Insecure IoT Devices

With the advancement of various hardware and software technologies, there are more and more IoT devices, which leads to an insecure environment. As millions of devices are connected, it creates a larger attack surface, which increases the opportunities for attackers. Both software and hardware attacks are increasing day by day. A single vulnerability can harm the entire network and also harm the society. There are many open source tools available for hackers and attackers. Even though many Anti-Forensics tools and techniques are available which help the intruder to protect themselves from future investigations. Even though the use of Anti Forensic tools and techniques is illegal, we need to ensure that the strict laws against the use of forensic tools are followed.

Vulnerable IoT Devices

Imagine a situation where there is a vulnerability in software used by millions of smartphone users. There are a number of reasons for vulnerabilities in IOT devices that make them insecure. They can be software, hardware or network vulnerabilities. There are also some other reasons for vulnerability in IoT devices. Some of them are listed below: –

• Weak Password Protection
• Lack of Patch Management
• Insecure interfaces
• Poor IoT Device Management
• Lack of skilled personnel
• Hardware malfunctions
• Human ethical issues

Opportunities provided by Vulnerable Devices

These insecure devices allow cyber criminals to hijack (gain access to) the devices and launch further attacks on other systems. Example: After gaining access to a remote target system, the intruder next attempts to gather more network information, such as about other systems available on the network. To this end, the intruder may use the ‘nbtstat’ command to view the contents of the NetBIOS cache. In addition, the intruder can collect information about the network connections running to and from the victim system. To do this, the intruder can use the ‘netstat’ command. In this way, the intruder can hijack millions of devices through a single device and perform various attacks such as DoS and DDos attacks and also damage the entire network. There is no end to the malicious activities.

The more insecure devices, the more cyber-attacks.

Authored by.
Dr. Rama Bhatia Singh – 51±¬ĮĻ School of Engineering and Technology

Due to the current pandemic situation, the Inter-class Mocktail Competition was rescheduled, which made me sad, but I am grateful that Mr. Clarence Lua saw the potential in me and I was selected to participated in the eNational Cocktail Competition organized by the Association of Bartenders and Sommelier, in which I am required to submit a 2-minute video. We had to come by Tropical Breeze Training Restaurant to practice for a few sessions before the actual recording by the School of Media and Communication.

Since I work as a part-time Floor Manager at McDonald’s and have submitted my monthly schedule, I have to manage my work and practice sessions; it was exhausting for me, but the end results were worth it. I kept practicing and reviewing my videos, despite the fact that the side of my hands were sore from hitting the shaker! There were many last-minute changes made prior to the recording day, and I was pessimistic, which affected my mood during practice. But my teammates were always encouraging one another, and my friends helped lift my spirits. Finally, it was D-day! We had to record it several times before it was perfect, but the end result was fruitful.

My encouragement to all who inspire to be a bartender or desire or to take part in any bar competition: –

ā€œStay dedicated. Be persistent. Remain positive. Dream big and conquer all you want.ā€

Thank you students and staff for your time, effort and finesse in making this possible.

Thank you all for being such a good sport!

Below are the list of participants.

Rose among the thorns? And so, who is Mighty?

In the end, we made Mighty do star jumps throughout the filming…find out why in the next issue of Horizons.

Google: “Why do crew members wear black?”

The 51±¬ĮĻ neon lights were turned on but we couldn’t get it on film, what a pity though.

The first workshop  was on wine appreciation, conducted by Mr Daryl Saw on 30 March 2021 at Tropical Breeze. He explained the process of using our 5 senses for wine appreciation. The 5 ā€™Sā€™ are Sight, Swirl, Smell, Sip and Swallow. On top of that, he also explained the notes based on the colour and density of the wine (Sight/Swirl), types of fruits and herbs found in the wine (Smell), taste of the wine (Sip), alcoholic strength and the wine finish (Swallow). Mr Daryl Saw also talked about the duration that the wine stays on our palate and the value of the wine.

Our students discussed in their groups on the red wine and each representative shared their tasting notes. This workshop truly marries the theoretical part of wine tasting and the ā€˜liveā€™ wine appreciation, providing the students with an all-rounded experience.

MONIN WORKSHOP

The second workshop was conducted on 20 April 2021 by Ms Fiona Tan from Monin Pte Ltd. She talked about the current trends of consumer preference for mocktails. During the workshop, Ms Fiona Tan he concocted a mocktail that is inspired by our local dessert, Chendol.. The ingredients are Monin Pandan syrup, Strawberry syrup. Coffee syrup, Oat milk, sago, green jelly and topped off with crushed ice.

Students were given the opportunity to create their own mocktails during the workshop and each of them shared their creation and the inspiration behind it.

At the end of the Monin Workshop, Ms Fiona Tan presented a certificate of participation to our students.

Mr Isaac also presented a token of appreciation to Ms Fiona Tan and Mr Sam Tan for the enriching experience brought to our students.

Look out for our next workshop coming up soon in July, cheers!

Data is ā€œRaw Facts and figuresā€ whereas Information is ā€œProcessed Dataā€. Data is the biggest asset for every organisation, hence its security is one of most important and aspect for them.

Security Metrics

Metrics are required to better understand your data.

Various Security Metrics are developed by security professionals to achieve the objective such as:

• Risk Metrices
• Security Vulnerability and incident statistics
• Annual Loss Expectancy
• Return on Investment
• Total Cost of Ownership.

Although these metrices are accepted by various industries, still these metrices hold some disadvantages such as unreliable data processing. Industries are still looking for some good security metrices to fulfill their requirements.

Industries Experience

Industries like insurance, manufacturing and design teach us the importance of data and its security.

Insurance– Teaches us how important it is to collect, understand, and analyse data accurately and precisely, and their impact on our security metrics and other risk management exercises.

Manufacturing- Measurable and controlled processes always yield more positive results in terms of security.

Design- Successful measurement security programmes help to understand people as well as technology.[NS1] [72] 

Challenges

Challenges involved with these metrics are:

• Risk
• Cost
• Time
• People
• Measurement

Develop your own Metric

A successful metric programme will always look at how important the qualitative data is, security as a business process and the importance of people involved in the security process. Software Engineering teaches us the GQM (Global Question Metric Method) – one of the methods to develop our own metrices, it is a simple three-step process of developing a security metric. The first step is defining specific goals that the organisation expects to achieve. This will help the organisation to understand their business needs. The second step would be to convert the goals into well-formatted questions e.g. ā€œHow to achieve those goals?ā€ After that, the goal can begin at a data level and metrices can be assigned.

In conclusion, the better your metric programme, the better the outcomes will be.

Authored By ā€“

Dr. Rama Bhatia Singh ā€“ School of Engineering and Technology(51±¬ĮĻ Singapore)

In 2009, there was a concern about how higher education and research might look in the future. Will there be a move from national models to an adoption of global ones, as has been seen in many business schools already?

The effects of globalisation have been far-reaching. Around the world transformation is taking place drastically in all sectors. In Higher Education, globalisation covers international and collaboration between teaching and research, networking that is purpose-specific and generic; and global recruitment of teaching staff and students. We see mobility of students and faculty, institutions and programmes as higher education crosses borders. 

In the 1990ā€™s students could play low-resolution games on the standalone PCs in school.  Today students indulge in iPads, laptops at home as well as in school.  Face-to-face learning is replaced with tablet-based learning.  The art of writing is slowly dying, along with library research skills of going to the library and browsing the Encyclopaedia.  No school project is complete without browsing the internet.  The catch phrase for today is ā€œGoogle itā€.

In earlier days learning was nearly the same in schools worldwide. Students sat passively listening to the teacher, taking notes and doing their tests and exercises. Education today has gone beyond the confines of a classroom.   ā€œGeneration WiFiā€ was born, where the younger generation is brought up using technology, thus changing the way they learn. Education has moved from blended to hybrid and the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly disrupted schooling in the world. 

Covid-19 turned many cities into phantom cities and this effect was seen in schools, colleges, and universities too. From blended learning approach of synchronous and asynchronous learning and independent learning, now teaching and learning is in the virtual medium. 

The objective of this continuum is that by introducing Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to deliver a programme, learning in institutions have moved beyond traditional face-to-face traditional approach to an ā€˜E-intensiveā€™ approach.  Understanding the need of the situation, globally universities understood the dire need of the current situation and digitalised their operations.  In the midst of this chaos online learning emerged as a victor.

In the world, the need of the hour for many education systems became online learning. As educators had no choice but to adapt to online learning, the disdain for online learning diminished sharply.  This left teachers with little or no time to debate.  While some were more competent than others, it became mandatory for teachers to learn to operate the tools.  Nonetheless these competencies paved the way for pedagogical advancement giving teachers a better sense of what technological tools can do and cannot provide.   

Overall, as globalisation is a concept that is here to stay, it is continuously altering a world to which we have to adapt. Today the city has become a classroom whether you are in Singapore, UK, Denmark or the United States. 

With globalisation of education, teaching methods are now more interrelated and ubiquitous. As access to schools intensifies students are becoming increasingly prepared for multinational roles. This enables students with a more holistic understanding of how the global business scene works thereby encouraging their active participation in it.  In most cases the greatest impact on the development of a student is their capability to survive in this challenging environment, which might become for many of them the new university, workplace and the new city.

This article is contributed by Ms Margaret Pereira from the School of Languages and Education.

References:

Dhawan, S. 2020. Online Learning: A Panacea in the Time of COVID-19 Crisis

Driesen, G. 2016  ā€œWe shouldnā€™t force those students to learn the same wa we did 10 years agoā€  

Jones, N, Chew, E, Jones, C & Lau, A 2009, ‘Over the worst or at the eye of the storm?’, Education+ Training, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 6-22.

Midgley, J. 2007. “Perspectives on Globalization, Social Justice and Welfare,” The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 34 : Iss. 2, Article 3. Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol34/iss2/3

Ng, P.T., 2020. Timely change and timeless constants: COVID-19 and educational change in Singapore. Educational Research for Policy and Practice. doi:10.1007/s10671-020-09285-3

Papadopoulou, P. 2018. The Effects of Globalisation on Education. https://www.ool.co.uk/blog/the-effects-of-globalisation-on-education/

Rooijen, M.V. 2021. Higher Education and the ā€˜vision thingā€™: looking back ten years.  Global University Systems

1. “I’m not interesting enough.”

Most people ā€“ unless you’re a Kardashian ā€“ underestimate their ability to interest others. Alfred Hitchcock said, “Movies are just life with the boring bits left out”. Everyone has at least one great movie in them. The trick is to identify the bits to leave out. 

We all have at least one awful storytelling experience. You see people’s eyes glaze over; they’re looking over your shoulder to see if there’s anything else more interesting going on. Or, worse still, you are interrupted halfway through a story ā€“ and nobody asks you to finish it! We remember these experiences, and they negatively impact our storytelling confidence when it could simply be just the wrong story and/or time.

Most story failures are the result of the wrong intent:

• Story Intent 1: To share some insight or perspective from your experience that the listener(s) might find interesting
• Story Intent 2: To create a connector that allows you to talk about your achievement(s) or a clever retort you gave.

If you stick to the first one, you can be confident of avoiding the boring bits.

• “My story is not unique.”

The fact that others have had similar experiences does not make your story less unique. Instead, it will often make your story more vivid for them. Your originality comes from your unique viewpoint and your willingness to share.

• “This will hurt my professional image.”

Often, the best stories are about mistakes. Many professionals believe that it will tarnish their personal brand if they talk about their mistakes. On the contrary, it’s the opposite. Nowadays, people are more likely to trust those who are authentic and willing to accept their vulnerabilities. Any personal brand built on trust will survive the sharing of an anecdote.

Rather than presenting a ‘perfect’ story, I am more likely to trust someone who admits their mistakes and learns from them or helps me learn from them. When you are prepared to share the learning from your mistakes with me, you are giving me a great gift.

• “It’s too recent.”

While you might be more comfortable talking about a mistake you made ten years ago, it is more confronting to talk about the same experience if it only happened last week. This adds so much to a story’s credibility and the storyteller’s impression of confidence. In today’s fast-moving world, the more recent an event is, the more relevant it is. Only someone confident in themselves would be prepared to talk about a recent mistake.

I recently watched a video with a group of professionals, taken in 2016, featuring Kristen Pressner, Global HR Head of Roche Diagnostics. She talks about a mistake she made that made her aware of an unconscious bias against female employees. All of us agreed that her story was more compelling because it was more recent and enhanced Kristen’s image as a true professional.

Business communications today is laden with mundane marketing terms, slick slogans and forgettable one-liners; those who can communicate with credibility in a compelling way will create the cut-through that makes them stand out. Choose wisely, and your stories will make you more credible and confident. They will even improve your charisma.

Article contributed by Mr Kelvin Ryan, an Associate Trainer at the , 51±¬ĮĻ’ corporate training arm.

The 51±¬ĮĻ School of Tourism and Hospitality (STH) team was honoured to be the only Private Education Institution (PEI) to be invited for a personalised tour of the newly launched Dusit Thani Laguna Singapore, last month. Set amidst the greenery, the property is divided into two lobbies ā€“ the hotel lobby for guests to check in, and the golf lobby. The modern hotel lobby is modern with hints of Thai elements and there was even a ā€˜Tuk Tukā€™ parked in the lobby.

Together with the hotel representatives, we were brought to view the different facilities, rooms and suites. The standard rooms with city or pool side views were equipped with standard hotel amenities. As for the suite rooms, it offered a luxurious walk-in washroom, outdoor sitting area for guests and even an outdoor bathtub surrounded by the luscious greenery.

Even though Dusit Thani Laguna Singapore was originally planned for transiting & leisure visitors, the pandemic has forced the hotel management team to rethink of other ways to cater their hotel for the local market. This has been the case for many hotels in Singapore ever since Phase 3 of re-opening was announced as part of the Covid-19 guidelines, and staycations have been allowed.

Bacterial cells are difficult to be viewed under the microscope unless they are stained. This is due to their lack of colour and contrast. Scientists have been using several types of stains to make these cells visible. The staining procedure will help researchers to identify the bacteria, as well as help healthcare providers to diagnose infections caused by bacteria. 

One basic type of staining procedure that can be used is the Simple Stain, where we use just one type of stain, and the bacteria takes up the colour of the stain, when observed under the microscope. We get to study the morphology, dimensions, cell size and arrangement in this type of staining.

Negative staining method can also be used in which the background of the bacteria takes up the stain, and the specimen is untouched, thereby creating a contrast and making the bacterial cell visible. This method is very convenient and is useful to view the overall morphology of the bacterial cell. This method is based on the principle of the repulsion between the negatively charged stain used and the negatively charged bacterial cell wall. 

However, to get more information about the bacteria we need to perform a Differential Stain. In this procedure we use more than one stain, and different bacterial cells will take up these stains as per their structural properties. It should be noted that the primary stain and secondary stain will have different colours which will allow the students to distinguish the different types of bacterial cells when they are viewed under the microscope.  Some examples of this Differential staining methods are the Gram Staining, Capsule staining and Endospore staining. The Gram staining is one of the most commonly used type of Differential stain. This method was developed by Dr Hans Christian Gram in 1884. This type of staining helps us differentiate between a Gram Positive and Gram-Negative bacteria, as they both take up different coloured stains, which is due to their cell wall properties.

The Capsule staining also comes under Differential stain. Many bacteria have capsules surrounding their cell, which makes them virulent, as these capsules help the bacteria evade the host immune system by resisting phagocytosis. Since these capsules are non-ionic, itā€™s very difficult to stain them using acidic or basic stains. Hence to observe them we stain the bacterial cell with a basic stain, and we stain the background and surroundings using an acidic stain. The capsule will not take up any of these stains and will appear as a clear halo surrounding the bacterial cell, whereas the bacterial cell and the background will take up the respective stains.

Another type of Differential stain is the Endospore staining. Endospores are a dormant form of bacteria formed by some species of bacteria during unfavourable conditions. In the case of the Endospore staining, we get to differentiate between the vegetative cells and endospores, as the spores and the vegetative cells take up differed coloured stains. All these staining techniques will help us in bacterial identification and characterisation.

We have to make sure that throughout the experiment the microscope lenses are kept clean. Though the staining procedures are quite simple, it requires a lot of practise by the students so that they are able to master these techniques and to get an optimally stained bacterial slide which will help them in their bacterial identification studies.

References:

Benson, H. J. (2005). Benson’s Microbiological Applications: Laboratory manual in general microbiology. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Cappuccino, J. G., & Sherman, N. (2014). Microbiology: a laboratory manual. Boston: Pearson Education.

Goldman, E., & Green, L. H. (2009). Practical Handbook of Microbiology. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

As the undergraduate team, we had been given the theme of cervical cancer. With that theme in mind, we decided to create a dramatized film depicting the story of an actual survivor. The objective of our film was to raise awareness about cervical cancer, and the essential steps needed to prevent cervical cancer.

Prior to the production, we interviewed a source who had battled cervical cancer in order to base our storyline according to our sourceā€™s experience. This would bring truthfulness and authenticity to our film, which we felt would add to the emotional appeal of our film, thus further captivating our audienceā€™s attention. Once we have successfully obtained the audienceā€™s attention, we will then present them with the information we intended to convey; the steps needed to prevent cervical cancer. As a finishing touch, a personalized message from a gynecologist to spread the word about HPV vaccination.

Creating the film was an interesting process for us, as we had little experiences handling filming equipment during that period of time. We had to simultaneously produce this film while learning how to utilize said film equipment to our filmā€™s potential, which was challenging but also a fun experience at the same time. We were very particular about what we wanted the film to be, so a number of issues came up during the process of filming; clips that werenā€™t to our satisfaction, re-shoots, trying to successfully create a video effect with our little camera experience, finding the right music to fit our film, and so on and so forth. All the whilst, a global pandemic was occurring and we were just moments away from Singaporeā€™s circuit breaker, which meant we were on a very strict time schedule.

To be filming a project amidst a chaotic pandemic was truly a once in a lifetime experience we are sure to not forget. Despite all the setbacks we faced, itā€™s safe to say that we created a film to our satisfaction, and even won two awards for it. Ā 

This article is contributed by Andini Mahindira Amiraputr from the School of Media and Communications.