Alessandro Ecclesie Agazzi

Alessandro Ecclesie Agazzi

The IoT (Internet of Things) has become widely popular in the domestic environments. People are renewing their homes into smart homes; however, the privacy concerns of owning many Internet connected devices with always-on environmental sensors remain insufficiently addressed. Default and weak passwords, cheap materials and hardware, and unencrypted communication are identified as the principal threats and vulnerabilities of IoT devices. Solutions and countermeasures are also provided: choosing a strong password, strong authentication mechanisms, check online databases of exposed or default credentials to mitigate the first threat; a selection of smart home devices from reputable companies and the implementation of the SDN for the Dos/DDoS threat; and finally IDS, HTTPS protocol and VPN for eavesdropping. The paper concludes dealing with a further challenge, "the lack of technical support", by which an auto-configuration approach should be analysed; this could both ease the installation/maintenance and enhance the security in the self configuration step of Smart Home devices.

Alessandro Ecclesie Agazzi

Social network platforms have increased and become very popular in the last decade; they allow people to create an online account to then interact with others creating a complicated net of connections. LinkedIn is one of the most used social media platform, created and used for professional purposes. Here, indeed, the user can either apply for job positions or join professional communities to deepen his own knowledge and expertise and be always up to date in the interested field. The primary objectives of this paper are assessing LinkedIn's usability, by using both user and expert evaluation and giving recommendations for the developer to improve this social network. This has been achieved through different steps; initially, feedbacks have been collected, via questionnaire, from direct users. Later, the usability issues, which have been underlined by users in the questionnaire, have been explored, by simulating user's problem-solving process, through Walkthrough. Finally, the overall usability of LinkedIn application has been measured by using SUS (System Usability Scale).

Alessandro Ecclesie Agazzi

Phishing attacks have become the most used technique in the online scams, initiating more than 91% of cyberattacks, from 2012 onwards. This study reviews how Phishing and Spear Phishing attacks are carried out by the phishers, through 5 steps which magnify the outcome, increasing the chance of success. The focus will be also given on four different layers of protection against these social engineering attacks, showing their strengths and weaknesses; the first and second layers consist of automated tools and decision-aid tools. the third one is users' knowledge and expertise to deal with potential threats. The last layer, defined as "external", will underline the importance of having a Multi-factor authentication, an effective way to provide an enhanced security, creating a further layer of protection against Phishing and Spear Phishing.