Cover
Volume 7, Special Issue 4 (2026)

Published: August 25, 2026

Pages: 249-256

Research Article

Reliability analysis of hybrid networks in smart university environments to counter intelligent targeted attacks

Abstract

Managing network infrastructure resilience under hostile conditions is a fundamental priority for modern smart university ecosystems. This paper introduces an advanced analytical framework to model and quantify the resilience of hybrid networks protected by Shamir Secret Sharing and Diffie-Hellman cryptographic protocols under intelligent targeted cyber-attacks. The network architecture incorporates a primary hybrid path operating under a 4-out-of-5 threshold logic alongside an independent fallback path managed by a backup componentB_6. A rigorous mathematical derivation using probability theory establishes the joint availability equations for both normal operation and targeted strategic strikes, where an attacker specifically aims to compromise vital edge components B_1andB_5. To validate the closed-form reliability expressions, a robust Monte Carlo simulation with 10^5 iterations was executed in MATLAB. The numerical findings demonstrate that while targeted attacks reduce the primary path's capacity to zero, the independent backup mechanism successfully preserves data-flow continuity and encryption integrity, maintaining a steady system availability floor of R_(sys.)≥ 0.90. These insights provide concrete engineering design criteria for implementing fault-tolerant secure data pathways in digital academic institutions.

References

  1. K. Tanaka and M. Ito, "Machine learning for reliability parameter estimation," Machine Learning, 2023. Available: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10994-023-06334-w.
  2. W. Stallings, Cryptography and Network Security: Principles and Practice, 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Pearson, 2014.
  3. A. Shamir, "How to share a secret," Communications of the ACM, vol. 22, no. 11, pp. 612–613, Nov. 1979. Availablehttps://doi.org/10.1145/359168.359176.
  4. H. Al-Mohammad and I. Awan, "Security reliability block diagrams for hybrid key distribution centres," Journal of Network and Computer Applications, vol. 209, Art. no. 103540, 2023. Available:: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnca.2022.103540
  5. L. Zhang and Z. Liu, "k-out-of-n reliability models for distributed key management," IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, 2024. Available:https://doi.org/10.1109/TDSC.2024.3354122
  6. L. Johnson and K. Brown, "A unified metric for cryptographic resilience," in Proc. USENIX Security Symposium, 2024. Available:: https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity24
  7. H. Pishro-Nik and S. T. A. Naqvi, Reliability Models of Complex Systems for Robots and Automation, Boca Raton, FL, USA: CRC Press, 2017. Available: https://doi.org/10.1201/9781315154336
  8. W. Kuo and M. J. Zuo, Advanced Reliability Modeling: Theory and Applications, Berlin, Germany: Springer, 2023. Available:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24756-0
  9. Y. Chen et al., "Optimizing key management in cloud storage using k-out-of-n reliability systems," IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 1450–1462, 2022. Available: https://doi.org/10.1109/TCC.2021.3050985
  10. A. Chowdhury and D. Koval, Power Distribution System Reliability: Practical Methods and Applications, Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Available:: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470454244