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Publications

2022

A Decentralised Real Estate Transfer Verification based on Self-Sovereign Identity and Smart Contracts

Authors
Shehu, AS; Pinto, A; Correia, ME;

Publication
SECRYPT : PROCEEDINGS OF THE 19TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SECURITY AND CRYPTOGRAPHY

Abstract
Since its first introduction in late 90s, the use of marketplaces has continued to grow, today virtually everything from physical assets to services can be purchased on digital marketplaces, real estate is not an exception. Some marketplaces allow acclaimed asset owners to advertise their products, to which the services gets commission/percentage from proceeds of sale/lease. Despite the success recorded in the use of the marketplaces, they are not without limitations which include identity and property fraud, impersonation and the use of centralised technology with trusted parties that are prone to single point of failures (SPOF). Being one of the most valuable assets, real estate has been a target for marketplace fraud as impersonators take pictures of properties they do not own, upload them on marketplace with promising prices that lures innocent or naive buyers. This paper addresses these issues by proposing a self sovereign identity (SSI) and smart contract based framework for identity verification and verified transaction management on secure digital marketplaces. First, the use of SSI technology enable methods for acquiring verified credential (VC) that are verifiable on a decentralised blockchain registry to identify both real estate owner(s) and real estate property. Second, the smart contracts are used to negotiate the secure transfer of real estate property deeds on the marketplace. To assess the viability of our proposal we define an application scenario and compare our work with other approaches.

2022

Enhancing User Privacy in Mobile Devices Through Prediction of Privacy Preferences

Authors
Mendes, R; Cunha, M; Vilela, JP; Beresford, AR;

Publication
COMPUTER SECURITY - ESORICS 2022, PT I

Abstract
The multitude of applications and security configurations of mobile devices requires automated approaches for effective user privacy protection. Current permission managers, the core mechanism for privacy protection in smartphones, have shown to be ineffective by failing to account for privacy's contextual dependency and personal preferences within context. In this paper we focus on the relation between privacy decisions (e.g. grant or deny a permission request) and their surrounding context, through an analysis of a real world dataset obtained in campaigns with 93 users. We leverage such findings and the collected data to develop methods for automated, personalized and context-aware privacy protection, so as to predict users' preferences with respect to permission requests. Our analysis reveals that while contextual features have some relevance in privacy decisions, the increase in prediction performance of using such features is minimal, since two features alone are capable of capturing a relevant effect of context changes, namely the category of the requesting application and the requested permission. Our methods for prediction of privacy preferences achieved an F1 score of 0.88, while reducing the number of privacy violations by 28% when compared to the standard Android permission manager.

2022

Virtual Assistants in a Digital Governance Environment

Authors
Pimentel, L; Reis, A; Do Rosario Matos Bernardo, M; Rocha, T; Barroso, J;

Publication
Proceedings - 26th International Conference on Circuits, Systems, Communications and Computers, CSCC 2022

Abstract
Technological developments have had a major impact on the intensive use of electronic equipment, networked or connected to the internet, factors that have boosted the emergence and growth of cybercrime. Measures to mitigate and combat the phenomenon, taking into account its complexity and specificity, must involve all public entities with responsibility in the sector, in a global effort to promote digital literacy in the areas of cybersecurity and computer crime prevention. These comprehensive actions should use digital technologies based on artificial intelligence (AI), such as virtual assistants, whose characteristics allow the massification of information transmission, while enhancing the digital inclusion of users. Government entities are engaged in adopting technologies based on chatbots, with their presence in several areas of public administration. Despite the evolution, these resources have not yet been made available by the entities responsible for mitigating computer crime. On the other hand, although there are government programs aimed at increasing the digital skills of citizens, namely regarding the protection of devices, digital content or personal data, they are not designed for the specificities of cybercrime. In this context, a system based on chatbots, implemented in a digital governance context, by law enforcement agencies, with resources shared with other government entities can contribute to the prevention of cybercrime. © 2022 IEEE.

2022

Emerging Technologies and Applications for a Smart and Sustainable World

Authors
Jabbar Meerja, A; Bin Ibne Reaz, M; Madureira, AM;

Publication

Abstract
This reference distills information about emerging technologies and applications for smart city design and sustainable urban planning. Chapters present technology use-cases that have radical novelty and high scalability with a prominent impact on community living standards. These technologies prepare urban and rural dwellings for the transformation to the smart world.Applications and techniques highlighted in the book use a combination of artificial intelligence and IoT technologies in areas like transportation, energy, healthcare, education, governance, and manufacturing, to name a few.The book serves as a learning resource for smart city design and sustainable infrastructure planning. Scholars and professionals who are interested in understanding ways for transforming communities into smart communities can also benefit from the cases presented in the book.

2022

Liberalized market designs for district heating networks under the EMB3Rs platform

Authors
Faria, AS; Soares, T; Cunha, JM; Mourao, Z;

Publication
SUSTAINABLE ENERGY GRIDS & NETWORKS

Abstract
Current developments in heat pumps, supported by innovative business models, are driving several industry sectors to take a proactive role in future district heating and cooling networks in cities. For instance, supermarkets and data centers have been assessing the reuse of waste heat as an extra source for the district heating network, which would offset the additional investment in heat pumps. This innovative business model requires complete deregulation of the district heating market to allow industrial heat producers to provide waste heat as an additional source in the district heating network. This work proposes the application of innovative market designs for district heating networks, inspired by new practices seen in the electricity sector. More precisely, pool and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) market designs are addressed, comparing centralized and decentralized market proposals. An illustrative case of a Nordic district heating network is used to assess the performance of each market design, as well as the potential revenue that different heat producers can obtain by participating in the market. An important conclusion of this work is that the proposed market designs are in line with the new trends, encouraging the inclusion of new excess heat recovery players in district heating networks.

2022

Handling OpenStreetMap georeferenced data for route planning

Authors
Felício, S; Hora, J; Ferreira, MC; Abrantes, D; Costa, PD; Dangelo, C; Silva, J; Galvão, T;

Publication
Transportation Research Procedia

Abstract
This work proposes an architecture to treat georeferenced data from the OpenStreetMap to plan routes. The methodology considers the following steps: collecting data, incorporating data into a data manager, importing data into a data model, executing routing algorithms, and visualizing routes. Our proposal incorporates the following features characterizing each street segment: safety & security, comfort, accessibility, air quality, time, and distance. Routes can be calculated considering any specified weighting system of these features. The outcome of the application of this architecture allows to calculate and visualize routes from georeferenced data, which can support researchers in the study of multi-criteria routes. Furthermore, this framework enhances the OSM data model adding a multi-criteria dimension for route planning.

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