[en] Security controls using Cullinet's Integrated Data Management System (IDMS) are examined. IDMS software integrity problems, with emphasis on security package interfaces, are disclosed. Solutions applied at Sandia Laboratories Engineering Information Management computing facilty are presented. An overall IDMS computer security philosophy is reviewed

[en] Over 8000 Windows PCs are actively used on the CERN site for tasks ranging from controlling the accelerator facilities to processing invoices. PCs are managed through CERN's Computer Management Framework and Group Policies, with configurations deployed based on machine sets and a lot of autonomy left to the end-users. While the generic central configuration works well for the majority of the users, a specific hardened PC configuration is now provided for users who require stronger resilience against external attacks. This paper describes the technical choices and configurations involved and discusses the effectiveness of the hardened PC approach.

[en] The two basic areas for improvements to the first version, 1.0, of ALADDIN distributed by the A + M Data Unit, concerning the functional changes and the provision of labelling schemes and dictionaries for classification of spectroscopic and surface interactive data are presented. Tabs

[en] The paper presents the structure of a model and a database devoted to the life-cycle analysis of industrial products for the assessment of environmental impacts. The data cover a large variety of industrial sectors; the whole life-cycle of the products has to be considered when the environmental impacts are calculated. The author considers that the data format could be standardized in view of exchanging data between different studies and to enlarge the quality of the studies. (author)

[en] Cloud Services for Synchronization and Sharing (CS3) [14] have become increasing popular in the European Education and Research landscape in the last years. Services such as CERNBox, SWITCHdrive, SURFdrive, PSNCBox, Sciebo, CloudStor and many more have become indispensable in everyday work for scientists, engineers, educators and other users in public research and education sector. CS3 services are currently too fragmented and lack interoperability. To fix this problem and interconnect storage-, applicationand research services a set of interoperable interfaces, CS3APIs [10], has been developed. CS3APIs enable creation of easily-accessible and integrated science environments, facilitating cross-institutional research activities and avoiding fragmented silos based on ad-hoc solutions. In this paper we introduce the CS3APIs and its reference implementation, Reva [16].

[en] Containers are becoming ubiquitous within the WLCG, with CMS announcing a requirement for its sites to provide Singularity during 2018. The ubiquity of containers means it is now possible to reify the combination of an application and its configuration into a single easy-to-deploy unit, avoiding the need to make use of a myriad of configuration management tools such as Puppet, Ansible or Salt. This allows use to be made of industry-standard devops techniques within the operations domain, such as Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD), which can lead to faster upgrades and greater system security. One interesting technique is the Autopilot pattern, which provides mechanisms for application life-cycle management which are accessible from within the container itself. Using modern service discovery techniques, each container manages its own configuration, monitors its own health, and adapts to changing requirements through the use of event triggers. In this paper, we expand on previous work to create and deploy resources to a WLCG Tier-2 via containers, and investigate the viability of using the Autopilot pattern at a WLCG site to deploy and manage computational resources.

[en] Software maintenance for pre-1980 assembly language systems is costly, in large part due to the lack to tooling which today would be considered standard. For many such systems employed in mission critical applications, such as reactor control, the demand for quality further increases the cost intensity of software maintenance. To address this need Previse Inc. proposes an integrated workstation platform combining several tools, within which software maintenance would be made for the remaining software life. The core of this platform would comprise a DBMS environment, within which the target code would become data in a database. In this environment code changes would be treated as transactions to a database, with maintenance of database consistency a core mission of the toolset. Code changes would be verified using a combination of semi-automated database consistency checks and testing using a variety of built-in dynamic analysis tools. This federally supported Previse R and D programme is currently in mid-stream. Though not without implementation problems, confidence remains high that the overall objective, that is to decrease the cost of this software maintenance by 50%, can be met. (Author) 21 refs

No abstract available

[en] The infrastructure behind home.cern and 1000 other Drupal websites serves more than 15,000 unique visitors daily. To best serve the site owners, a small engineering team needs development speed to adapt to their evolving needs and operational velocity to troubleshoot emerging problems rapidly. We designed a new Web Frameworks platform by extending Kubernetes to replace the ageing physical infrastructure and reduce the dependency on homebrew components. The new platform is modular, built around standard components and thus less complex to operate. Some requirements are covered solely by upstream open source projects, whereas others by components shared across CERN’s web hosting platforms. We leverage the Operator framework and the Kubernetes API to get observability, policy enforcement, access control and auditing, and high availability for free. Thanks to containers and namespaces, websites are isolated. This isolation clarifies security boundaries and minimizes attack surface, while empowering site owners. In this work we present the new system’s open-source design contrasted with the one it replaces, demonstrating how we drastically reduced our technical debt.

[en] This research provides the results of a comprehensive in-store study that utilized eye tracking to determine the initial eye attractiveness of signage and displays used in a Toyota retail dealership. Potential car buyers (n = 24) walked randomly through the showroom for the first time, and were asked to view the various signs, displays, video monitors, decorations, and vehicles on display. Research was conducted while the dealership was open in order to include distractions from human interaction. Subjects’ eye movements and the objects viewed were captured using Tobii II eye tracking glasses at 60Mhz. A typical showroom self-tour lasted approximately 4:31 minutes. Subjects were then shown their results and Retrospective Think Aloud interviews were conducted with the subjects to determine positive and negative reactions to the observed objects. Signage measured included those required by Toyota, as well as those created by the dealership. Types of signage measured included digital, video, posters, stand-up cards, and ads placed on the vehicle. Each potential eye attractive object was identified and classified by type (signage, décor, digital signage, vehicle information, etc.). Every subject’s results were analyzed by the number of fixations and the time spent viewing each object. The study revealed that video or digital messaging was not any more effective than static signage, but that placement of the signage was a determining factor in the effectiveness of message receptivity. Many of the non-signage objects received more attention than did certain types of advertising signage. The various attributes of the objects and signs that received positive attention were analyzed as to their eye attractiveness characteristics. Although signage in a retail showroom is believed to be critical in providing advertising and product messages, this study (in its particular environment) demonstrated that signage is not viewed by customers as often as previouly thought.