School of Technology

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Design of user authentication model for bluetooth piconet
(kca university, 2012) Birundu, Zablon O.
The main objective of this research was to design a user authentication model for the Bluetooth piconets. Bluetooth is a new and young technology of data communication, since its birth it has been facing a lot of challenges. Security is one of the challenges and this research was conducted in an effort to enhance its security by creation of user authentication model to curb unauthorized usage. Apparently Bluetooth is open to any user of the device be it authorized or unauthorized. The login model designed in this thesis will allow only authorized users to use the Bluetooth piconet. The model was designed and created using J2ME program and was tested and found to be working well. The model was able to protect the Bluetooth piconet from unauthorized users.
M-health application for malaria health care workers
(KCA University, 2013) Opetu, Fedestus Bahati
Mobile and wireless technologies have been on the rapid increase and their applications in social sectors of life have also been growing. In the health care management, these wireless and mobile technologies have provided the possibility to prevent disease, improve treatment, advance health research, enhance diagnosis of diseases, reduce disparities, and increase patients access to the much needed health services and lower cost of health care service provision in ways previously unimaginable. Continuous biological, real-time, behavioral, and environmental data collected by wireless and mobile technologies may tremendously be used to advance our understanding of the health issues and disease, especially when combined with data from areas such as electronic medical records and genomics
Framework for securing wireless local area network
(kca university, 2013) Mwenja, Joyce M.
For several decades security and wireless communication will remain to be interesting research areas. Change in technology enables the need of ease of use and flexibility of communications in the computer world without manipulating the existing content. This study seeks to illustrate various concepts of critical to securing data over wireless networks, and overall security of the networks.In order to demonstrate wireless security, it is important to highlight key specifications of the common security standards in existence such as 802.11 WEP, 802.11 WPA, and WPA2 (802.11i). In the same light, the study explores the concept of Wireless Metropolitan Access Network and its security specifications besides vulnerability to security breach. Finally, the study sums up with reflections and recommendations about wireless network security, along with ample proposals to enhance wireless security especially in a public setting.There is much regulatory and standards work in the area of network security, especially in wireless network. The wireless LAN standard IEEE 802.11b provides a mechanism for authentication and encryption. This paper describes the security of Wireless Local Area Networks based on the IEEE 802.11 standard commonly referred to as Wi-Fi Networks or WLANs. Similarly, the study examined works by other researchers with regard to security in a wireless network, and addresses current wireless security measures. It was established that the measures indicated by these researchers were largely unsatisfactory, owing to advances in technology that serve to compromise measures employed. The researcher analyzed different tools that used, to attack a wireless network and successfully identified various types of attacks by highlighting some loopholes in WLAN. The study concluded that wireless networks cannot be made completely secure, and should only be used to serve the needs of the organizations, rather than one of convenience. As per this findings and conclusion, the study recommends the adoption of measures serve to improve the security at a wireless deployment site.
Framework for examining intrusion detection in wireless network
(KCA University, 2013) Marete, John M.
In today’s technology many institutions and business communities have embrace computer network connections to facilitate communication and sharing of available resources as means of exchanging electronic information locally and externally with other network. Wireless devices in a network are used to detect any intrusion and director types used for checking effect of attack (Carl, 2004). Network security devices/software like snort, firewall etc. are installed as the first step of securing networks after the implementation of any network. Snort IDS is a security tool and an intrusion detection system, capable of performing network real-time data traffic analysis and also data packet logs on IP networks (Caruso, 2007). Snort IDS software uses defined rules and policies to check each packet reaching to its network interface card in any connection
Enhancing the management of wireless clients on infrastructure based WLAN’s: Case of UNDP somalia
(kca university, 2013) Kegode, Andrew M’mbaiza
Network Managements entail managing faults, configurations, accounting, performance and security. This is done to guarantee reliability, availability and confidentially key issues in computer and network systems. Most of this features can and have always been realized on the wired LAN because of the capability to configure the features on specific physical ports. Wireless LAN’s pose the greatest challenges in enforcing these features because they do not have many physical ports like the wired LAN and most clients connect through the same port on an access point. Users are easily managed in systems where user devices are internal to the system e.g. registered authenticated system users. Network administrator’s often have issues in managing guest and other mobile users who only connect once in a long time to the network or managing users who come in with new or different devices day in day out and require connecting to the network. Such foreign devices pose great management issues to network administrators because they cannot be accounted for easily yet they consume much of the networked resources. This study is aimed at establishing a solution to manage such mobile guest wireless devices on the corporate wireless LANS so as to realize a similar secure, reliable and well optimized environment with wireless clients on wireless networks in order to realize a well-managed network.
Generic model for estimating wlan infrastructure costs
(kca university, 2013) Kebut, Vancy J.
In setting up LAN or WLAN infrastructure, the business has to make careful decisions on the choice of LAN or WLAN infrastructure to be laid for them to have a robust LAN infrastructure as well as have cost effective solution. (Cawley & Harman, 2005) has said that: “there is need for a tool enabling estimating LAN infrastructure costs that would lead to cost effective decisions. It will also provide an opportunity to compare network infrastructure choices which can be deployed in a network.” (p.2). There exist two cost estimation models; Tolly group – 2000 and TIA FOLS – 2005 which is always updated. From the Tolly group and TIA FOLS models, one can be able to estimate costs of having fiber on the vertical and either UTP or fiber on the horizontal using the standardized architectures; distributed or hierarchical star, FTTD/All-fiber and FTTE. Due to the advancement of technologies, there is also need for a tool to estimate the costs of WLAN infrastructure. The WLAN cost estimation tool developed in this thesis can be used by WLAN users or designers to estimate costs of either hierarchical star design, centralized or FTTD design or FTTE design and compare between costs among the three architectures. It can be used to identify which of the standard-compliant architectures is cost effective without any compromise to the computer network performance. Therefore computer network users or designers are able to make decisions as to which standard compliant architecture is the cost optimal solution for their LAN.
Optimization of bandwidth using by use of a proxy server
(KCA University, 2013) Mwiti, Meshack
Recently there has been a tremendous increase in network traffic caused by several reasons amongst them being an increase of internet users. The increased network traffic has really affected many other network bandwidth factors such daily up rise latency, very high response time for users and of course very low network bandwidth. This leads to a quick need of designing techniques that will help in optimizing available network bandwidth, ease latency, and reduce the response time for users. Therefore, there is an importance to understand various characteristics web traffic. Majority of researchers who have invested in this area of research mostly have been focusing on the problem of content aliasing in the proxy server caches. Aliasing in proxy server caches is said to have occurred when the similar content is cached and deposited in a cache repeatedly. This storing of similar content in cache repeatedly occurs when several requests are made to several different websites but contains the same content. These websites that has the same content are referred to as mirrors. Mirroring helps in increasing efficiency who’s in return optimally increases cost of storage space in cache. In most cases, content aliasing in a proxy server consumes an enormous storage in cache. Several techniques such as abstracting common content from various websites across different domains and website mirrors can be used to optimally use to partially solve the problem of content aliasing in favor of proxy server caches. In contrast to other techniques I will not only devise a technique to check the cache contents for redundancy to reduce network latency and traffic, but also, to indirectly completely enhance the optimization of the network bandwidth. My technique shall find a solution to the problem of redundancy in content aliasing in proxy server caches and shall make a contribution to the open source community
Cloud banking security through third party auditing with a digital signature
(kca university, 2013) Kadogo, Kevin Mwamiri
Cloud computing from the last few years has rapidly grown from a business initiative into one of the fastest growing Emerging Technologies of Information and Communication Technology. It is an Internet based model that allows customers and enterprises to have an appropriate service that is paid per use and there is a network access to a shared collection of resources such as services, storage area, networks, servers and application programs that may not require end-user know-how of the site location and other computing infrastructure details. Financial institutions, especially the banking sector have slowly but reluctantly started embracing this technology with a view of reaping these benefits. This diverse exemplar makes available other security huddles. This work looks at the dilemma of ensuring the integrity of customer data that is stored in Cloud through the realization of the Third Party Auditor (TPA) with a digital signature. For this, since the services offered by the cloud service providers are accessible through the web this work demonstrates a security scheme or model that permits only the required data through the web and database applications. The objective of this work is to evaluate the security of the cloud alongside the Third Party Auditor performance under two scenarios that are dissimilar. The simulation tool used is the OPNET IT guru and a set of two scenarios are fashioned. Scenario number one does not have security across the cloud and scenario two has the authentic TPA implementation and this particular TPA has security policies to allow only the required traffic. Traffic of the database and http are used as the required applications across the cloud as a source of data and the TPA will take action on these applications. Evaluation of the performance of the cloud will be done across the database and web applications are estimated alongside the TPA way or conditions for working. The two test scenarios are compared against the metrics for the individual applications and also the performance of the cloud is estimated. The protection of data to be done by other authorized parties apart from the Cloud Service Providers (CSP) and Cloud Clients (CC) in a way that provides better security and performance than the prevailing ones.
A smart traffic management system
(KCA University, 2013) Masinga, Walter Gisore
The problem of traffic congestion and difficulties in management of road networks has been a major concern in many countries. The countries have addressed these problems using a myriad of solutions. The use of ICT to manage road networks has been fronted as one of the best solutions and great strides have been made in various countries to utilize it in road traffic management. My research looks at how ICT has been utilized to manage the various transport systems and offer a variety of services to end users, more particularly in the area of traffic management and mitigation of traffic congestion especially in the developed world. Various systems have been employed for example the adaptive traffic lights that change based on an analysis of the existing real time traffic information, collision avoidance systems, weather warning systems, traffic information for train and subway systems in the UK and China, route guidance systems for route selection using GPS systems for example tom tom systems for optimal route selection in south Africa, car tracking systems are also used by companies to manage fleets. Various technologies, software and hardware that are employed in these systems have also been analyzed. Most of these systems function independently and lack an interactive platform where data can be acquired and received freely from both parties. Therefore my research aims to integrate these systems by providing suitable interfaces and having a central databases from which better utility of the data can be achieved. Better data capture platforms and dissemination methods will be researched on and their utilization in a number of key systems in transport management will be evaluated with an aim of coming up with an integrated intelligent transport management system capable of offering a number of services to end users in the most convenient way possible. The research has addressed the integration of traffic information collection mechanisms and the management of a central database capable of running various applications to offer different functionalities such as incident management, traffic analysis and management, weather warning system.
A Model for selecting security protocols for wireless sensor networks
(kca university, 2013) Ndia, John Gichuki
ABSTRACT The process of mapping security requirements to the most appropriate security protocol has over the time proved a great challenge. Though there are various security mechanisms designed to curb security threats, they come with various properties and therefore the choice of the best security protocol for a given application becomes quite complex. To ease the process of mapping security requirement of sensor applications to security protocol, security environments for WSNs have been defined formally. There are numerous WSNs applications being developed day to day, ranging from simple environmental monitoring e.g. collecting of temperatures in an agricultural farm to complex applications like for monitoring battle field. Therefore, this research dissertation objective was to enable selection of best security protocol that falls under a certain security class for the various existing WSNs applications and applications to be developed in the future. The research endeavored to identify and evaluate the security protocols that are practically used in WSNs and to identify the best tool to be used in simulation process, and finally to validate selection of security protocols
Improving performance of 3G mobile data offloading through WiFi networks by data caching
(kca university, 2013) Gichuhi, Cecilia Wambui
In the recent years there has been a skyrocket rise in mobile data usage especially due to the large number of smartphones in use. This has led to a rigorous traffic overloading in cellular networks and the trend is expected to continue. It is imperative that architectures are put in place to handle this data. Use of Wifi to offload data has been considered as one of the immediate solutions. In this paper I propose Wifi caching to offload mobile data. Tests were carried out using OMNet++ a discreet event simulator. From the experiments done it can be seen that the throughput is best when the number of hosts are about 3 and 10. Further increase of hosts above 10 hosts then the throughput and efficiency begin to go down. However when LRU caching is implemented the general throughput is slightly lower than when caching is not implemented which is a concern, and was not the expected result. The user request latency is slightly higher after caching. The AP caching model can be tested using other different caching algorithms to see which one would give best results.
A video conferencing security framework for synchronous e learning
(KCA University, 2013) Kirongo, Nathaniel Ndegwa
Many higher education institutions offer educational courses online on ELearning basis with web 2.0 applications to support and conduct their coursework. One of the novel tools used in such learning platforms is video conferencing. Little has been done so far to ensure the security and integrity of information transmitted over video conferencing platforms in ELearning. Since this style of education so heavily relies on the web, threats uncommon to other forms of learning are encountered. Security measures implemented for online applications have not been very successful in securing such systems due to their unique nature. This research sought to develop a security framework for use in securing video conferencing systems as used in synchronous ELearning in institutions of higher learning. The paper looks at the current security measures in use, their shortfalls and proposes a framework of implementing video conferencing security.
User perceived web quality of service and network on e-services.
(2013) Wambua, Onesmus Ituo
Fulfilling e-services effectively entails a sufficient service set-up which delivers a solid base for dependable services. A key part of this service set-up is the transport which e.g. launches the Internet. This transport structure is responsible for delivering a reliable end to end transport service with diverse service levels which is a prerequisite for any e-service put up on top of it.The dynamic change and enhancement of information communication technologies (ICTs) have significantly modernized the way organizations do their businesses nowadays. More businesses are coupling the use of website as a tool to gain competitive niche in marketing their services and product. In that respect, Quality of service and e-service quality is becoming more precarious for organization to maintain and draw customers in the digital era. Since any internet medium should incorporate quality of service, which embraces important e-Service adoption, the perseverance of this research was to investigate the magnitude to which web quality of service influence and perceive the adoption of e-commerce among the Kenyan online clients. Through this, the research attempted to establish the key quality factors in web context that influence user adoption of business to consumer e-commerce. The research further scrutinized the non-quality of service factor that significantly influence the adoption of Electronic Trade and Commerce apart from e-service quality factors. Through this, the most important teamsters and inhibitors to E-commerce adoption in Kenya were identified.
Energy efficient model for deploying wireless body area networks using multi-hop network topology
(KCA University, 2013) Chepkwony, Robert C.
Wireless body area networks (WBANs) offers a lot of application opportunities in the area of health care. Recent developments in sensors and radio communication technologies have motivated many researchers to design WBAN systems for application in healthcare provision. Power consumption is still a limiting factor in realizing a WBAN with a very long lifetime. In order for wireless body area networks to ensure widespread use and adoption, some of the design constraints should be solved to promote uptake and meet social expectations. As a result, design of energy efficient WBANs is required to enhance battery life at the same time ensure that sensor nodes are small enough to be conveniently worn or implanted in the body. Energy consumption in WBANs happens during sensing, processing and communication. This research focused on designing an energy efficient model during communication between sensors. The parameters were simulated and implemented using MATLAB and Simulink simulation software. The sensors are randomly localized on a plane and distance between them calculated. The model uses a relay between the sensors and the coordinator to reduce power consumption by sensors during signal transmission. The relay is dedicated to retransmitting signals only.
Enhancing current aircraft communications addressing and recording system (ACARS)
(kca university, 2013) Kigotho, Stephen Kariuki
To many people travelling is a normal routine in life. During every day to day activity the issue of transportation does not linger in our minds as it is a norm. However, this is only realised when a horrific accident happens and we identify the role of secure transits policies. In the aviation industry this phenomenon is no exception. Aircrafts usually move around the world and bare air is their transmission line. To enable safe movement of these aircrafts all airplane communications are conducted through a uniform platform referred to as an Aircraft Communications Addressing and Recording system. This protocol was first introduced in the late 70s and used dedicated telex formats to transmit data. All voice communications carried by this protocol are done over a VHF link. Over the years the VHF has been constrained by the additional data produced. This is because of the increasing number of aviation industry players. To further constrain the same, the current ACARS system consists of communications hardware as well as applications subsystems and these components have changed significantly due to the changing aviation needs. This means that the length of message is constrained in the current communication platform. In effect, pilots receive information that is either incomplete or so limited that they are unable to make effective judgement on plane routing. Messages between the controller tower and the flight crew are usually not encoded. With this in mind it means that such communication is subject to interception and may be used for other malicious purposes. The major objective of this research is to develop an air/ground communication standard to support existing applications while minimizing impact on installed equipment. The problem statement and specific objectives are clearly stated to guide the researcher.The study presents a review of related literature on the subject under study as presented by various researcher scholars’ analyst and authors. The researcher also examined the various characteristics of the proposed incorporation of data links to improve the current ACARS and the attributes of the data link. The researcher has examined the methodologies used, evaluated the methodology approaches and described reasons behind the choice of the proposed methodological approach. As a result, if implemented the airline industry will be able to serve the steadily growing consumer needs all over the world since safety concerns of all aircrafts is essential for a competitive and growing world. With the changing business icons and dynamics the aviation industry is finding itself being the most reliable way of goods movement. In the event that the safety of these airlines is not maintained then it would be an economic disaster. At the same time the aviation industry is home to millions of jobs which might be lost in the event of disasters.
Bandwidth capacity measurement in small-scale wireless IP networks
(kca university, 2013) Mwangi, Christopher K.
User applications on the internet cannot beget bandwidth guarantees from the network. Therefore, it is important to measure the available capacity bandwidth as well as link capacities so that the user applications may adopt these parameters to determine the applicability of the service. For measurement of the available capacity bandwidth between devices in a wireless network, active capacity measurement methods are used. Data packets inform of packet probes are inferred into the network from the sending device. These data packets are stamped with time at the end node. The available bandwidth is analyzed from the separation with the time stamped packets as the input.
Enhanced mobile forensic process model for hand-held devices – A case of smartphones
(kca university, 2013) Mutia, Jane M.
This research is aimed at developing an operating system independent mobile forensics Process Model for Hand-held devices. The earlier works in digital forensics process model have mainly concentrated on process models for computers while those that have dealt with mobile devices are mainly Operating system specific hence they can only be applied to a specific Operating System mobile device. In order to yield the enhanced process model, the researcher examines the various existing process models tailored for the specific operating Systems picking the outstanding phases and combining these various phases to give a neutral yet an enriched process model which is Operating system independent. The proposed Hand-held Process Model is tested using two types of Phones that run different Operating Systems namely iPhone (iOS) and Samsung Galaxy S III (Android OS). Three mobile Forensics tools mainly Celebrate UFED Physical Analyzer, Oxygen Forensic Suite 2013 and MOBIL edit forensics Lite are used to facilitate the experimental tests.
Implementation of a universal public Wi-Fi access
(kca university, 2013) Muango, Charles O.
As demand for Internet grows and its usage keeps evolving, there is need to create an avenue through which users can have access to this facility wherever they are without subjection to ISP providers; this will facilitate economic growth, job creation, and global competitiveness. To address this today depends on incremental solutions that increase and guarantee connectivity without any hassle of having to purchase DTE/DCE (modems). The objective of this study was to implement a universal public wireless Internet access by use of the Wi-Fi enabled feature on laptops and other devices today. This will ensure drive to innovation, deliver seamless connectivity and optimize network use. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Internet services offered by ISPs (Safaricom, Airtel, Orange and YU). The results from this study revealed that Network coverage was the key reason for subscription to an ISP by a client among others such as cost, equipment (Modem) availability and spread of bandwidth for purchase. Based on the study, a Web based solution was developed from which all transactions pertaining to online purchase of bundles (based on the amount of funds one has in his/her account) and connecting to the Internet everywhere through a Public Wi-Fi would be achieved. This is the uniqueness of the developed solution in this work. Finally, conclusion and recommendations that will help provide better Universal Public Wi-Fi Access have been discussed.
A vulnerability model for wireless local area networks in an insecure war driving setting
(kca university, 2013) Kirongo, Amos C.
Wireless local area networks (WLAN) enable access to computing resources for devices that are not physically connected to a network infrastructure. WLANs usually function in a restricted geographical location such as a workplace. They are effected as additions to current wired local area networks to improve operator movement. These networks require to be secured from vulnerabilities including eavesdropping which result from wardriving. The main goal is to understand how vulnerability of wireless networks in a wardriving setting can be mitigated through simulation of a vulnerability model using Artificial Neural Networks. It is with this understanding that nationally and internationally WLANs security is a priority with relation to data security. The Kenyan government in its vision focuses on the development of a National framework for Information and Cyber Security through a proactive approach to the country's security needs to ensure security of the upcoming National Next Generation Broadband network and securing of the proposed National Cloud computing platform for use by both private and public sectors. It also focuses on securing the implementation of the National Open Data and strategic Data Programme. The government is further investing in public key infrastructure to secure the national networks. With this in mind the researcher embarked on a survey based on the Vulnerability of WLANs in Meru Town of Meru County in Kenya. The survey revealed that most of the users of WLANs that had installed the networks had not secured their networks appropriately, since most were open, while others used default SSIDs. Further vulnerability of AP devices with relation to manufacturer popularity was identified with associated encryption modes. This research developed a conceptual framework for Wireless Local Area Networks Security management strategies in a wardriving setting and tested it founded on experimental substantiation.
Framework for bandwidth sharing and reuse in IPTV deployment via wireless spectrum
(kca university, 2014) Cheruiyot, Pius K
The current evolution of technology in the recent past, television is geared to take a different turn from its traditional form of distribution which has been labeled ‘analogue’ to digital transmission via wireless connection. The evolution of broadband networks has enabled the deployment to IPTV viable. For the IPTV to be successfully implemented there must be a high capacity and excellent performance without packet loss and delays. Bandwidth is a key constraint in video distribution of IPTV (both live TV and video on demand) technologies; therefore an increase bandwidth utilization mechanism should be put in place. This research paper addresses key aspects of bandwidth utilization via spectrum sharing and reuse among the key players in the industry. Sharing of spectrum entails several techniques which includes administrative, technical and market-based as noted by Philip V. D., Yvon G., Djamal, Z (2012) Time, space and geography are ways in which sharing of spectrum can be done. RF (radio frequency) spectrum is very important infrastructure for communication in wireless and its operation calls for issuance of licenses by a national monitoring whereby in most cases it’s the government.