Let Your CyberAlter Ego Share Information and Manage Spam

Almost all of us have multiple cyberspace identities, and these {\em cyber}alter egos are networked together to form a vast cyberspace social network. This network is distinct from the world-wide-web (WWW), which is being queried and mined to the tune of billions of dollars everyday, and until recently, has gone largely unexplored. Empirically, the cyberspace social networks have been found to possess many of the same complex features that characterize its real counterparts, including scale-free degree distributions, low diameter, and extensive connectivity. We show that these topological features make the latent networks particularly suitable for explorations and management via local-only messaging protocols. {\em Cyber}alter egos can communicate via their direct links (i.e., using only their own address books) and set up a highly decentralized and scalable message passing network that can allow large-scale sharing of information and data. As one particular example of such collaborative systems, we provide a design of a spam filtering system, and our large-scale simulations show that the system achieves a spam detection rate close to 100%, while the false positive rate is kept around zero. This system has several advantages over other recent proposals (i) It uses an already existing network, created by the same social dynamics that govern our daily lives, and no dedicated peer-to-peer (P2P) systems or centralized server-based systems need be constructed; (ii) It utilizes a percolation search algorithm that makes the query-generated traffic scalable; (iii) The network has a built in trust system (just as in social networks) that can be used to thwart malicious attacks; iv) It can be implemented right now as a plugin to popular email programs, such as MS Outlook, Eudora, and Sendmail.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure

Hanging out with offline friends in an online context : how the experience of "partial anonymity" impacts on identity management : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

Instant Messaging has increased in popularity since 1999 and is now often used by adolescents to communicate with friends already known in their offline social networks. Instant Messaging can he thought of as a hybrid between chat rooms and email. Chat rooms are conducted in "real time" but are an open network in that anyone can have access to interacting with one another. Email is asynchronous and yet it is also a more personal, "closed network" where communicators must generally exchange addresses before they can communicate. When email is used for social reasons communicators generally know each other offline already. Instant Messaging is both synchronous like chat rooms, and can be used as a closed social network, like email. One of the distinguishing characteristics of MSN Instant Messenger (IM) when used between friends is the experience of knowing the other communicator both offline and online. This situation offers the anonymity traditionally experienced online while acknowledging that communicators bring offline knowledge of each other to their online interaction. Thus, the overall relationship is not conducted under conditions of anonymity like that experienced with chat rooms, MUD's and newsgroups. Online anonymity, in these forums, has been implicated in negative behaviours such as "flaming" and deception which are largely attributed to deindividuation. This research investigates how offline knowledge, which presumably acknowledges the other communicator as an individual, impacts on the experience of hanging out online. Adolescent girls construct identity through friendships and this research is concerned with identity constructions when friendships are maintained between both online and offline contexts. The research design was based on an ethnographic approach to the study of the Internet. Eight adolescent girls (aged 13-17) were interviewed both online through IM and in a more traditional face-to-face context. Data analysis was informed by positioning theory (Davies & Harré. 1990) to provide a coherent understanding around how identities are continuously constructed and transformed by contextual criterion. Analysis revealed that 1M fulfils adolescent motivations toward social connection and expressing personal autonomy which are both important in the process of identity formation. Instant Messaging is constructed as a space which allows the girls to balance these motivations in a way which helps them to maintain a positive self-image. The anonymity experienced online is tempered by offline knowledge of each other. This produces an environment of "partial anonymity". This study examines the experience of partial anonymity and the distinct advantages arising from the lack of online social cues. Control and protection are integral advantages which allow the girls to balance teenage motivations, thus informing their sense of self in largely positive ways. This becomes evident in how they demonstrate commitment to their friendships and negotiate disclosure, trust and risk. Findings are discussed in relation to contemporary social identity theories which have been applied to computer-mediated communication. Partial anonymity changes how adolescents use technology to construct and preserve a positive self-image. Adolescents understand the flow between contexts and the resulting negotiations around evolving socialisation standards

Identifying a Criminal's Network of Trust

Tracing criminal ties and mining evidence from a large network to begin a crime case analysis has been difficult for criminal investigators due to large numbers of nodes and their complex relationships. In this paper, trust networks using blind carbon copy (BCC) emails were formed. We show that our new shortest paths network search algorithm combining shortest paths and network centrality measures can isolate and identify criminals' connections within a trust network. A group of BCC emails out of 1,887,305 Enron email transactions were isolated for this purpose. The algorithm uses two central nodes, most influential and middle man, to extract a shortest paths trust network.Comment: 2014 Tenth International Conference on Signal-Image Technology & Internet-Based Systems (Presented at Third International Workshop on Complex Networks and their Applications,SITIS 2014, Marrakesh, Morocco, 23-27, November 2014

"May I borrow Your Filter?" Exchanging Filters to Combat Spam in a Community

Leveraging social networks in computer systems can be effective in dealing with a number of trust and security issues. Spam is one such issue where the "wisdom of crowds" can be harnessed by mining the collective knowledge of ordinary individuals. In this paper, we present a mechanism through which members of a virtual community can exchange information to combat spam. Previous attempts at collaborative spam filtering have concentrated on digest-based indexing techniques to share digests or fingerprints of emails that are known to be spam. We take a different approach and allow users to share their spam filters instead, thus dramatically reducing the amount of traffic generated in the network. The resultant diversity in the filters and cooperation in a community allows it to respond to spam in an autonomic fashion. As a test case for exchanging filters we use the popular SpamAssassin spam filtering software and show that exchanging spam filters provides an alternative method to improve spam filtering performance

People with cerebral palsy and their family’s preferences about genomics research

Introduction: The goal of this study was to understand individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) and their family’s attitudes and preferences to genomic research, including international data sharing and biobanking. Methods: Individuals with CP and their family members were invited to participate in the web-based survey via email (NSW/ACT CP Register) or via posts on social media by Cerebral Palsy Alliance, CP Research Network, and CP Now. Survey responses included yes/no/unsure, multiple choices, and Likert scales. Fisher’s exact and χ2 tests were used to assess if there were significant differences between subgroups. Results: Individuals with CP and their families (n = 145) were willing to participate in genomics research (68%), data sharing (82%), and biobanking efforts (75%). This willingness to participate was associated with completion of tertiary education, previous genetic testing experience, overall higher genomic awareness, and trust in international researchers. The survey respondents also expressed ongoing communication and diverse information needs regarding the use of their samples and data. Major concerns were associated with privacy and data security. Discussion: The success of genomic research and international data sharing efforts in CP are contingent upon broad support and recruitment. Ongoing consultation and engagement of individuals with CP and their families will facilitate trust and promote increased awareness of genomics in CP that may in turn maximize participant uptake and recruitment