EPIC: a Methodology for Evaluating Privacy Violation Risk in Cybersecurity Systems

Cybersecurity Systems (CSSs) play a fundamental role in guaranteeing data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. However, while processing data, CSSs can intentionally or unintentionally expose personal information to people that can misuse them. For this reason, privacy implications of a CSS should be carefully evaluated. This is a challenging task mainly because modern CSSs have complex architectures and components. Moreover, data processed by CSSs can be exposed to different actors, both internal and external to the organization. This contribution presents a methodology, called EPIC, that is specifically designed to evaluate privacy violation risks in cybersecurity systems. Differently, from other general purpose guidelines, EPIC is an operational methodology aimed at guiding security and privacy experts with step-by-step instructions from modeling data exposure in the CSS to the systematical identification of privacy threats and evaluation of their associated privacy violation risk. This contribution also shows the application of the EPIC methodology to the use case of a large academic organization CSS protecting over 15, 000 hosts

Do (microtargeted) deepfakes have real effects on political attitudes?

Deepfakes are perceived as a powerful form of disinformation. Although many studies have focused on detecting deepfakes, few have measured their effects on political attitudes, and none have studied microtargeting techniques as an amplifier. We argue that microtargeting techniques can amplify the effects of deepfakes, by enabling malicious political actors to tailor deepfakes to susceptibilities of the receiver. In this study, we have constructed a political deepfake (video and audio), and study its effects on political attitudes in an online experiment (N = 278). We find that attitudes toward the depicted politician are significantly lower after seeing the deepfake, but the attitudes toward the politician’s party remain similar to the control condition. When we zoom in on the microtargeted group, we see that both the attitudes toward the politician and the attitudes toward his party score significantly lower than the control condition, suggesting that microtargeting techniques can indeed amplify the effects of a deepfake, but for a much smaller subgroup than expected

Efficient rhizobacteria promote growth and alleviate NaCl-induced stress in the plant species Sulla carnosa

Peer reviewe

News Won’t Find Me? Exploring Inequalities in Social Media News Use With Tracking Data

The rise of news content on social media has been accompanied by a hope that people with lower socioeconomic status and less interest in political affairs would be “accidentally” exposed to news. By combining tracking and survey data from a Dutch online panel (N = 413), we analyze how political interest, income, and education influence social media news exposure and consumption. Higher levels of political interest are associated with higher amounts of news exposure on Facebook and more news items consumed via social media. Users engage less often in news-related follow-up behavior after consuming news items via social media than after consuming news items referred via news websites. If socialInformation and Communication Technolog

Enhancement of acid phosphatase secretion and Pi acquisition in Suaeda fruticosa on calcareous soil by high saline level

The aim of this study was to identify the relationship between the adaptive processes of Suaeda fruticosa for Pi acquisition and the physic–chemical and biological characteristics of two soil types under moderate and high saline conditions. Four treatments were established in pots: namely SS100, SS600, CS100 and CS600 where SS stood for sandy soil and CS for calcareous soil, and the indexes 100 and 600 were NaCl concentrations (mM) in irrigation distilled water. Assuming that Pi per g of plant biomass is an indicator of plant efficiency for P acquisition, the results showed that Pi acquisition was easiest on SS100 and was difficult on CS100. The differences in Pi acquisition between plants on SS100 and CS100 could be attributed to the low root surface area (–30%) and to the low alkaline phosphatases (Pases) activities (–50%) in calcareous rhizospheric soil. The high salinity level had no effect on the efficiency of P acquisition on SS but increased this parameter on CS (+50%). In the latter soil type, high acid phosphatase activities were observed in rhizospheric soil at high salinity level. Acid phosphatase seemed to be secreted from the roots. The higher secretion of acid phosphatase in this soil was related to the root lipid peroxidation in response to elevated salinity associated with the augmentation of unsaturated acids which might induce an oxidative damage of the root membrane. Thus we can conclude that in deficient soil such as calcareous, the efficiency of P acquisition in S. fruticosa which was difficult at moderate salinity level can be enhanced by high salinity level

Recommenders with a Mission: Assessing Diversity in News Recommendations

News recommenders help users to find relevant online content and have the potential to fulfilla crucial role in a democratic society, directing the scarce attention of citizens towards the information that is most important to them. Simultaneously, recent concerns about so-called filter bubbles, misinformation and selective exposure are symptomatic of the disruptive potential of these digital news recommenders. Recommender systems can make or break filter bubbles, and as such can be instrumental in creating either a more closed or a more open internet. Current approaches to evaluating recommender systems are often focused on measuring an increase in user clicks and short-term engagement, rather than measuring the user's longer term interest in diverse and important information. This paper aims to bridge the gap between normative notions of diversity, rooted in democratic theory, and quantitative metrics necessary for evaluating the recommender system. We propose a set ofmetrics grounded in social science interpretations of diversity and suggest ways for practical implementations.Web Information SystemsInformation and Communication Technolog