanding, and professors need to follow the evolution of technology and try to increase student engagement in the classrooms (presential or virtual). Higher education students recognise that the introduction of new tools and learning methods can improve the teaching quality and increase the motivation to learn. Regarding a question about which type of classes students preferred, ninety-one point ninety-nine per cent (91.99%) of the students wanted interactive classes over traditional. Having this concern in mind over the past years, a professor explored a set of methods, strategies and tools and designed a new and innovative paradigm using gamification. This approach is denominated TechTeach and explores a set of trending concepts and interactive tools to teach computer science subjects. It was designed to run in a B-learning environment. The paradigm uses flipped classrooms, bring your own device (BYOD), gamification, training of soft-skills and quizzes and surveys to increase the student’s engagement and provide the best learning environment to students. Currently, COVID-19 is bringing about new challenges, and TechTeach was improved in order to be more suitable for this new way of teaching (from 0% to 100% online classes). This article details this method and shows how it can be applied in a real environment. A case study was used to prove the functionality and relevance of this approach, and the achieved results are motivating. During the semester, more than a hundred students experienced this new way of teaching and assessment. In the end, more than eighty-one per cent (81%) of the students gave a positive grade to the approach, and more than ninety-five per cent (95.65%) of the students approved the use of the concept of BYOD in the classroom. With TechTeach, the classroom is not a boring place anymore; it is a place to learn and enjoy regardless of being physical or not. Full article

Quite often, organizations are confronted with the burden of managing mobile device assets, requiring control over installed applications, security, usage profiles or customization options. From this perspective, the emergence of the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend has aggravated the situation, making it difficult to achieve an adequate balance between corporate regulations, freedom of usage and device heterogeneity. Moreover, device and information protection on mobile ecosystems are quite different from securing other device assets such as laptops or desktops, due to their specific characteristics and limitations—quite often, the resource overhead associated with specific security mechanisms is more important for mobile devices than conventional computing platforms, as the former frequently have comparatively less computing capabilities and more strict power management policies. This paper presents an intrusion and anomaly detection framework specifically designed for managed mobile device ecosystems, that is able to integrate into mobile device and management frameworks for complementing conventional intrusion detection systems. In addition to presenting the reference architecture for the proposed framework, several implementation aspects are also analyzed, based on the lessons learned from developing a proof-of-concept prototype that was used for validation purposes. Full article