A Research Project Submitted In Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirements For The Award Of Msc Data communication in the Faculty Of Computing and Information Management At Kca University
Many higher education institutions offer educational courses online on ELearning basis with web 2.0 applications to support and conduct their coursework. One of the novel tools used in such learning platforms is video conferencing. Little has been done so far to ensure the security and integrity of information transmitted over video conferencing platforms in ELearning. Since this style of education so heavily relies on the web, threats uncommon to other forms of learning are encountered. Security measures implemented for online applications have not been very successful in securing such systems due to their unique nature.
This research sought to develop a security framework for use in securing video conferencing systems as used in synchronous ELearning in institutions of higher learning. The paper looks at the current security measures in use, their shortfalls and proposes a framework of implementing video conferencing security.
The main problem addressed is how to effectively secure a multi user learning video conferencing system that is accessible remotely but centrally hosted. The goal of the research was to provide institutions of higher learning with a framework for deploying secure video conferencing educational programs in the most secure and effective manner. The framework was developed from a study of current information security models employed in securing video conferencing and correlating them to the synchronous ELearning environment. Three relevant models were examined; The Conceptual model for Security Outsourcing (Samarasinghe et al. 2007), The Information Security Conceptual Architecture Approach (Oracle, 2011) and The Dependability model for e-learning systems (Al-Dahoud1 et al. 2010).
The developed framework was then tested by simulation and the results analysed to validate its effectiveness.
