The Exploitation of Web Navigation Data: Ethical Issues and Alternative Scenarios

Nowadays, the users' browsing activity on the Internet is not completely private due to many entities that collect and use such data, either for legitimate or illegal goals. The implications are serious, from a person who exposes unconsciously his private information to an unknown third party entity, to a company that is unable to control its information to the outside world. As a result, users have lost control over their private data in the Internet. In this paper, we present the entities involved in users' data collection and usage. Then, we highlight what are the ethical issues that arise for users, companies, scientists and governments. Finally, we present some alternative scenarios and suggestions for the entities to address such ethical issues.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur

Anatomia del malware

L'esistenza di malware (virus, worm, cavalli di Troia) è uno degli aspetti negativi più rilevanti della rivoluzione digitale, con risvolti penali ed economici. Il fenomeno coinvolge anche il settore dei dispositivi mobili (smartphone, tablet, …) in cui si è passati da circa 2000 malware nel 2011, a più di 13000 nel 2012. Questo articolo analizza le tecniche per realizzare malware e permettere allo stesso di introdursi nei sistemi, rendersi residente, prenderne il controllo ed attivarsi a fronte di certi eventi, nascondendosi contemporaneamente ai programmi anti-virus. L'analisi considera sia i normali personal computer sia i più recenti dispositivi mobil

Using Passive Measurements to Demystify Online Trackers

The Internet revolution has led to the rise of trackers—online tracking services that shadow users’ browsing activity. Despite trackers’ pervasiveness, few users install privacy-enhancing plug-ins

Method for detecting web tracking services

Method for detecting web tracking services during browsing activity performed by clients having associated client identifiers, the method comprising the steps of extracting key- value pairs contained into navigation data, looking for one-to-one correspondence between said client identifiers and the values contained in said keys and selecting the keys for which at least a client-value one-to-one correspondence for at least a predetermined number of clients is observed, said keys identifying the associated services as services performing tracking activities

Congenital hydrocephalus in an Egyptian baby with trisomy 18: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Trisomy 18 is the second most common autosomal trisomy after Down syndrome (trisomy 21). A variety of anomalies of the central nervous system are observed in cases of trisomy 18. The association between trisomy 18 and congenital hydrocephalus is very rare.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 4-month-old male Egyptian baby boy was referred to Assiut University hospital for evaluation of his large-sized head. The initial clinical examination revealed facial dysmorphism including a prominent wide forehead, wide anterior fontanel, bushy eyebrows, synophrosis, small palpebral fissures, ocular hypertelorism, high arched palate, depressed nasal bridge, low-set ears, micrognathia, bilateral clenched hands with over lapping fingers, rocker-bottom feet and penile hypospadius. A computed tomography scan of the patient's head showed a dilatation of all the ventricular systems of the brain that suggested hydrocephalus. A chromosome analysis of his peripheral blood confirmed a trisomy of chromosome 18 (47, XX+18). The hydrocephalus was treated with a ventriculoperitoneal shunt because of the abnormal increase in his head circumference. He was discharged home on nasogastric feeds at the age of 5 months. Despite the advice of the medical team, his parents did not bring him for further follow up. He died at the age of 7 months due to a sudden cardiorespiratory arrest at home.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Microcephaly is not mandatory for the diagnosis of trisomy 18 syndrome because some cases of trisomy 18 can be associated with other anomalies of the central nervous system, including hydrocephalus. There is no proven explanation for this association, and the management of hydrocephalus in such a situation is not different from the usual course of management.</p

A method for exploring traffic passive traces and grouping similar urls

Computer security method for the analysis of passive traces of HTTP and HTTPS traffic on the Internet, with extraction and grouping of similar Web transactions automatically generated by malware, malicious services, unsolicited advertising or other, comprises at least the following processing and control steps: a) URLs extraction from an operational network, using passive exploration of the HTTP e HTTPS traffic data and subsequent collection into batches of the extracted URLs; b) detection of similar URLs, by metrics calculation based on the distance among URLs, namely based on a measure of the degree of diversity among pairs of character strings composing the URLs; c) activation of one or more clustering algorithms used to group the URLs based on the similarity metrics and to obtain, within each group of URLs, elements with similar/homogeneous features, adapted to be analyzed as a single entity; d) visualization of elements according to a sorting based on the degree of cohesion of the URLs contained in each grouping

Epicardial Fat Thickness in Children with Classic Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia

Objective:Epicardial fat thickness (EFT) is an emerging cardio-metabolic risk factor and has been shown to be related to atherosclerosis. EFT has not been studied in the context of CAH. This study aimed to evaluate EFT in children with CAH and its relation to carotid artery intima-media thickness (CA-IMT) and left ventricular (LV) functions.Methods:Thirty-six children with classical CAH were compared with 36 healthy controls. All patients had confirmed CAH and were receiving steroid substitution therapy. Patients and controls underwent anthropometric evaluation, measurement of fasting lipids, glucose, insulin, homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). LV functions and EFT were assessed using conventional echocardiography. Duplex ultrasonography was used to measure CA-IMT.Results:Compared to controls, patients had greater EFT (p=0.001), CA-IMT (p=0.01), LV mass index (LVMI) (p=0.001) and prolonged mitral deceleration time (DcT) (p=0.01). CAH patients also had significantly worse HOMA-IR (p=0.001) than controls. Abnormalities were worse in uncontrolled CAH on treatment. Multivariate analysis in CAH subjects showed EFT correlated positively with waist circumference odds ratio (OR) [OR=1.9; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07-1.14; p=0.01], 17-hydroxyprogesterone [OR=1.6; 95% CI: 1.33-2.89; p=0.05], testosterone concentration (OR=1.7; 95% CI: 1.55-2.13; p=0.01), LVMI (OR=1.14; 95% Cl: 1.08-1.13; p=0.01), mitral DcT (OR=2.25; 95% CI: 1.15-2.05; p=0.01) and CA-IMT (OR=1.6; 95% CI: 1.15-2.05; p=0.01).Conclusion:EFT is elevated in children with classical CAH, particularly in those with poor control, and is correlated with CA-IMT, LV mass and mitral DcT. Measurement of EFT in CAH children may help to identify those at high risk of developing LV dysfunction and subclinical atherosclerosis

Vitamin D level in preschool children with recurrent wheezy chest, and its relation to the severity of the wheezing episodes

Background: Recurrent wheezy chest is a common complaint in pediatric practice. Vitamin D is a potent immunomodulator in allergic diseases as wheezy chest and asthma. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency has been increasing in Egypt leading to significant morbidities.Objectives: This study aimed to assess serum 25 hydroxy (OH) Vitamin D level in preschool children with recurrent wheezy chest, and to assess its relation to the recurrence, severity, and level of control of the wheezing episodes.Methods: The study included 100 preschool children (aged 2 to 5 years), of both sexes, recruited from the Emergency department, Allergy and Pulmonology units at Assiut University Children Hospital, Egypt. They should have at least 3 documented episodes of wheeze, cough, and difficulty breathing in the last year with clinical improvement on inhaled short-acting beta 2 agonists. Patients were subjected to questionnaire-based history, clinical examination, and laboratory investigations (complete blood count (CBC) with the absolute eosinophil count, serum total IgE level, and serum 25 hydroxy (OH) Vitamin D level). Pediatric Respiratory Assessment Measure (PRAM score) for assessment of the severity of the wheezing episodes and Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) based level of asthma control for children 5 years and younger were applied. The patients were grouped according to PRAM score to mild, moderate and severe episodes and according to vitamin D level as sufficient and below-sufficient groups (including deficient and insufficient patients).Results: 25(OH) Vitamin D level was below-sufficient in 53% of the studied patients (deficient in 32% and insufficient in 21%). PRAM score was significantly lower in patients with sufficient 25(OH) Vitamin D level versus those with below-sufficient level (p &lt; 0.025). There was a significant negative correlation between PRAM score and 25 (OH) Vitamin D level (r = -0.334, p = 0.001).Conclusion: There is an inverse relationship between 25(OH)vitamin D level and parameters of asthma severity, as well as with the level of asthma control in preschool children with recurrent wheezy chest.Keywords: Vitamin D, recurrent wheezy chest, preschool childre

Beyond Cookie Monster Amnesia:Real World Persistent Online Tracking

Browser fingerprinting is a relatively new method of uniquely identifying browsers that can be used to track web users. In some ways it is more privacy-threatening than tracking via cookies, as users have no direct control over it. A number of authors have considered the wide variety of techniques that can be used to fingerprint browsers; however, relatively little information is available on how widespread browser fingerprinting is, and what information is collected to create these fingerprints in the real world. To help address this gap, we crawled the 10,000 most popular websites; this gave insights into the number of websites that are using the technique, which websites are collecting fingerprinting information, and exactly what information is being retrieved. We found that approximately 69\% of websites are, potentially, involved in first-party or third-party browser fingerprinting. We further found that third-party browser fingerprinting, which is potentially more privacy-damaging, appears to be predominant in practice. We also describe \textit{FingerprintAlert}, a freely available browser extension we developed that detects and, optionally, blocks fingerprinting attempts by visited websites