Simon's Computing Articles and Published Papers

This page lists a few papers I wrote when at University, based on my third year project. The texts are available in PDF format.

Goto Top

Published Papers

Simulation and Implementation of an E-Commerce Communications Infrastructure using XML Specifications

We report in this paper on a project dealing with the development of an XML-based tool for the management of the communication infrastructure within an e-commerce system. The major aim is to be able to simulate any given infrastructure prior to its implementation in order to detect potential problems early in a cost-effective way. We are focusing mainly on security problems that may arise. From the so tested XML description of the network, the settings of the nodes on the given physical network are generated automatically from the XML. As there are no assumptions made about the underlying network, our approach works for any kind of e-commerce environment, including mobile e-commerce systems.

The above paper was written by myself and my project supervisor, and was presented at the BIS 2002 Mobile E-business conference April 2002 in Poznan, Poland. It was submitted as a work in progress, and describes the overall concepts and challenges of my third year project.

Paper for BIS 2002 (PDF)
Presentation slides for BIS 2002 (Powerpoint)

An XML-based Approach to Modelling and Implementing Firewall Configurations

We present in this paper an approach for modelling the security infrastructure of a network using XML. The modelled system can then be validated on the XML level. From validated models, configurations of concrete nodes, such as firewalls, can be generated automatically.

The above paper was written by myself and my project supervisor, and was presented at the ISSA 2002 Information Security conference July 2002 in Muldersdrift, Gauteng, South Africa.

Paper for ISSA 2002 (PDF)

Goto Top