KNH-UoN Ethics and Research Committee

Web vulnerability scanners (WVS) are tools for discovering vulnerabilities in a web application. However, they are not 100% accurate. In this paper we develop a hybrid algorithm for detecting web based applications vulnerabilities and compare its performance with other open source WVS. The comparison is based on three metrics namely time taken to scan, detection accuracy and consistency.

In the last number of years, many have looked to ICTs to enable the reduction of poverty. A lot of resources have been expended by international organizations, donors and governments in ICT4D and ICT-for-poverty reduction initiatives. The results have been mixed with many of the initiatives having negligible or negative.
Many explanations for this have been given but some have suggested that the way that the projects are carried out is problematic. One of the approaches that have had great promise for development and poverty reduction is Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach (CA). This paper uses the approach to define poverty, poverty reduction and specify a framework for conceptualizing, designing, developing and evaluating poverty reduction initiatives. CA is deliberately incomplete and requires a lot of information to make it operational. Alkire’s has specified a framework for operationalizing CA for poverty reduction. This paper uses that framework to specify a framework for poverty reduction using ICTs. In acknowledgement of the importance of agency in CA, the proposed framework the central role played by the poor community in the conception and design of the project. It lays out the process of the design and implementation of the project and the role the poor community plays, while specifying the roles of the different players in the project.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) mean different things to different people; there is little informed discussion on what ICTs actually are; how they are evolving and converging, where they might be going and what the implications are for their further use in poverty reduction. This paper explores the various definitions and conceptualizations of ICTs with a view to arriving at a working definition and conceptualization of ICTs in our attempt to suggest the requirements of a framework for the utilization of ICTs for poverty reduction. To work towards the framework, various definitions and dimensions of poverty are explored and poverty reduction efforts using the capability approach are considered. Lastly, a framework for the utilization of ICTs for poverty reduction is suggested.