Abdelkader Ouda

Marwan Darwish, Abdelkader Ouda, Luiz Fernando Capretz

The Denial-of-service (DoS) attack is considered one of the largest threats to the availability of cloud-computing services. Due to the unique architecture of cloud-computing systems, the methods for detecting and preventing DoS attacks are quite different from those used in traditional network systems. A main target for DoS attackers is the authentication protocol because it is considered a gateway to accessing cloud resources. In this work, we propose a cloud-based authentication protocol - one that securely authenticates the cloud user and effectively prevents DoS attack on the cloud-computing system-by involving the user in a high computation process. Then, we analyze the protocol via Syverson and Van Oorschot (SVO) logic to verify the authentication process of the protocol in a cloud-computing system.

Marwan Darwish, Abdelkader Ouda, Luiz Fernando Capretz

Cloud-based services have become part of our day-to-day software solutions. The identity authentication process is considered to be the main gateway to these services. As such, these gates have become increasingly susceptible to aggressive attackers, who may use Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to close these gates permanently. There are a number of authentication protocols that are strong enough to verify identities and protect traditional networked applications. However, these authentication protocols may themselves introduce DoS risks when used in cloud-based applications. This risk introduction is due to the utilization of a heavy verification process that may consume the cloud resources and disable the application service. In this work, we propose a novel cloud-based authentication protocol suite that not only is aware of the internal DoS threats but is also capable of defending against external DoS attackers. The proposed solution uses a multilevel adaptive technique to dictate the efforts of the protocol participants. This technique is capable of identifying a legitimate users requests and placing them at the front of the authentication process queue. The authentication process was designed in such a way that the cloud-based servers become footprint-free and completely aware of the risks of any DoS attack.

Marwan Darwish, Abdelkader Ouda, Luiz Fernando Capretz

Safety and reliability are important in the cloud computing environment. This is especially true today as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks constitute one of the largest threats faced by Internet users and cloud computing services. DDoS attacks target the resources of these services, lowering their ability to provide optimum usage of the network infrastructure. Due to the nature of cloud computing, the methodologies for preventing or stopping DDoS attacks are quite different compared to those used in traditional networks. In this paper, we investigate the effect of DDoS attacks on cloud resources and recommend practical defense mechanisms against different types of DDoS attacks in the cloud environment.

Abdalha Ali, Muasaad Alrasheedi, Abdelkader Ouda et al.

A conceptual framework for measuring the usability characteristics of mobile learning (m-Learning) application has been developed. Furthermore, a software prototype for smartphones to assess usability issues of m-Learning applications has also been designed and implemented. This prototype has been developed, using Java language and the Android Software Development Kit, based on the recommended guidelines of the proposed conceptual framework. The usability of the proposed model was compared to a generally available similar mobile application (based on the Blackboard) by conducting a questionnairebased survey at Western University. The two models were evaluated in terms of ease of use, user satisfaction, attractiveness, and learnability. The results of the questionnaire showed that the participants considered the user interface based on our proposed framework more user-friendly as compared to the Blackboard-based user interface.