COIT20246 Homework: CPU Spectre/Meltdown, GUI OS & Blockchains

This assignment explores various topics in computer science, starting with a discussion of CPU vulnerabilities like Spectre and Meltdown, focusing on how these exploits occur at the CPU level. It then delves into the history of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) before 1985, highlighting the Xerox Alto as a pioneering system. The assignment further examines Low-Powered Wide-Area Networks (LPWANs), detailing technologies like RPMA and their applications in IoT. Voice over IP (VoIP) protocols, specifically the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), are also discussed. Finally, the assignment touches upon blockchain technology, emphasizing its broader applications beyond cryptocurrencies. Desklib offers a wealth of similar solved assignments and study resources to aid students in their learning journey.

COIT 20246 ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION
Due date: Thursday Week 11 (2PM AEST)
Part: Written Assessment
Weighting: 30% of total assessment.
Submission: Electronic (see course website for details)
Instructions
It will be necessary to use literature/online resources to complete this assignment,
please ensure you cite and reference any such materials using the Harvard format.
DO NOT copy content directly from either the text or Internet resources: this
assignment is to be in your own words. You will lose marks if you do not use your
own words!
Please complete your assignment using this submission template file, inserting your
responses where indicated.
DO NOT delete the marking criteria page – changes are permitted to the formatting
of other pages including the headers and footers.
Please fill in the following details:
Student Name

Student Number
Tutor’s Name
Tasks
There are ten (10) tasks, one for each week: the tasks are detailed below. There is a
table to complete for each task. Please fill in the information required.

Note: Each resource summary should be around 200-300 words.
Week 1
The text discusses how modern CPUs function. Recently a critical flaw in microprocessor design has
been discovered that allows two extremely serious security exploits: Spectre and Meltdown. Find and
summarise ONE resource that describes how either of these exploits work. The resource (and your
summary) should focus on what is occurring in the CPU that allows these exploits to occur.
Title and Reference:
What You Need to Do Because of Flaws in Computer Chips
Metz, C. and Chen, B. 2018. ‘What You Need to Do Because of Flaws in Computer Chips’. [online]
Nytimes.com. Available at:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/technology/meltdown-spectre-questions.html
[Accessed 24 May 2018].
Summary:
The article talks about the basic overview of spectra and meltdown vulnerabilities.
The article is chosen for the reason as it has describes the security threats that can be
caused for these vulnerabilities. Apart from that the article has also discussed about
ways for preventing these threats and the steps that a consumer can taken in order to
make the system safe from the external threats.
Memory isolation is one of the key security feature of a computer system. One of the
best example of this is the Kernel of the system which is non accessible by the user.
The meltdown vulranability exploits the side effects of out-of-order execution on
modern processors to read arbitrary kernel-memory locations including personal data
and passwords (Metz and Chen 2018). The modern day processors are included with

the Out-of-order execution for better performance. This attack works on various Inter
produced chipsets. The attack is independent of any operating system and does not
rely on any software. The work of the Meltdown vulnerability is to break down the
security checksgiven by the address space isolation . The exposure also opens up
advisory for reading the memory of other systems connected or the virtual memories,
or the cloud system connected with the processor without taking any privilege or
permission from the system.
This malwareaffected every computer system chipset produced in the last 20 years.
The malware got this name because of the fact that is can even break down the
hardware boundaries of a system. If any attacker exploits this malware the attacker
can gain access to any data in the system, as well as if any data is stored in the cloud
system connected.
As the vulnerability exists at the hardware level of the chipset so there is no
developed patch yet, but Intel is has developed a software which can detect if there is
any issue with the processor. Google and Microsoft has also helped in developing the
patches.
I have learnt the difference between the spectra and meltdown. However, the
discussion has been based only on meltdown. I have learnt the causes of meltdown
and the possible steps those can mitigate the threats from the meltdown.

Week 2
Prior to 1985, there were very few Operating Systems (OSes) that used Graphical User Interfaces
(GUIs). Find and summarise ONE resource that describes ONE of these GUI operating systems. The
OS must have been release prior to 1985 so cannot be Microsoft Windows.
Title and Reference:
History of Computers and Computing, Birth of the modern computer, Personal
computer, Xerox Alto
History-computer.com. 2018. ‘History of Computers and Computing, Birth of the modern
computer, Personal computer, Xerox Alto’. [online] Available at:
http://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Personal/Alto.html [Accessed 22 May 2018].
Summary:
The article tells about the first operating system that supported the graphical user
interface. This paper discuses about the detailing of the working principal and the
hardware and the software specification of the first operating system that supported
the graphical user interface(GUI), and the name of that operating system is Xerox
Alto.
In the history before the realise of the Microsoft, the Xerox park developed the first
what the worldknows today the GUI. Although the technology was heavily criticised
for failing the innovation technology. The first developed project were developed for
the PACR ALTO systems and the Xerox Star machines (History-computer.com
2018). The machinehad a display or the graphics processing unit. It was first
developed in the year of the 1973. The system had a bitmapped screen, with grey and
white outputs.

This system became the first computer to display the metaphor and the graphic
interface. Although the system was not for the commercial purpose, but thousands of
the systems were built at the times and were internally used as the PARC offices. The
display had many few of the items that the modern generation system has, like a menu
button, a delete button, an open and a delete button. By the late 1981 the PARC
started producing a new system named as the PARC star system. This system was the
first generated personal computer system in the year of the 1973.
This became the first system in the history which came with the metaphor and mouse
driven graphics or the GUI. Unlike the Alto this became commercially available, but
only a few number of systems were sold due to the heavy price of the systems. Later,
Xerox sold the item to the IBM for a very less cost.
The knowledge I have gained from this article is that Windows is not the operating
system to invent the GUI for the first time. The detailing about the hardware of the
Xerox Alto and its working principal become known to me from this article. It can be
said that the invention of the Xerox Alto had opened the gateway for the further
development of the GUI supported operating system.
Week 3
Low-Powered Wide-Area Networks (LPWANs) are wireless communication networks that are
characterised by linking devices over large distances. Devices (including simple sensors) typically can
only communicate at very low bit rates, however, the communication and associated electronics
consume very little power. As such, LPWAN devices can be battery powered and operate
independently for many months or even years. Find and summarise ONE resource that describes ONE

platform or technology that implements a LPWAN.
Title and Reference:
IoT Connectivity - Comparison of LoRa, SigFox, RPMA, and other LPWAN
Technologies | IoT For
IoT For All. (2018). ‘IoT Connectivity - Comparison of LoRa, SigFox, RPMA, and other LPWAN
Technologies | IoT For All’. [online] Available at: https://www.iotforall.com/iot-connectivity-
comparison-lora-sigfox-rpma-lpwan-technologies/ [Accessed 24 May 2018].
Summary:
The article focus on the new technology which is known as LPWAN. The reason for
choosing this article is that the article focuses on the use of the emerging technology
called internet of things(IoT) using the LPWAN.
The LPWAN stands for the low power wireless area network, and it is not a single
technology but a combination of various lower power technologies. The LPWAN is
one of the most important aspect of the internet of things, especially in the IOT of the
smart cities. Due to its low power use and high speed it is one of the most used thing
in the smart cities (IoT For All 2018). There are various types of the technology that
are developed all over the world, the most used one in the case of the IOT are the
RPMA, or the random phase multiple access which is developed by the Ingeu INC. IT
helps in the data communication with a speed of 2.4Ghz, but the price of this
technology is bit higher than the traditionally LPWAN.
The most important feature of this is the LPWAN over the cellular connectivity. As
the lpwan provides better battery efficient so the it provides connectivity for a long
time enabling the process of the M2m in a better way.

The cellular connective often suffers a poor connectivity and often have gaps, also in
IOT there needs a continuous strong connection, the LPWAN helps in providing the
same for a long range of time (Neumann, Montavont and Noël 2016). As this is a new
technology the it has a very good and fair future. The landscape of the technology is
constantly changing, as many organisations are working on it to give a better version
of it.
The information I have found from this article is helpful in understanding the different
usage of the LPWAN in the application of the IoT. However, there are no
standardization for the use of LPWAN which may become a problem. It can be
assumed that with the advancement of the technology further research will be
developed regarding the use and application of the LPWAN.
Week 4
Voice over IP (VoIP) is a group of hardware and software technologies that allow users to
communicate via voice and video over the Internet. VoIP uses a number of different software
protocols, depending on the application. Find and summarise ONE resource that describes ONE of
these VoIP protocols.
Title and Reference:
The Session Initiation Protocol - The Internet Protocol Journal
Cisco. 2018. ‘The Session Initiation Protocol - The Internet Protocol Journal - Volume 6,
Number 1’. [online] Available at:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/press/internet-protocol-journal/back-issues/table-
contents-23/sip.html [Accessed 22 May 2018].
The reason for choosing this article is that this article has discussed about one of the

VoIP protocol which is known as Session Initiation Protocol. The discussion points
out the basic working principal about the session initiation protocol.
Session initiation protocol(SIP) is a signalling protocol. The main objective of the SIP protocol is to
create , modify and terminate the session between two end points ( Cisco. 2018). The endpoints can
be the two communicating system in a process. The protocol works ta the application layer and it helps
to communicate over the voice calls over the internet.
The protocol is defined in RFC 3261. The SIP protocol ha standardization defined by
the Internet Engineering Task Force. Both the unicast and the multicast of the
communication can be done using the SIP protocol.
There are five components of the SIP protocol which are sed during the establishment
of the communication.
User location, User capabilities, user availability, management of the issue , setup of
the session
The article has given the description and the components used in the establishment of
the connection through SIP. There are various other protocols through which the
voice over internet communication can be established. However, the majority of the
devices use SIP protocol for the establishment of the communication.
Week 5
One of the many uses of cryptography has been the development of the blockchain. Blockchains are
commonly used as the basis for maintaining the data integrity of crypto currencies, though have many,
many more applications. Find and summarise ONE resource that describes how blockchains work.
Note that the resource should focus on the blockchain mechanism, NOT crypto currencies.
Title and Reference:

Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology | SAP
SAP. 2018. ‘Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology | SAP’. [online] Available at:
https://www.sap.com/products/leonardo/blockchain.html [Accessed 24 May 2018].
Summary:
The article talks about the block chain technology, which was initially use for in the
keeping the records in crypto currency transaction. The reason for choosing this
article is that , the article discusses the block chain as a emerging technology for
implementation of the secured storage of the records. In this context, the article
discusses about various forms of block chain technologies along with the challenges
and opportunities regarding this technology.
The block chain is one of the latest technology that has hit the market in the recent
years (SAP 2018). IT can be defined as an incorruptible ledger of any economic
transaction that can easily be programmed to record any value and not just any
financial value. It can be said the block chain can be implemented in thing from the
Google docs to the cryptocurrencys. Few of the benefits on the technology is, due to
the lack of the central authority it makes the system an ideal ledger and settlement
solution for large projects.
It becomes easier to trace and track how the assets move though any supply chain,
including the vendors and the factories to the transmission of the transportation lines
in their final locations.Although the system has many issues in the current status like
the security issues of the block chain is not yet tested in the market or in real life
scenarios. Also the system is very hard to implement manly because of its open

source projects.
The price of the developed system are also very high apart from those which are
freely available (Peter and Moser 2017). Thetechnology batches the valued
transactions that are hashed and encoded into the mircke tree. The data adoption
techniques in the system is quite easy and can be done without any hustle or bustle.
This technology has a large potential of transforming any business for long terms.
The article has provided a good amount information about the block chain
technology. Apart from that this discussion has also provided information about the
working principal of the block chain and the possible areas iof technology on which
this technique can be implemented.
Week 6
One controversial practical application of network traffic management is in the contravention of the
principle of “net neutrality”. Find and summarise ONE resource that describes what net neutrality is
and how its contravention could impact on individual and business users of the Internet.
Title and Reference:
What Is Net Neutrality?
American Civil Liberties Union. (2018). ‘What Is Net Neutrality?’. [online] Available at:
https://www.aclu.org/issues/free-speech/internet-speech/what-net-neutrality
[Accessed 24 May 2018].
Summary:
The article focuses on the net neutrality. The reason for choosing this article is that,
the discussion in the article throws a clear understanding of the net neutrality along

with the possible effects of tye net neutrality on the individuals and the business
organizations.
In the last decade there had been many debates for the topic of principals of the net
neutrality. The economicliterature researchers have come up two definitions of the
concept, the most basic or the primary definition is explain to stop the payments off
the contents providers to the internet providers or as it said as the one sided pricing
modelling, where as in the case of the two sided price modelling this type of the
payments are permitted .
The recherché program is has focused in the process or explore how the net nutalllity
rule would affect the market. The biggest concern in this process that the internet will
become a pay to the play technology with two different tiers that is one having the
high speed access and the other which does not have the speed. And as a consequence
the high end organisation will capture the speed nets.
The organisation like the Google, Facebook and others will get the speed internet but
will have to pay a very much higher cost. Also the dark side of this concept is that it
will be harder for the start-up organisations to progress. Also the prices of the call
cost might get increased due to prices that the telephone communication industries
has to pay. Some of the ISP transparency disclosure to the customers. This is
something which can change the entire market of the internet usage and bring
revolutionary effects.
The information I have found from this article has helped me to gain the insight of
the net neutrality. The effects of the net neutrality is well understood from this article.