Papers by Jarrod Trevathan
Shill bidding is where a seller introduces fake bids into an auction to artificially inflate an i... more Shill bidding is where a seller introduces fake bids into an auction to artificially inflate an item’s final price, thereby cheating legitimate bidders. Shill bidding detection becomes more difficult when a seller involves multiple collaborating shill bidders. Colluding shill bidders can distribute the work evenly among each other to collectively reduce their chances of being detected. Previous detection methods wait until an auction ends before determining who the shill bidders are. However, if colluding shill bidders are not detected during the auction, an honest bidder can potentially be cheated by the end of the auction. This paper presents a real-time collusive shill bidding detection algorithm for identifying colluding shill bidders while an auction is running. Experimental results on auction data show that the algorithm can potentially highlight colluding shill bidders in real-time.
Social networking is one of the most successful and popular tools to emerge from the Web 2.0 era.... more Social networking is one of the most successful and popular tools to emerge from the Web 2.0 era. However, the information has created a plethora of opportunities for the nefarious side of human nature to manifest. This paper categorizes and describes the major types of antisocial behavior and criminal activity that can arise through undisciplined use and/or misuse of social media. We specifically address identity theft, misrepresentation of information posted, cyber bullying, children and social networking, and social networking in the work place. Recommendations are provided for how to reduce the risk of being the victim of a crime or reputation either professionally or personally. We also discuss what responsibilities social networking companies have to protect their users and also what law enforcement and policy makers can do to help alleviate the problems.
A Continuous Double Auction (CDA) is a powerful auction mechanism used in online share trading. A... more A Continuous Double Auction (CDA) is a powerful auction mechanism used in online share trading. A CDA has many buyers and sellers continually exchanging items. Implementing an online CDA in software is more complicated than a regular online auction (such as eBay). This paper describes our experiences with implementing an online CDA. We present the model as an abstraction of the online share trading process, and discuss implementation specific details. We describe the major software components, address web site navigation and object-oriented software design. An online CDA database schema is presented along with a discussion regarding timing issues. We show how bids are cleared and contrast differing matching strategies. We also investigate CDA software bidding agents, present an agent application programming interface, and a description of different bidding agent strategies. Online CDA privacy and security considerations are also discussed. The auction model is simple/concise, and pr...
Journal of Statistics and Management Systems
Abstract Recent research has highlighted environmental sustainability as a key issue of concern a... more Abstract Recent research has highlighted environmental sustainability as a key issue of concern affecting the future of human wellbeing. To pursue a sustainable future of a system, it is a critical challenge to make decisions at all levels of management. Decision making for controlling or steering a system requires models of the system that represent the determining characteristics of the system and have sufficient predictive power. Practitioners/researchers of environmental management use a large variety of (types of) models to support decision making, and it has become a complex task to select the appropriate model-type for a desired management goal. This paper considers the most common types of models and uses the mathematical properties of these model types to discuss the pros and cons of their use in environmental management / decision making. We explore how these mathematical properties influence the feasibility, viability and validity of the use of such models.
Bid sniping is the most common strategy used in online auctions whereby the bidder places a bid i... more Bid sniping is the most common strategy used in online auctions whereby the bidder places a bid in the closing seconds in order to win the auction. This denies other bidders the time to react and suppresses the final price. While bid sniping is beneficial to the winner, it disadvantages other bidders and the seller does not get the full amount of revenue s/he might otherwise have received in a truly competitive and fair auction. This paper proposes a method to help negate bid sniping as a dominant strategy for winning in online auctions. We propose an amendment to the auction format that allows for a random undisclosed time-out extension should new bids be received in the closing moments. This entices bidders to bid their true valuation up front, otherwise they risk having the auction terminate and therefore not accept any new bids. Several variations of the amended auction format are presented that effectively counteract bid snipers by making it difficult to gain any information by...
World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, 2014
Proprietary sensor network systems are typically expensive, rigid and difficult to incorporate te... more Proprietary sensor network systems are typically expensive, rigid and difficult to incorporate technologies from other vendors. When using competing and incompatible technologies, a non-proprietary system is complex to create because it requires significant technical expertise and effort, which can be more expensive than a proprietary product. This paper presents the Sensor Abstraction Layer (SAL) that provides middleware architectures with a consistent and uniform view of heterogeneous sensor networks, regardless of the technologies involved. SAL abstracts and hides the hardware disparities and specificities related to accessing, controlling, probing and piloting heterogeneous sensors. SAL is a single software library containing a stable hardware-independent interface with consistent access and control functions to remotely manage the network. The end-user has near-real-time access to the collected data via the network, which results in a cost-effective, flexible and simplified sys...
Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 2011
Bid sniping is the most common strategy used in online auctions whereby the bidder places a bid i... more Bid sniping is the most common strategy used in online auctions whereby the bidder places a bid in the closing seconds in order to win the auction. This denies other bidders the time to react and suppresses the final price. While bid sniping is beneficial to the winner, it disadvantages other bidders and the seller does not get the full amount of revenue s/he might otherwise have received in a truly competitive and fair auction. This paper proposes a method to help negate bid sniping as a dominant strategy for winning in online auctions. We propose an amendment to the auction format that allows for a random undisclosed time-out extension should new bids be received in the closing moments. This entices bidders to bid their true valuation up front, otherwise they risk having the auction terminate and therefore not accept any new bids. Several variations of the amended auction format are presented that effectively counteract bid snipers by making it difficult to gain any information by...
This paper describes a security problem involving an online data repository, which acts as a prox... more This paper describes a security problem involving an online data repository, which acts as a proxy for multiple companies allowing their customers to perform online services (e.g., pay invoices). The repository's host is trusted to honestly fulfil its duties in maintaining the data in a manner consistent with each companies' required services. However, the information stored by the repository remains private in that the repository's host cannot openly read any companies' operational data, nor does it learn the identities of any companies' customers. We contrast several approaches describing their viability for web deployment using existing technologies. This is a fundamentally new security problem with no established literature or clearly defined cryptographic solution. The project originated from a commercial attempt to design a secure online data archive. A sample implementation of the system is presented that allows a customer to pay and view invoices online v...
Online auctions are a rapidly growing platform to exchange items of just about anything, from com... more Online auctions are a rapidly growing platform to exchange items of just about anything, from common to collectors' items in different region around the world. Researchers continue their efforts to understand further the real behaviour and bidding patterns of buyers and sellers, the fraudulent traits and even devise countermeasures to prevent auction fraud. Most often, the researchers' noble work ends with frustration due to unavailability of real auction data. Online auction sources are unwilling to provide the real auction data and often cite "commercial, security and privacy" as reasons. This paper presents an application tool that collects real auction data from an ongoing auction for a given criteria, and automatically returns later to collect the data from a recently completed auction. From the knowledge of the authors, the work presented here is the first serious attempt to create an openly available application tool that will be free for use by other resear...
Traitor tracing schemes were designed for use in a broadcast/network environment where piracy is ... more Traitor tracing schemes were designed for use in a broadcast/network environment where piracy is a major problem. Legitimate receivers of propriety content often aid a pirate and are referred to as 'traitors'. Traitor tracing schemes attempt to trace piracy back to its original source, so that the content provider has some means of recourse against them. This paper endeavours to provide a brief survey of the stat of traitor tracing technology. A uniform analysis of the major work in this area is presented and comparisons are made between the competing schemes. Such comparisons are based on performance benchmarks such as the memory and computation requirements of both the content supplier and users, as well as the broadcast overhead involved. Specifically, traitor tracing schemes can be classified into several main groups depending on how the key distribution is performed and the environment in which the scheme operates. These classifications include symmetric/asymmetric, sta...
International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2014
The transfer rate of messages in distributed sensor network applications is a critical factor in ... more The transfer rate of messages in distributed sensor network applications is a critical factor in a system's performance. The Sensor Abstraction Layer (SAL) is one such system. SAL is a middleware integration platform for abstracting sensor specific technology in order to integrate heterogeneous types of sensors in a network. SAL uses Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI) as its connection method, which has unsatisfying transfer rates, especially for streaming data. This paper analyses different connection methods to optimize data transmission in SAL by replacing RMI. Our results show that the most promising Java-based connections were frameworks for Java New Input/Output (NIO) including Apache MINA, JBoss Netty, and xSocket. A test environment was implemented to evaluate each respective framework based on transfer rate, resource usage, and scalability. Test results showed the most suitable connection method to improve data transmission in SAL JBoss Netty as it provides a performan...
Online auctions are a rapidly growing platform to exchange items of just about anything, from com... more Online auctions are a rapidly growing platform to exchange items of just about anything, from common to collectors’ items in different region around the world. Researchers continue their efforts to understand further the real behaviour and bidding patterns of buyers and sellers, the fraudulent traits and even devise countermeasures to prevent auction fraud. Most often, the researchers’ noble work ends with frustration due to unavailability of real auction data. Online auction sources are unwilling to provide the real auction data and often cite “commercial, security and privacy” as reasons. This paper presents a software agent that collects real auction data from an ongoing auction for a given criteria, and automatically returns later to collect the data from a recently completed auction. From the knowledge of the authors, the work presented here is the first serious attempt to create an openly available software tool that will be free for use by other researchers.
Shill bidding occurs when fake bids are introduced into an auction on the seller's behalf in ... more Shill bidding occurs when fake bids are introduced into an auction on the seller's behalf in order to artificially inflate the final price. This is typically achieved by the seller having friends bid in her auctions, or the seller controls multiple fake bidder accounts that are used for the sole purpose of shill bidding. We previously proposed a reputation system referred to as the Shill Score that indicates how likely a bidder is to be engaging in price inflating behaviour with regard to a specific seller's auctions. A potential bidder can observe the other bidders' Shill Scores, and if they are high, the bidder can elect not to participate as there is some evidence that shill bidding occurs in the seller's auctions. However, if a seller is in collusion with other sellers, or controls multiple seller accounts, she can spread the risk between the various sellers and can reduce suspicion on the shill bidder. Collusive seller behaviour impacts one of the characteristic...
Buying and selling online is inherently insecure. Misuse of an individual's personal informat... more Buying and selling online is inherently insecure. Misuse of an individual's personal information is now the leading concern among those who engage in e-commerce. This thesis examines privacy and security issues in online auctions. Various auction fraud issues are investigated, and several novel counter measures proposed. An online auction server was constructed to aid in developing these security measures. This allowed investigation and testing in a controlled environment. The research results include: 1. A complete model for conducting secure and anonymous online auctions; 2. A method for detecting a fraudulent bidding practice referred to as shill bidding; 3. Autonomous bidding agents which bid maliciously. (Used to test the ability of the proposed security mechanisms.); 4. A complete model for conducting secure and anonymous online share trading; and 5. Several alternate proposals for auction clearing algorithms. The proposed security mechanisms have been implemented on the o...
The transfer rate of messages in distributed sensor network applications is a critical factor in ... more The transfer rate of messages in distributed sensor network applications is a critical factor in a system's performance. The Sensor Abstraction Layer (SAL) is one such system. SAL is a middleware integration platform for abstracting sensor specific technology in order to integrate heterogeneous types of sensors in a network. SAL uses Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI) as its connection method, which has unsatisfying transfer rates, especially for streaming data. This paper analyses different connection methods to optimize data transmission in SAL by replacing RMI. Our results show that the most promising Java-based connections were frameworks for Java New Input/Output (NIO) including Apache MINA, JBoss Netty, and xSocket. A test environment was implemented to evaluate each respective framework based on transfer rate, resource usage, and scalability. Test results showed the most suitable connection method to improve data transmission in SAL JBoss Netty as it provides a performan...
Shill bidding is the act of using bids in an online auction to drive up the final price for the s... more Shill bidding is the act of using bids in an online auction to drive up the final price for the seller, thereby defrauding legitimate bidders. While 'shilling' is recognized as a problem and shill bidding is strictly forbidden in online auctions, presently there is little to no established means of defense against shills. This paper presents a software bidding agent that follows a shill bidding strategy. The agent incrementally increases an auction's price, forcing legitimate bidders to submit higher bids in order to win the item. The agent ceases bidding when the desired profit from shilling has been attained, or in the case that it is too risky to continue bidding without winning the auction. Its ability to inflate the price has been tested in a simulated marketplace and experimental results are presented. Furthermore, the agent is used to assist in developing algorithms to detect the presence of shill bidding in online auctions.
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have been used in numerous applications to remotely gather real-t... more Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have been used in numerous applications to remotely gather real-time data on important environmental parameters. There are several projects where WSNs are deployed in different locations and operate independently. Each deployment has its own models, encodings, and services for sensor data, and are integrated with different types of visualization/analysis tools based on in-dividual project requirements. This makes it difucult to reuse these services for other WSN applications. A user/system is impeded by having to learn the models, encodings, and ser-vices of each system, and also must integrate/interoperate data from different data sources. Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) provides a set of standards (web service interfaces and data encoding/model specifications) to make sensor data publicly available on the web. This paper describes how the SWE framework can be extended to integrate disparate WSN sys-tems and to support standardized access to sensor data....
The Tropical Data Hub (TDH) is a virtual research environment that provides researchers with an e... more The Tropical Data Hub (TDH) is a virtual research environment that provides researchers with an e-research infrastructure to congregate significant tropical data sets for data reuse, integration, searching, and correlation. However, researchers often require data and metadata synthesis across disciplines for cross-domain analyses and knowledge discovery. A triplestore offers a semantic layer to achieve a more intelligent method of search to support the synthesis requirements by automating latent linkages in the data and metadata. Presently, the benchmarks to aid the decision of which triplestore is best suited for use in an application environment like the TDH are limited to performance. This paper describes a new evaluation tool developed to analyze both features and performance. The tool comprises a weighted decision matrix to evaluate the interoperability, functionality, performance, and support availability of a range of integrated and native triplestores to rank them according ...
Aquatic environmental sensors are expensive which limits the ability to undertake widescale remot... more Aquatic environmental sensors are expensive which limits the ability to undertake widescale remote monitoring. In most instances, too much logic and functionality are contained within the sensor device itself. This approach is expensive and computationally restrictive. This paper presents a new architectural paradigm for remotely deployed sensors whereby the calibration logic (and other functionality) is separated from the physical sensor hardware. A sensor device is only responsible for taking raw unprocessed sensor readings, which are transmitted back to a central server. All processing occurs on the server where computational capability and sophistication are unbounded. This approach allows for significant flexibility in terms of dynamic calibration adjustments to be applied to sensor data (e.g., in the case of sensor fouling or device decay) and for statistical quality assurance/data production algorithms to be applied. We present an example of how this paradigm can be adopted i...
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Papers by Jarrod Trevathan