Browsing by Author "Felix Musau"

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    A Model for Detecting Information Technology Infrastructure Policy Violations in a Cloud Environment
    (The International Journal Of Science And Technoledge, 2019-09) Felix Musau; Ruth Oginga; Christopher Maghanga
    The pervasiveness of the internet and available connectivity solutions brought about by cloud computing has led to unprecedented increase in technologies built based on information technology infrastructures. Most organizations consider the deployment of different types of protection systems to curb the various malicious activities. Organizations offer sophisticated monitoring and reporting capabilities to identify attacks against cloud environment, while stopping multiple classes of attacks before they successful interfere with network activities. Users with ill intentions have increasingly used the cloud as an attack vector due to its ubiquity, scalability and open nature despite the existence of policy violation detection systems necessitating the need to strengthen access policies from time to time. Policy violation detection plays a major role in information security by providing a systematic way of detection and interpreting attacks. Some of the known weaknesses of most detection tools are the generation of false positives or false alerts and inability to perform analysis if traffic is encrypted as well as failure to detect and prevent attacks. This research paper was concerned with the investigation of weaknesses of firewall and Intrusion Detection system (IDS) which are supported by the cloud. The research design for the paper was based on the mixed methods. Experimental results revealed weakness in existing systems specifically IDS and firewall. Unlike the existing systems, new model designed to overcome the shortfall was able to detect both known and unknown attacks and signatures. Moreover, the model was capable of preventing the occurrence of false positives, and terminates suspicious nodes in real time without human intervention. Based on the tests carried out, it was recommended that Policy violation detection model be implemented to guarantee protection. An additional area of application such as migration from one cloud to another is not achievable, at this moment because of the heterogeneous nature of the cloud. This is a potential area for investigation in future.
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    A novel robust and fast Segmentation of the Color Images using Fuzzy Classification C-means
    (IEEE, 2010) Felix Musau; Mohamed Lamine Toure; Zou Beiji
    This paper brings out a method for segmentation of color images based on fuzzy classification. It proceeds in a first step by a fine segmentation using the algorithm of fuzzy cmeans (FCM). The method then applies a test fusion of fuzzy classes. The result is a coarse segmentation, where each region is the union of elementary regions grown from FCM. The fuzzy C-Means (FCM) clustering is an iterative partitioning method that produces optimal c-partitions, the standard FCM algorithm takes a long time to partition a large data set. The proposed FCM program must read the entire data set into a memory for processing. Our results show that the system performance is robust to different types of images.
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    A Reliable and Secure Distributed In-Network Data Storage Scheme in Wireless Sensor Networks
    (IEEE, 2011) Felix Musau; Guojun Wang; Muhammad Bashir Abdullahi
    In a battlefield surveillance scenario, data readings and events emerging from a wireless sensor network deployed that may not be used immediately by or simply impossible to transmit to an authorized user (a Soldier) in real time are stored in the network. Without proper protection for the sensitive data generated in this setting, a compromised storage node (by an enemy soldier) may divulge its stored sensitive data about the monitored environment, and even worse, it may alter the data. In this paper, we integrate an elliptic curve cryptography scheme and an erasure coding scheme to provide reliable and secure distributed in-network data storage for sensor networks. The main idea is to distribute each erasure coded fragment appended with a fingerprint to different storage nodes. The fingerprint is to allow each coded data fragment to be independently verified as a valid and correct subset of a specific data item. So, the scheme achieves localization of data error. The proposed scheme is resilient to collusion attack, pollution attack, and data dropping attack, and guarantees forward and backward data secrecy as well. The security of the proposed scheme relies on the intractability of the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem. Different from the existing solutions, the uniqueness of our method comes from the use of lightweight encryption scheme, which is well suited for resource constrained wireless sensors.
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    A Usability Evaluation Framework for Web Based Learning Management Systems Used in Kenyan Universities.
    (IJIRST –International Journal for Innovative Research in Science & Technology, 2020-08) Felix Musau; Musau Victor Vincent; Dr. Ratemo Makiya Cyprian
    Despite the fast adoption of web-based learning management systems (LMS) in institutions of higher Learning, insufficient attention has been paid to the usability of these systems in developing countries. Usability evaluation for the web-based LMS needs to be conducted before implementing them so as to get maximum benefits from tones of learning features which are integrated in them. However, the available standard usability evaluation guidelines are inadequate for evaluation of domain specific applications. There are few studies which have made the first steps in proposing guidelines for evaluating web-based LMS. However, they were found not adequate in the current study. On this premise, it is difficult to adapt any of the proposed guidelines without any further improvement. In this study, we proposed a usability evaluation framework for evaluating web-based LMSs used in Kenyan universities. The proposed framework was tested by applying it in usability evaluation of Moodle LMS. Two primary usability evaluation methods (UEMs) were used which are user testing and expert evaluation. Think aloud method and post-evaluation questionnaire were used to supplement user testing. Four expert evaluators were used for expert evaluation and 36 students were used for user testing. The proposed framework was found adequate for use in usability evaluation of web-based LMSs.
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    Advanced Algorithm for Brain Segmentation using Fuzzy to Localize Cancer and Epilespy Region
    (IEEE, 2010) Felix Musau; Zou Beiji; Mohamed Lamine Toure; Aboubacar Damaye Camara
    The research which addresses the diseases of the brain in the field of the vision by computer is one of the challenges in recent times in medicine, the engineers and researchers recently launched challenges to carry out innovations of technology pointed in imagery. This paper focuses on a new algorithm for brain segmentation of color images based on fuzzy classification to diagnose accurately the region of cancer and the area of epilepsy. In a first step it proceeds by a fine segmentation using the algorithm of fuzzy cmeans (FCM). It then applies a test fusion of fuzzy classes. The result is a coarse segmentation, where each region is the union of elementary regions grown from FCM. The fuzzy C-Means (FCM) clustering is an iterative partitioning method that produces optimal c-partitions. The standard FCM algorithm takes a long time to partition a large data set. The proposed FCM program must read the entire data set into a memory for processing. Our results show that the system performance is robust to different types of images.
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    Advanced Algorithm Partitioning of Markov and Color Image Segmentation
    (IEEE, 2010) Felix Musau; Zou Beiji; Mohamed Lamine Toure
    The color vision systems require a first step of classifying pixels in a given image into a discrete set of color classes. In this paper we introduce a new method of algorithm partitioning, and color image segmentation based on similarities or dissimilarities of the pixels. We consider fuzzy segmentation with markov, and normalized cut method. Experiments show these different processes used an effective solution on natural images, and computational efficiency. Finally, the algorithm has proven our process of experiments on gray scale, color, and texture images show promising segmentation results successful
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    An Enhanced Service Flow Management Scheme for IEEE 802.16 Broadband Wireless Access Systems
    (International Journal of Computer Theory and Engineering, 2012-08) Felix Musau; Juma Modie Mwamafundo; Sang Kipkorir
    While the protocols have been proposed to support QoS (quality of service) guarantees for a variety of applications, the WiMax/IEEE 802.16 standard does not specify a mandatory scheduling architecture to fulfill stringent QoS requirement for the different classes of traffic. Only the framework is established in the standard which provides an opportunity for developers to design efficient scheduling mechanism to fulfill stringent QoS requirement for the different classes of traffic. The scheduling scheme requires catering for rigorous QoS guarantee for all types of service flows as specified in the standard, enabling fairness and facilitating the traffic of lower priority. In this paper, we propose a Service Flow Management Scheme for the IEEE 802.16 Broadband Wireless Access systems that can provide QOS support that enhances performance through a scheduler that performs optimally and efficiently.
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    An Enhanced Service Flow Management Scheme for IEEE 802.16 Broadband Wireless Access Systems
    (International Journal of Computer Theory and Engineering, 2012-08) Felix Musau; Sang Kipkorir; Juma Modie Mwamafundo
    While the protocols have been proposed to support QoS (quality of service) guarantees for a variety of applications, the WiMax/IEEE 802.16 standard does not specify a mandatory scheduling architecture to fulfill stringent QoS requirement for the different classes of traffic. Only the framework is established in the standard which provides an opportunity for developers to design efficient scheduling mechanism to fulfill stringent QoS requirement for the different classes of traffic. The scheduling scheme requires catering for rigorous QoS guarantee for all types of service flows as specified in the standard, enabling fairness and facilitating the traffic of lower priority. In this paper, we propose a Service Flow Management Scheme for the IEEE 802.16 Broadband Wireless Access systems that can provide QOS support that enhances performance through a scheduler that performs optimally and efficiently.
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    Analysis of MS Power Saving Scheme to BS with Finite Buffer in IEEE 802.16e networks
    (IEEE, 2011) Felix Musau; Cheruiyot W. Kipruto; Joseph Cosmas Mushi; Guan-Zheng Tan
    This paper analyzes effects of power saving of mobile station (MS) to Base Station with finite buffer in IEEE802.16e class type I network. IEEE802.16e standard accept MS to switch to sleep-mode to minimize power when MS processing load is reduced. However, when packets destined to MS appear into BS buffer, they should be stored until end of MS sleep window. Although the sleep-mode designed in effort to conserve environment but it risks loss of packets once BS buffer overloaded with accumulated packets. This paper designs numerical analytic model to measure risk of packet drop. Through asymptotic analysis the effect of packets destined to sleeping MS into BS finite buffer is measured and analysed.
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    Demonstrating the Weaknesses of IDS and Firewall on Policy Violation in the Cloud
    (International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology, 2019-09) Felix Musau; Ruth Oginga; Christopher Maghanga
    Organizations are increasingly becoming aware of the business value that cloud computing brings and are taking steps towards transition to the cloud. With the diverseness of technologies, there are different security attacks and challenges. There are several important challenges that exist with regard to efficient provisioning and delivery of services through cloud. Threats on the cloud environment can be due to policy violation. Despite the use of protection systems to detect any malicious activities, policy violation is one factor that hinders widespread usage of cloud. The focus of this paper is on demonstrating the weaknesses of IDS and firewall on policy violation in the cloud. In particular, the research design used was based on mixed research and the prototype was tested by a group of experts. The results were demonstrated using algorithm, flow charts and experiments. It was recommended that security and applicable policies needs to be implemented to safe guard the customers‟ data.
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    Determinants of Information and Communication Technology Adoption by Religious Organizations: A case of National Council of Churches Of Kenya (NCCK) member Churches in Nairobi
    (Journal of Information Technology., 2020-07) Felix Musau; Kioko K. Joshua
    The adoption of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) have drastically changedthewaypeoplework,relateandcommunicateintheworldtoday.Thereligiousinstitutionplaysakey role in shaping the conduct of people and how they relate with one another. Likewise,technology changes how people relate to each other. As such, adoption of technology in religionis critical if the organization is to reach the surging numbers already hooked to various ICTplatforms. This study was necessitated by the fact that technology itself is not value-free. It ispresented to religious societies wrapped with cultural values that compliment, challenge or evenrepelreligiousattitudes.Hence,thepurposeofthisstudywastoinvestigatethefactorsdeterminingadoptionofICTbyreligiousorganizationswithafocusonNationalCouncilofChurchesofKenya(NCCK) member churches in Nairobi. The specific objectives of this study were; to establish thecongregationcharacteristics,leadershipperception,sizeofmembershipandhowethicalconsiderations affect adoption of ICT. Applying the Technology Acceptance Model, the studycarried out a cross sectional survey in which various churches were studied. The sample size was27 NCCK member churches and the target population was 324 church leaders. Simple randomsamplingwasusedtogiveeachelementofthetargetpopulationanequalchanceofbeingselected.Thedatawasanalyzedusingacomputerizedstatisticalsoftwareandresultspresentedinpercentages and frequencies through tables and figures. The researcher conducted a multipleregressionanalysisto determinetherelationshipbetweentheindependentvariableanddependent variable. The study found that the attributes of congregation, leadership perception of ICT, size of church membership and ICT adoption are positively and significantly related, whereas ethical considerations and ICT adoption are positively but insignificantly related. Based on the study findings, it was concluded that these factors influence the adoption of ICT in religious organizations. The researcher recommends that church leaders should take cognizance of their congregation characteristics and develop ICT programmes which serve them best. In addition, the church leadership should take deliberate efforts to change their perceptions on ICT owing to benefits that it may present. These findings may be relevant to both new and existing religious organizations. It will also make pertinent contribution to the existing literature and inspire stakeholders of various faith based organizations to come up with policies and strategies on how to adopt ICT.
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    E-services & devolution: usage of ICT applications on customer Service delivery in Machakos county government, Kenya
    (International Journal of Management Research & Review, 2016-04) Felix Musau; Mathew M. Egessa
    This paper examined the effect of ICT applications and their frequency of usage on customer service delivery in Machakos County Government (MCG). The ICT applications included Mobile Point of Sale (M-POS) for revenue and parking fees collection, CCTV security surveillance system in different sub-counties within Machakos County and the Help Desk System. Self-administered questionnaires and interviews were used to collect primary data from 57 employees of MCG and 100 service seekers (traders and vehicle owners who pay parking fees). The research study established that there exists a strong positive relationship between ICT applications and their usage (r = 0.795, P = 0.000) and customer service delivery. The paper recommends that county governments fully adopt ICTs by allocating funds and goodwill towards the development and maintenance of ICT system applications.
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    Genetic Algorithm-Enhanced Retrieval Process for Multimedia Data
    (International Journal of Advancements in Computing Technology, 2011-04) Felix Musau; Joseph Cosmas Mushi; Guan-Zheng Tan; Cheruiyot W. Kipruto
    The explosive growth of digital media content from various domains has given rise to the need for efficient techniques for retrieval of relevant information is getting more and more attention, especially in the large-scale Multimedia Digital Database (MDD) applications. It is for this reason that there has been an increased interest in the query reformulation for use in Multimedia Information Retrieval (MIR) using a combination of various techniques. In this paper, we propose a retrieval method that is formalized as an optimized similarity search process that combines Singular Value Decomposition (SVD), Query Quality Refinement (QQR) using Histogram Equalization and Genetic Algorithm (GA) enhancement. Experimental results show that the approach significantly narrows the search process by retrieving similar images satisfying the needs of the user.
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    Group formation with neighbor similarity trust in P2P E-commerce
    (Springer Linker, 2011) Felix Musau; Guojun Wang; Muhammad Bashir Abdullahi
    The simplicity with which products and prices are compared in e-commerce has introduced an attractive option for many online merchants. The completion of online business transactions with personal information provisioning has always been an act that beckons hesitation. Most online traders are highly conscious of various threats and attacks such as credit card fraud, identity theft, spoofing, hacking, phishing, and other abuses, leading to low trust in online business transactions. Online transactions take place among Peer-to-Peer (P2P) systems at the edge of the Internet. Peer communities are often established dynamically with peers that are unrelated and unknown to each other. In our proposed mechanism, peers form groups in order to ensure trust and security. Each group is established based on interest among peers. In this paper, we show how peers form groups, and select group leaders. A peer can belong to more than one group. Comparing with some existing work, our work reveals that peers can have common neighbors which have a similarity based on their interest. Our simulation results show that the model can deal with the malicious attacks efficiently by comparison with existing models.
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    Influence of Information and Communication Technology on Performance of Financial Audits in Government Ministries in Kenya
    (International Knowledge Sharing Platform, 2018) Felix Musau; James Kinene Muigai
    Financial Audits in the public sector have since independence been carried out manually in the Country. The use of this manual approach in the performance of auditing had raised queries as to the quality of audits, detection of fraud and timeliness of reports presented to parliament. Through the adoption of Integrated Financial Management Information Systems in Government Ministries, the financial function and operations have since been automated. With the shift of the Government financial operations from a manual approach to an automated system, a manual audit approach to these automated government operations would therefore not be effective, efficient and economical. Fraud perpetrated through the system would also be hard to discover using the manual approach. It was within this backdrop that the study sought to establish the effect of adoption of ICT on the performance of financial audits in Government Ministries on the basis of ICT training, ICT infrastructure, Organizational Setting, Legislative support and Auditing Standards. The general objective of the study was to determine the influence of ICT on the performance of financial audits in Government Ministries of Kenya. The specific objectives were how ICT infrastructure, IT audits training, legislature support, organizational structure and auditing standards affect the performance of financial audits in Government Ministries of Kenya. The research design used for the study was descriptive. The scope of the study was financial auditors at the 18 Ministries who were from the Office of the Auditor General with a total population of 434. To obtain data, stratified random sampling technique was used to obtain a sample size of 87 respondents. Validity refers to the degree to which results obtained from analysis of data actually represents the phenomenon under study. For testing validity the questionnaire was tested on 3 staff that were not included in the final study. Reliability is a measure of the degree to which research instruments gives consistent results after repeated trials. To confirm reliability, instruments were pretested on a small sample which was used in the final survey. Data was collected through questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics then presented in the form of tables for easy understanding purposes. A regression model was used to establish the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The study found out that adoption of ICT in the audit process improves the financial audit process by reducing the time and cost it takes to conduct the audit. Regular training on auditing computerized applications by the Government improves the knowledge of auditors to be able to effectively audit the financial applications. The study recommends for the implementation and utilization of ICT in the audit process to reduce operational inefficiency and to improve the audit process.
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    Integrating Application with Algorithms of Association Rule used in Descriptive Data Modelling, through which Data Mining can be Implemented for Future Prediction
    (International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, 2018) Felix Musau; Dr. Prinima Gupta; Sumita Mukherjee
    Data mining is a most appropriate discipline which clubs up statistics, database technology, knowledge discovery, pattern recognition, machine learning, business, natural disaster and other areas. It interferes and integrates in such a manner which is the most suitable for identifying a valid, logical and understandable pattern to influence the expansion and productivity of an operation, profitability, increase in sales and retail measurements, prediction of natural disaster, less faulty production, desired human resources. What is Data? A fact and figure what is knowledge? Data collected in such a manner that we know about the data. What is information? Flowing of proper data through communication. What is Statistics? Based on data, knowledge and information is a decision maker and systematic evidence based on intellectual science. This Paper will give an idea of the importance and significance of data mining in a manner that the knowledge acquired by learning descriptive data mining can be easily applied on predictive action. It also targets to fragment the fascinating correlations, the maximum used arrangements and alliances among the products in product range in the proceeding database. Once the understanding and concept on descriptive data modelling is clear the application on predictive model becomes easy, productive and more appropriate to take decision positively to footprint the accomplishment of the overall system.
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    Modeling M-SaaS Delivery Model for Threshold-based Credit Recharging Using Mbanking
    (IEEE, 2011) Felix Musau; Joseph Cosmas Mushi; Guan-Zheng Tan; Cheruiyot W. Kipruto
    The emerging of cloud computing has brought about new hope for efficient adoption and use of computer based information system. Software as a Service (SaaS) allows online customers to use applications on the Internet on a payas- you-go basis without investing in new infrastructure or software license. However, current SaaS delivery model bring challenge to online customers in community with poor financial services like online bank-transaction or credit cards. This study proposes Mobile-SaaS delivery model to facilitate online charging and credit-recharging mechanisms for SaaS application. The model use mobile-phone monetary services (M-banking) to support online charging, and adopts threshold-based credit recharge technique to support credit recharging.
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    Neighbor Similarity Trust against Sybil Attack in P2P E-Commerce
    (IEEE International Conference on Autonomic and Trusted Computing, 2012) Felix Musau; Guojun Wang; Song Guo; Muhammad Bashir Abdullahi
    Peer to peer (P2P) e-commerce applications exist at the edge of the Internet with vulnerabilities to passive and active attacks. These attacks have pushed away potential business firms and individuals whose aim is to get the best benefit in e-commerce with minimal losses. The attacks occur during interactions between the trading peers as a transaction takes place. In this paper, we propose how to address Sybil attack, which is a kind of active attack. The peers can have bogus and multiple identity to fake their own ones. Most existing work, which concentrates on social networks and trusted certification, has not been able to prevent Sybil attack peers from participating in transactions. Our work exploits the neighbor similarity trust relationship to address Sybil attack. In this approach, referred to as SybilTrust, duplicated Sybil attack peers can be recognized as the neighbor peers become acquainted and hence more trusted to each other. Security and performance analysis shows Sybil attack can be minimized by our proposed neighbor similarity trust.
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    Neighbor Similarity Trust against Sybil Attack in P2P E-Commerce
    (IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems (TPDS), 2015-03) Felix Musau; Guojun Wang; Song Guo; Muhammad Bashir Abdullahi
    Peer to peer (P2P) e-commerce applications exist at the edge of the Internet with vulnerabilities to passive and active attacks. These attacks have pushed away potential business firms and individuals whose aim is to get the best benefit in e-commerce with minimal losses. The attacks occur during interactions between the trading peers as a transaction takes place. In this paper, we propose how to address Sybil attack, an active attack, in which peers can have bogus and multiple identities to fake their owns. Most existing work, which concentrates on social networks and trusted certification, has not been able to prevent Sybil attack peers from doing transactions. Our work exploits the neighbor similarity trust relationship to address Sybil attack. In our approach, duplicated Sybil attack peers can be identified as the neighbor peers become acquainted and hence more trusted to each other. Security and performance analysis shows that Sybil attack can be minimized by our proposed neighbor similarity trust.
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    Performance Analysis of Recharging Scheme of M-SaaS through M-banking
    (Journal of Convergence Information Technology (JICT)., 2011-07) Felix Musau; Joseph Cosmas Mushi; Guan-Zheng Tan; Cheruiyot W. Kipruto
    Mobile SaaS (M-SaaS) is SaaS delivery model designed to use mobile network infrastructure for reserving and recharging credits of SaaS usage in pay-as-you-go manner for areas with poor financial services. The model integrates M-banking monetary feature into delivery process of SaaS so that potential customers in areas with poor access to financial services, such as online banking and credit cards, participate in SaaS delivery in real-time payment manner. In this paper, we present numerical analysis of M-SaaS recharging process, which together with M-SaaS credit-reservation scheme make M-SaaS model. The analysis shows that utilization and throughput of components involved in the scheme are healthy to avoid interruption of their involvement in other mobile network activities. However, load distribution at equilibrium leads to great imbalance, which needs further study for usefulness of M-SaaS model to revel.