Cybercrime, Computer Security and Digital Forensics
Relevant publications (Mostly available from the Publications link above)
Edited works
Barry Cartwright, George R S Weir and Laurie Y-C Lau (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensics (ICCCF 2016), Vancouver, IEEE, 2016.
George R.S. Weir, 'The Internet of Things: Promise of a Better Connected World', in P. Hehenberger and D. Bradley (Eds), Mechatronic Futures: Challenges and Solutions for Mechatronic Systems and their Designers, Springer, 2016.
George R.S. Weir, 'The Limitations of Automating OSINT: Understanding the Question, Not the Answer', in R. Layton and P. Watters (Eds), Automating Open Source Intelligence, 159-169, Elsevier, 2015.
George R.S. Weir, 'Quantifying and neutralising sexually explicit language'. in R Smith, RC-C Cheung & L Lau Yiu-Chung (eds), Cybercrime Risks and Responses: Eastern and Western Perspectives, 121-129, Palgrave MacMillan, 2015.
George R.S. Weir, Michael Daley (Eds), Cyberforensics Perspectives, Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Cybercrime, Security and Digital Forensics (Cyberforensics 2013), 2013.
George R.S. Weir, Ameer Al-Nemrat (Eds), Issues in Cybercrime, Security and Digital Forensics, Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Cybercrime, Security and Digital Forensics (Cyberforensics 2012), 2012.
George R.S. Weir (Ed.), Cyberforensics : Issues and Perspectives, Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Cybercrime, Security and Digital Forensics (Cyberforensics 2011), 2011.
Journal Papers, Conference Papers and Book Chapters
Fabian Suß, Marco Freimuth, Andreas Aßmuth, George Weir, and Robert Duncan, Cloud Security and Security Challenges Revisited, Tenth International Conference on Cloud Computing, GRIDs, and Virtualization, 2019.
Barry Cartwright, George R S Weir, Lutfun Nahar, Karmvir Padda and Richard Frank, The Weaponization of Cloud-based Social Media: Prospects for Legislation and Regulation, Tenth International Conference on Cloud Computing, GRIDs, and Virtualization, 2019.
Barry Cartwright, George R S Weir, and Richard Frank, Fighting Disinformation Warfare with Artificial Intelligence, Tenth International Conference on Cloud Computing, GRIDs, and Virtualization, 2019.
Barry Cartwright, George R S Weir, and Richard Frank, Cyberterrorism in the Cloud, in Security, Privacy, and Digital Forensics in the Cloud, Lei Chen, Hassan Takabi and Nhien-An Le-Khac (Eds.), pp. 217-237, Wiley, 2019.
Yazeed Alkhurayyif and George R S Weir, Using sequential exploratory mixed methods design to explore readability of ISPs, 4 Mar 2019, 2018 International Conference on Computing, Electronics & Communications Engineering (iCCECE). Excell, P. S., Ali, M., Jones, A., Soomro, S. & Miraz, M. H. (eds.). Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, p. 123-127.
Kolade Owoeye & George R S Weir, Classification of Radical Web Text using a Composite-Based Method, IEEE International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence, 2018.
Kolade Owoeye & George R S Weir, Classification of Extremist Text on the Web using Sentiment Analysis Approach, IEEE International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence, 2018.
Samar Albladi and George R S Weir, A Semi-Automated Security Advisory System to Resist Cyber-attack in Social Networks, International Conference on Computational Collective Intelligence (ICCCI 2018), 2018.
George R S Weir, Kolade Owoeye, Alice Oberacker and Haya Alshahrani, Cloud-based textual analysis as a basis for document classification, The 7th International Workshop on Security, Privacy and Performance in Cloud Computing (SPCLOUD 2018), 2018.
Samar Albladi and George R S Weir, User Characteristics that Influence Judgment of Social Engineering Attacks in Social Networks, Human-centric Computing and Information Sciences, 2018.
George R S Weir, Andreas Aßmuth and Nicholas Jäger, Managing Forensic Recovery in the Cloud, Cloud Computing 2018, The Ninth International Conference on Cloud Computing, GRIDs, and Virtualization, IARIA, Barcelona, Spain, February 2018.
Mahmoud Nasreldin, Heba Aslan, Mohamed Rasslan and George Weir, Evidence Acquisition in Cloud Forensics, IEEE International Conference on New Paradigms in Electronics & Information Technology (PEIT'17), 5 - 8 November 2017, Alexandria, Egypt.
Yazeed Alkhurayyif and George R S Weir, Evaluating Readability as a Factor in Information Security Policies, in International Conference on Arts, Science and Technology, Dubai (ICAST-2017).
S. M. Albladi and G. R. S. Weir, Personality Traits and Cyber-Attack Victimisation : Multiple Mediation Analysis, in Joint 13th CTTE and 10th CMI Conference on Internet of Things – Business Models, Users, and Networks. Copenhagen, Denmark, 2017.
Yazeed Alkhurayyif and George R S Weir, Readability as a Basis for Information Security Policy Assessment, Seventh IEEE International Conference on Emerging Security Technologies, Canterbury, UK, September 2017.
George Weir, Andreas Aßmuth, Mark Whittington and Bob Duncan, Cloud Accounting Systems, the Audit Trail, Forensics and the EU GDPR: How Hard Can It Be?, in British Accountancy and Finance Association Conference, Aberdeen, August 2017.
George R S Weir and Andreas Aßmuth, Strategies for Intrusion Monitoring in Cloud Services, Cloud Computing 2017, The Eighth International Conference on Cloud Computing, GRIDs, and Virtualization, IARIA, Athens, Greece, February 2017.
Fathiya Al Izki and George Weir, Management Attitudes Toward Information Security in Omani Public Sector Organisations, Cybersecurity and Cyberforensics Conference (CCC 2016), University of Jordan, Jordan, IEEE.
Karen Renaud and George Weir, Cybersecurity and the Unbearability of Uncertainty, Cybersecurity and Cyberforensics Conference (CCC 2016), University of Jordan, Jordan, IEEE.
Andreas Aßmuth, Paul Cockshott, Jana Kipke, Karen Renaud, Lewis Mackenzie, Wim Vanderbauwhede, Matthias Soellner, Tilo Fischer and George Weir, Improving Resilience by Deploying Permuted Code onto Physically Unclonable Unique Processors, Cybersecurity and Cyberforensics Conference (CCC 2016), University of Jordan, Jordan, IEEE.
G.R.S. Weir, R. Frank, B. Cartwright and E. Dos Santos, Positing The Problem: Enhancing Classification of Extremist Web Content Through Textual Analysis, International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensics 2016 (ICCCF 2016), Vancouver, Canada, IEEE.
Najla Etaher and George R S Weir, Understanding children’s mobile device usage, International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensics 2016 (ICCCF 2016), Vancouver, Canada, IEEE.
Samar Albladi and George R S Weir, Vulnerability to Social Engineering in Social Networks: A Proposed User-Centric Framework, International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensics 2016 (ICCCF 2016), Vancouver, Canada, IEEE.
Najla Etaher, George R S Weir and Mamoun Alazab, From ZeuS to Zitmo: Trends in Banking Malware, TrustCom 2015: The 14th IEEE International Conference on
Trust, Security and Privacy in Computing and Communications, Helsinki, Finland, 2015, pp 1386-1391.
Fathiya Al Izki and George R S Weir, Gender Impact on Information Security in the Arab World, ICGS3-15, 10th International conference on Global Security, Safety and Sustainability, London, 2015.
Gregor Robinson and George R S Weir, Understanding Android Security, ICGS3-15, 10th International conference on Global Security, Safety and Sustainability, London, 2015.
Fathiya Al Izki and George R S Weir, Information Security and Digital Divide in the Arab World, Proceedings of Cyberforensics 2014, pp 15-24, University of Strathclyde, June 2014.
Richard Connor, Stewart Mackenzie-Leigh and George R S Weir, The forensic detection of very similar images, Proceedings of Cyberforensics 2014, pp 26-32, University of Strathclyde, June 2014.
Katherine Darroch and George R S Weir, Measuring sexually explicit content, Proceedings of Cyberforensics 2014, pp 101-112, University of Strathclyde, June 2014.
Najla Etaher and George R S Weir, Understanding the Threat of Banking Malware, Proceedings of Cyberforensics 2014, pp 73-80, University of Strathclyde, June 2014.
George R S Weir and David Igbako, Strategies for Covert Web Search, Proceedings of CTC 2013 : 4th Cybercrime and Trustworthy Computing Workshop, Sydney, Australia, 2013.
George R S Weir and Christopher Forbes, Quantifying Sexually Explicit Language, International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensic (ICCCF 2013), Hong Kong, China, 2013.
George R S Weir and Richard Connor, The importance of image similarity for criminal investigation, Presented at Cyberforensics 2013, Cardiff, UK.
A. Odueke and G. R. S. Weir, Triage in Forensic Accounting using Zipf's Law. In Issues in Cybercrime, Security and Digital Forensics. Edited by G. R. S. Weir and A. Al-Nemrat. Glasgow. University of Strathclyde Publishing. 2012. pp. 33-43.
R. Ogilvie and G. R. S. Weir, Genre-Based Information Hiding. In ICGS3/e-Democracy 2011. Edited by R. Bashroush. LNICST 99, Springer. 2012. pp. 104-111.
A. Lazou and G. R. S. Weir, Perceived Risk and Sensitive Data on Mobile Devices. In Cyberforensics: Issue and Perspectives. Edited by G. R. S. Weir. Glasgow, UK. University of Strathclyde Publishing. 2011. pp. 183-196.
M. Morran and G. R. S. Weir, An Approach to Textual Steganography. In ICGS3 2010 (Communications in Computer and Information Science 92). Edited by S. Tenreiro de Magalhaes, H. Jahankhani, and A. G. Hessami. Berlin Heidelberg. Springer-Verlag. 2010. pp. 48–54.
S. Garrity and G. R. S. Weir, Balancing the threat of personal technology in the workplace. International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics. 3 (1). 2010. pp. 73-81.
I. Moir and G. R. S. Weir, Contact centres and identity theft. International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics. 2 (1). 2009. pp. 92-100.
M. O’Brien and G. R. S. Weir, Understanding digital certificates. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Cybercrime Forensics Education and Training. Canterbury, UK. September 2008.
S. Burns and G. R. S. Weir, Varieties of smartcard fraud. International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics. 1 (4). 2008. pp. 374-386.
Zalina Ayob, Personalisation of security through analysis of forensic data, Malaysia.
Fathiya Al Izki, Managing information and computer security within the organisation, Oman.
Najla Etaher, Information Security and the End User, Libya.
Yazeed Alkhurayyif, Security awareness, Saudi Arabia.
Samar Albladi, Social networking and social engineering, Saudi Arabia.
Haya Alshahrani, Data security, Saudi Arabia.
Aminata Taal, Data forensics, UK.
Kolade Owoeye, Data mining and Content Classification, Nigeria.
Humaid Rashed Almansoori, Information security, UAE.
Kritsana Khiaomang, Cybersecurity, Thailand.
Pitpimon Choorod, Network security, Thailand.
Nada Alghanmi, Digital forensics, Saudi Arabia.
Nwanneka Eya, Enterprise security, Nigeria.
Hanen Himdi, E-learning Methodology in First Aid Training, Saudi Arabia.
PhD external supervision
Soumyadeb Chowdhury, Usability of Images Used in Recognition Based Graphical Authentication Systems, University of Glasgow (SICSA external supervisor).
Gavin Hales, Digital forensic visualization, University of Abertay (SICSA external supervisor).
PhD external examining
Desmond Lobo, Rapid Identification of Rootkit Infections Using Data Mining, University of Ballarat, Australia.
Mamoun Alazab, Forensic Identification and Detection of Hidden and Obfuscated Malware, University of Ballarat, Australia.
Rosanne English, Modelling the Security of Recognition-Based Graphical Password Schemes, University of Glasgow, UK.
Mofakharul Islam, Age Estimation and Illicit Image Detection Using A Stochastic Vision Model, University of Ballarat, Australia.
Ammar Al-Azab, Detection and Prevention of Malware, Deakin University, Australia.
Oana Ureche, Finding information flow leaks through the semantic web and the information flow control, Federation University, Australia.
Kingsley Aguoru, An Empirical Investigation of the Causes and Consequences of Card-Not-Present Fraud, its Impact and Solution, University of East London, UK.
Janet Lakareber, CALL e-learning in local knowledge preservation and transmittance, London South Bank University, UK.
Hani Moaiteq Aljahdali, Using Cultural Familiarity for Usable and Secure Recognition-based Graphical Password, University of Glasgow, UK.
Ahmad Azab, Classification of Network Information Flow Analysis (CONIFA) to Detect New Application Versions, Federation University, Australia.
Maha Mohammed Althobaiti, Assessing Usable Security Of Multifactor Authentication, University of East Anglia, UK.
Alifah Rahman, A Framework for Including Sustainability in IS Audit, University of East London, UK.
Nasser Alshammari, Anomaly Detection Using Hierarchical Temporal Memory in Smart Homes, Staffordshire University, UK.
Louai Maghrabi, Novel Game Theoretic Frameworks for Security Risk Assessment in Cloud Environments, Kingston University, UK.
Ahmed Albugmi, Critical factors affecting cloud computing adoption in overseas organisations of developing countries: Findings from Saudi government overseas agencies, University of Southampton, UK.
Undergraduate projects (examples)
A survey of image comparison techniques
This project aims to evaluate available techniques for comparing digital images. This can prove useful in contexts where 'matching' of images might usefully be accomplished without need for a human viewer, e.g., when detecting illegal (and potentially distressing) child exploitation materials. Of particular interest is the possibility of matching images where one of the pair has been slightly altered, e.g., in scale or proportion. Some familiarity with graphics may be useful and software implementation (at least in prototype) will serve to validate the comparisons.
Measuring sexually explicit content
Law enforcement agencies expend considerable effort in pursuing those who commit crimes against children. Child exploitation is often initiated on-line through social media or other chat contexts and 'grooming activity' has to be detected and monitored manually. The purpose of this project is to investigate the possibility of automating the detection of grooming content through application of a metric for sexually explicit content. The work will require software development to provide a facility to gauge the explicitness of text and rank items by their 'explicitness index'.
Spotting extremist web content
The web provides access to all types of content. In addition, it affords a means of disseminating information to a potentially huge audience. While these aspects are usually positive and beneficial, there are contexts that are of concern to parents or to law enforcement. In order to automate the process of filtering web access, or making collections of similar content, a variety of approaches have been adopted to determine similarity of content. This project will develop a software program to classify the content of web pages in order to identify 'worrying' or suspicious content, such as terrorist or extremist materials.
The sound of spam
For many years email has been afflicted by recurrent bouts of spam. As a result, a variety of anti-spam techniques have been developed to detect or eliminate unwanted and unsolicited email. This project will review existing spam detection techniques and explore the possibility of reflecting the content of spam messages as music, in order to consider whether such musical projection can assist in the process of identifying spam. Software development will address the conversion of spam message characteristics to music and also to provide a means of experimenting with the aural discrimination process.