Transactions on Computational Science: Special Issue on Securtiy: Vol 5430

In the second contribution, entitled "Behavioral Characterization for Network Anomaly Detection," Victor P. Roche and Unai Arronategui propose a methodology for detecting abnormal traffic on the net, such as worm attacks, based on the obser- tion of the behavior of different elements at the network edges. This methodology means an advance in the detection of a new infection in the backbone of the network, but also in the identification of the infected hosts of a specific network. The authors try to detect network anomalies by tracking the behavior of different network levels. This proposed method is not based on intrinsic characteristics of the worm but on their manner of acting. This methodology has proved its effectiveness in real infections caused by viruses such as SpyBot and Agobot in accordance with experimental tests. In the third contribution, which is entitled "The Power of Anonymous Veto in Public Discussion," Feng Hao and Piotr Zielinski propose an exceptional solution--Anonymous Veto Network (or AV-net)--to allow a group of participants to compute a boolean-OR function securely. This protocol is provably secure under the Decision Diffie-Hellman (DDH) and random oracle assumptions.

The LNCS journal Transactions on Computational Science reflects recent developments in the field of Computational Science, conceiving the field not as a mere ancillary science, but rather as an innovative approach supporting many other scientific disciplines. The journal focuses on original high-quality research in the realm of computational science in parallel and distributed environments, encompassing the facilitating theoretical foundations and the applications of large-scale computations and massive data processing. It addresses researchers and practitioners in areas ranging from aerospace to biochemistry, from electronics to geosciences, from mathematics to software architecture, presenting verifiable computational methods, findings and solutions and enabling industrial users to apply techniques of leading-edge, large-scale, high performance computational methods.

This issue focuses on the theme of security in computing, a topic of vital importance in the increasingly connected world of today. The 14 extensive papers selected for inclusion in this volume give an in-depth coverage of a number of hot topics in the field, presenting new architectures, novel hardware implementations, cryptographic algorithms and security protocols, and new tools and applications.