Dr. Haitham Cruickshank

Research Interests | Teaching | Publications | Hobbies

My details are:

At the Centre for Communications Systems Research (CCSR), University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey. Tel: +44 1483 686007, Fax: +44 1483 686011, e-mail: H.Cruickshank@surrey.ac.uk

Biographical note:

Senior lecturer in Network Security at CCSR, University of Surrey. He worked there since January 1996. He has been the coordinator in many European, UK and European Space Agency (ESA) projects in satellite and Internet security, privacy and key management. His main research interests are privacy, network security and next generation networking architectures. He also has over 135 publications, including 25 refereed journals, 102 conferences, 3 books chapters and 5 IETF/ETSI standards.

Research

My main research area is network security for satellite, mobile and the Internet and user privacy and anonymity in these network. Also I work on QoS provisioning, Internet protocols and satellite networking. Currently, I am the principle investigator for two projects with EADS-Astrium. The first project SASH-NET and its focused on distributed key management for cryptographically heterogeneous networks, the other project is called DTN-S3 and its aims at designing security and privacy in Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) and aimed for challenged networks which is characterized by long delay and frequent connection disruptions.Also I work within the SATNEX project, which is a Network of Excellence (NoE) sponsored by ESA, and focusing on analyzing HTTP 2.0 protocol and its security impact on middle entities such as Performance Enhancing Proxies, which has been used in satellite network for many years.

Here are more details about my current specific research interests:

Network Security

Since 1995, I have been working in security research areas relating to ATM, mobile networks, the Internet, and satellites networks. In recent years, my research and work has focused on security and privacy issues in satellite/mobile networks and the Internet.

For satellite networks, there is security and access control mechanisms for satellite broadcast systems (DVB-S) and interactive satellite systems (DVB-RCS). I worked on the security design for the new IP encapsulation method over broadcast networks called Unidirectional Lightweight Encapsulation (ULE). I am the first author an Internet standard (RFC) on ULE security requirements. My current work is focused on new design of IPsec for satellite networks called Multi Layer IPsec (ML-IPsec) that would enable the functioning of middle entities such as satellite network accelerators and QoS routers. Also I am working on distributed key management for large scale networks.

Regarding the Internet security, my research work covers areas such as secure IP multicast, key management and IPsec implementation in terrestrial and satellite networks. I have given invited talks at conference, EAS and several IEE seminars on Internet security. Also I led a security project with ESA and LOGICA Company (Leatherhead, Surrey), regarding building a secure group management system called Group Secure Association Key Management Protocol (GSAKMP) and Logical Key Hierarchy (LKH).

My other work spans several security areas such as cyber security with distributed key management and security policies definition and implementation in satellite, adhoc and terrestrial IP networks. Also I will work on secure heterogeneous multicast groups such as a multi-national cryptographic group, for which the endpoints reside several countries with varying legal requirements for encryption systems and cipher key strengths.

Finally, I work on Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) security issues such as key management, DoS attacks, using AAA architecture and user anonymity. The DTN work was supported by EADS-Astrium (UK project) and the Satnex III (EU project). This was culminated in the publication of a related paper in the “Proceedings of the IEEE” in 2011, which is one of most citied IEEE journals.

QoS and and IP Multimedia Conferencing

I have been working in the area of Voice over IP (VoIP) over satellites since 1999. I contributed to the interworking unit for EuroSkyWay satellite system (Alenia Spacio, Italy) for the VIP-TEN project (TEN-TELECOM programme). Also I worked on networking aspects of “IP multiparty multimedia conferencing over satellites”. Multicast routing protocols are the underlying distribution mechanism for IP conferencing. I have contributed to the efficient configuration solution in the EU projects ICEBERGS and SATSIX. The solution covered inter- and intra-domain IP multicast protocols such as Protocol Independent Multicast-Sparse Mode (PIM-SM), Multicast Source Discovery Protocol (MSDP) and Multiprotocol Border Gateway Protocol, MBGP. This contribution has been submitted to ESTI BSM group. Also my work included Quality of Service (QoS) monitoring of IP conferencing over satellites, where the GEO satellite propagation delay is unavoidable. However voice jitter can be reduced by proper design of the satellite system packet handling. I am the invited speaker on “VoIP from the satellite perspective” in the PIMRC workshop in September 2008. My future work will focus on the new style of web protocols such as SPDY (that might replace HTTP in the future) and new TCP transport mechanisms (larger initial window, initial data, updates to congestion window validation, support for thin flows, etc.). This work will be conducted within the Satnex III project.

Teaching experience:

I teach level 3 and MSc students in topics related to security and networking in the Internet Networking (DIN) in the EE department, Satellite Communications B (SCMB) and the Network and Security Technologies in the Computing department.
I am the external examiner for the Foundation Year programme at Warwick University. Also for the period of 2005-2010, I was the tutor for the EE foundation year program in collaboration with Guildford College.
Since 2010, I have been the deputy chief examiner in EE with the responsibility for the overall exams process for levels 1, 2, 3 and M in EE department.

Membership of societies where academic distinction is the criterion:

IEEE Communications Society and IET Fellow.

Keynote or plenary lectures at international conferences:

Invited talk at ETSI conference (January 2012) on ITS privacy and Public Key infrastructures (PKI) design.
Keynote talk at the CHINACOM2011, Harbin China in August 2011.
Keynote talk at the PSATS 2011, Malaga, Spain in February 2011
Invited talk at PIMRC (September 2008) on VoIP.
Invited talk at ETSI conference (January 2007) on BSM security architecture.

Invited seminars at universities, laboratories or companies:

Invited seminar at Inmarsat (London) on satellite network security in December 2011.
Invited seminar at Tsinghua University, Bejing in August 2011. Tsinghua is one of the top universities of China.
Invited IEE seminar (the BAe Lecture) on Firewalls & Network Security in April 2011. In addition and between 2005- 2010, gave 3 IET seminars on IP security and IPv6.
Invited seminar at University of Bologna, Italy in May 2010.
Invited seminar on satellite security at the IWSSC (September 2009). I was also the Technical Program chair for the same conference.
Also I organized two workshops in the IWSSC conference in October 2008. The first workshop relates to the Satsix project results on IPv6 experience over satellites. The second workshop is the standards activity on satellite networking between ETSI-BSM and the Satnex project.
In June 2007, I was the main organizer of the “IP Networking over Satellites” workshop in the IST Mobile summit conference. The proceedings were published in a book in January 2008, where I am a co-editor and author of 3 whole chapters.

Sample publications:

H. Cruickshank, N. Ahmed, “A Novel pseudonym framework for ITS”, 8th ETSI Security Workshop, January 2013, Sophia Antipolis, France.
A. Weimerskirch, H. Cruickshank, B. Glas, S. Houmb, S. Randall, and W. Whyte, “Privacy in ITS”, 7th ETSI Security Workshop, January 2012, Sophia Antipolis, France.
G. Ansa, H. Cruickshank, Z. Sun, “An Energy‐Efficient Technique to Combat DOS Attacks in Delay Tolerant Networks”. ICST Transactions on Ubiquitous Environments journal. March 2012. ISSN# 2032-9377
M. Ali, L. L. Liang, Z. Sun, H. Cruickshank,” Optimization of SIP Session Setup for VoIP over DVB-RCS Satellite Networks”. International Journal of Satellite Communications Policy and Management. Volume 1, Number 1, pp. 55-76(22), April 2011.
C. Caini, H. Cruickshank, S. Farrell and M. Marchese, “Delay- and Disruption-Tolerant Networking (DTN): An Alternative Solution for Future Satellite Networking Applications. Proceedings of the IEEE. Volume: 99, Issue: 11, Nov 2011.
S. Kittiperachol, Z. Sun and H. Cruickshank. “Integration of Linux TCP and Simulation: Verification, Validation and Application”. JOURNAL OF NETWORKS, VOL. 4, NO. 9, NOVEMBER 2009.
P. Navaratnam, H. Cruickshank, and R. Tafazolli. “A Link Adaptive Transport Protocol for Multimedia Streaming Applications in Multi Hop Wireless Networks”. Mobile Networks and Applications journal by Springer, special issue on Mobility of Systems, Users, Data and Computing. June 2008.
D. Ng, H. Cruickshank, Z. Sun and M.P. Howarth. “Dynamic Balanced Key Tree Management for Secure Multicast Communications”. IEEE Transactions on Computers. Volume 56, Issue 5, Pages: 590-605 (May 2007).
A. Leung, Y. Shang and H. Cruickshank. “The Security Challenges for Mobile Ubiquitous Services”. Information Security Technical Report by Elsevier, volume 12, No 3 (pp 162-172), July 2007. ISSN 1363-4127.
Ng WHD, Cruickshank H, Sun Z, Scalable balanced batch rekeying for secure group communication, COMPUT SECUR 25(4):265-273, Jun 2006.
H. Cruickshank, M.P. Howarth, S. Iyengar, Z. Sun, and L. Claverotte. “Securing multicast in DVB-RCS satellite systems”. IEEE Wireless Communications, Special Issue on "Key Technologies and Applications of Present and Future Satellite Communications. Volume: 12, Issue5, pages 38- 45 ISSN: 1536-1284. October 2005.
L. Liang, Z. Sun and H. Cruickshank. “Relative QoS Optimisation for Multiparty Online Gaming in DiffServ Networks”. IEEE Communications, Special Issue on "Entertainment Everywhere: System and Networking Issues in Emerging Network-Centric Entertainment Systems: Part 1". Vol. 43, No. 5, pages 75- 83. ISSN: 0163-6804. May 2005.
Z. Sun, D. He, H. Cruickshank, L. Liang, A. Sánchez, C. Tocc. “Scalable Architecture and Evaluation for Multiparty Conferencing over Satellite Links”. IEEE JSAC special issue on Broadband IP Networks via Satellites - Part 2. Vol. 22 No. 3, April of 2004. pp 594-605, ISSN 0733-8716.
M. Howarth, S. Iyengar, Z. Sun, Haitham Cruickshank. “Dynamics of key management in satellite multicast”. IEEE JSAC special issue on Broadband IP Networks via Satellites, Part 2. Vol. 22, No. 2, February of 2004. pp 308-319, ISSN 0733-8716.

Research Interests | Teaching | Publications | Hobbies

Haitham's phone, fax, and address details

Haitham Cruickshank (H.Cruickshank@surrey.ac.uk)