AK

A.J. Klievink

info

Please Note

7 records found

Doctoral thesis (2020) - R.S. van Wegberg, M.J.G. van Eeten, A.J. Klievink
Many scientific studies and industry reports have observed the emergence of so-called cybercrime-as-a-service. The idea is that specialized suppliers in the underground economy cater to criminal entrepreneurs in need of certain capabilities – substituting specialized technical knowledge with “knowing what to buy”. The impact of this trend could be dramatic, as technical skill becomes an insignificant entry barrier for cybercrime. Forms of cybercrime motivated by financial gain, make use of a unique configuration of technical capabilities to be successful. Profit-driven cybercrimes, as they are called, range from carding to financial malware, and from extortion to cryptojacking. Given their reliance on technical capabilities, particularly these forms of cybercrime benefit from a changing crime paradigm: the commoditization of cybercrime. That is, standardized offerings of technical capabilities supplied through structured markets by specialized vendors that cybercriminals can contract to fulfill tools and techniques used in their business model. Commoditization enables outsourcing of components used in cybercrime - i.e., a botnet or cash-out solution. Thus lowering entry barriers for aspiring criminals, and potentially driving further growth in cybercrime. As many cybercriminal entrepreneurs lack the skills to provision certain parts of their business model, this incentivizes them to outsource these parts to specialized criminal vendors. With online anonymous markets - like Silk Road or AlphaBay - these entrepreneurs have found a new platform to contract vendors and acquire technical capabilities for a range of cybercriminal business models. A configuration of technical capabilities used in a business model reflects the value chain of resources. Here, not the criminal activities themselves, but the technical enablers for all these criminal activities are depicted. To create a comprehensive understanding of how businessmodels in profit-driven cybercrime are impacted by the commoditization of cybercrime, we investigate how outsourced components can fulfill technical capabilities needed in profit-driven cybercrime. This is where we use an economic lens to deliver an overview of criminal activities, resources and strategies in profit-driven cybercrime. In turn, knowing how outsourcing fulfils parts of the value chain, can help law enforcement exploit ‘chokepoints’ – i.e., use the weakest link in the value chain where criminals appear to be vulnerable. ...
New developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), such as big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain technology provide opportunities for businesses and government organisations to benefit from business-to-government (B2G) information sharing. For example, big data analytics might provide government organisations with knowledge on how to assess risks using the information they receive from businesses. However, B2G information sharing can entail risks as well. Sensitive data could fall in the wrong hands and by that the competitor of the business might obtain this data. In addition, B2G information sharing could be unlawful... ...
Master thesis (2018) - Raphaël Hannaert, Marijn Janssen, Bram Klievink, Helle Hansen, Sélinde van Engelenburg
In the past years there has been increasing awareness about the benefits of collecting and using more sensor data for businesses. This has led firms to look for data outside of their boundaries and use some data commercialization mechanisms such as data brokers, and open or privately-owned data marketplace. However, these exchanges solutions are controlled by companies which have a commercial interest that differs from users, leading to lack of transparency and lack of protection of data, loss of data ownership by the provider and no guarantee of fair pricing. These centralized data exchanges call into question the willingness of both data providers and data users to share data. As an alternative, blockchain technology can be used to reduce the control and interference of any firm, leading to a more peer-to-peer and transparent data marketplace. To improve coordination between stakeholders and to enhance a more automated marketplace, the system should be context-aware. The main contribution of this thesis is a proposition of blockchain-based components integrated within a context-aware decentralized data marketplace. Other parts of the system are highlighted, as they need to be subject to more research in order to achieve a fully functional and complete system. Finally, guidelines are suggested for generalization to other types of data and ecosystems. ...
Master thesis (2018) - Ivo Bahar Nugroho, Cees van Beers, Bram Klievink, Martijn van der Linden
The advancement in digital technology provides room for innovations in many sectors, including in the financial sector. The development of digital currencies is one example of digital advancements in this sector. Digital currencies can take many forms, and cryptocurrency is one of the most popular forms of digital currencies today. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies (or altcoins) have slowly been adopted around the world as a means of payment. However, Bitcoin and altcoins are not issued by the central banks or other central authorities, making it difficult to regulate. At the same time, in several countries, the use of cash is declining to a very low rate. As the response to these economic phenomena, central banks in some countries are investigating the possibility of introducing their own version of digital currency which is called central bank-issued digital currency or CBDC. This research shows how to implement transaction cost economics (TCE) framework to characterize transaction costs in several CBDC design options through in-depth semi-structured interview sessions. The interviewees were the experts from central banks, commercial bank, regulatory bodies, and relevant NGOs in the European developed economies. The results of the interview sessions showed several findings. First, according to the experts, there are three main CBDC design options: Retail CBDC, Wholesale CBDC, and Full-reserve Depository Banks CBDC. Second, among the three transactional dimensions of TCE (uncertainty, transaction frequency, and asset specificity), the uncertainty aspect provides a significant contribution to overall transaction costs. Third, the central bank and commercial banks are the ones that bear most of the transaction costs, especially in Retail CBDC design option, while the households and non-financial institutions do not need to bear any transaction costs. ...

An application to the Industry 4.0 domain

Master thesis (2017) - Martijn Cligge, Harry Bouwman, Bram Klievink, Marijn Janssen, R Scheele
Although aligning business models with enterprise architecture concepts can provide insights into business model implementation aspects, current approaches that facilitate business model enterprise architecture have several limitations: they often lack a network perspective, facilitate one level analysis of the business model implementation, are heavyweight or have an informal approach. Therefore, this research presents a formal representation for business model – enterprise architecture alignment, which is developed though an iterative design process with researchers and practitioners. Findings of this study have resulted in a formal business metamodel, a formal business model – enterprise architecture metamodel, two target metamodels and a corresponding modelling procedure. These metamodels facilitate a multi-level description, visualization and analysis of the technological implementation of business models through enterprise architecture concepts. The metamodels are subsequently applied to the Industry 4.0 domain. Main contributions of this study are the formal approach, the development of an intermediate lightweight metamodel to bridge the gap between business models and enterprise architectures, and the proposal of various extensions to enterprise architecture modelling language ArchiMate. Lastly, this study also provides some first insights into Industry 4.0 business model implementation aspects. Further research could focus on the inclusion of a quantitative financial analysis in the business model implementation approach. ...

Use-Case Driven Conceptual Design of Information Flows to Track and Trace Modular Containers in Terminal Operating System in PI-Port

Master thesis (2017) - Rowoon An, Lorant Tavasszy, Jafar Rezaei, Bram Klievink
This research has proposed a tentative design of information flows on PI embed three PI components: (1) modular containers, (2) open interface web, and (3) global protocols. Through the design, this research has identified potentials of the primary PI elements to resolve current issues in freight logistics (i.e., inefficient space utilization on loading units and lack of their visibility). In-line with trends of the maritime logistics, PI ports in the design exploit the major PI elements in one of the value-added services, repositioning operation. In the context of PI ports, requirements on the three PI components have been elicited and reflected in the conceptual design. The adjusted RAMI 4.0 has been applied to visualize not only information flows in PI ports but also required logistics entities, activities and interactions in Track and Trace (T&T) system, and moreover operational processes. As a result, the conceptual model proposes requirements for PI ports along with potentials of each PI element. ...

Improving Quality of Product Master Data Exchanged Through Data Pools

Master thesis (2017) - Frank Leeuwenburg, Yao-hua Tan, Marijn Janssen, Sélinde van Engelenburg, Bram Klievink, N.L. Martijn
Product master data (PMD) can be defined as a set of data that represents a selection of characteristics and aspects of its accompanying physical product. For several reasons, these data sets are increasingly exchanged between organizations within supply chains. Although this process is traditionally often supported by non-automated technologies such as Excel spreadsheet, telephone, email, and fax, the adoption of data pools is on the rise. These inter-organizational systems allow the data supplying party to publish a product’s master data set in one centralized system after which it can be accessed by all subscribed data recipients. ...