Social Media Analytics

SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS - A Threat on Personal Space

Introduction

In September 2010, Twitter saw trouble when apparently users were sending nasty messages to their followers by as much as moving their mouse over a Tweet. Later, Twitter’s Security Chief Bob Lord wrote on his blog, ‘The vast majority of exploits related to this incident fell under the prank or promotional categories. Users may still see strange retweets in their timelines caused by the exploit. However, we are not aware of any issues related to it that would cause harm to computers or their accounts’ 

In May 2011, Symantec reported leakage of Facebook users’ personal information to third-party companies. Approximately 100k Facebook applications were carelessly leaking vast amounts of private information including account login information and posting rights to advertisers and analysts. Some of these “access tokes” may still be available in log files of those third-party servers or still being actively used by advertisers. 

The latest privacy problems emerged from Google+ which is known for its privacy-friendly setup. Users can choose to share their content with some people barring some others without delving into the nitty-gritties of the interface. However, recently Google integrated Google+ with Gmail giving rise to unexpected problems. Now Google+ users could exchange emails with each other even if they had never exchanged email addresses. This doesn’t sound like a problem until we realize that A adding B on Google+ Circles doesn’t mean B adding A. Now, A has access to B’s email address, whether B likes it or not.

Every day, we are prompted by ads and acquaintances to install and use privacy protection measures in the form of software updates, patches and general settings. This poses a lot of questions on the nature of these threats. How do they originate? Who wants to invade our privacy? What information do they want? Why? And most importantly, does our response to them really protect us?

To answer these questions, let us understand a fundamental principal of Economics through a diagram.

While this may seem intuitive from the outset, it is the perfect model to understand the working of Social Media service providers. If you’ve never paid Facebook for the 1,000-odd friends you have, then you’re not the consumer Facebook is serving. But someone is paying Facebook and Facebook must be giving them some product. And you are involved in the game. If you’re not the producer, consumer or the payer, then you’re the product!

Stimulus

In our view, privacy threats can be classified into 3 broad areas, as shown. While attacks on personal privacy motivated by fraud and personally motivated attacks fall in the realm of law, commercially motivated privacy threats might not violate the law of the land. The first two require scheming measures and are difficult to carry out on a mass scale by the use of analytics alone. However, the use of social media analytics in online marketing is big business contributing $36.57 bn  to the US GDP in 2012 while growing at a rate of 18%.   This commercial activity is primarily based on the value of customer data to businesses, which in turn poses the danger of third-party companies intercepting personal data.

The value of the information comes from the understanding that the better a business knows its customers, the more effective will be the marketing potential. With the advancement of newer technologies, businesses are able to explore new instruments to exploit personal information in unprecedented ways which may even put the lawmakers in an abyss. Consider the spyware phenomenon which allowed new technologies to place ads in front of the viewers. At times, the law was uncertain on what call to take on these “grey” areas. It took 8 years for the authorities to frame rules for acceptable and legal behavior of such software. But this phenomenon can be expected to repeat as new technologies emerge allowing consumers and producers to interact in newer ways. The Federal Trade Commission, Canada, is currently trying to draft principles intending to establish a self-regulating regime for companies partaking in behavioral advertising. After all, how does one measure the legality or ethics of tracking a person’s online activities, often without their knowledge, than then targeting them with online advertising?

Also, this increase in interaction and data collection gives birth to additional threats – security breach. Even if businesses promise to use users’ information only for the purposes of economic expansion, there is no surety that the information would remain secure and not fall in the hands of fraudsters. In fact, this feature of businesses makes them attractive targets for such breaches.

Tools

Social Media, with its vast presence (as shown in the image), offers prospects of individual liberation and public welfare. But it also offers privacy threats. These Web 2.0 applications house viruses, worms, Trojans, and spyware that will attack any user if given the opportunity. With the amount of personal data users post on these websites, they become invaluable repositories of information.

Consider Facebook. A Typical user creates a profile with personal information like full name, email address, birthday, gender, hometown, political views, religious views, IM names, phone numbers, address, relationship status, schools attended, courses undertaken, current employer, previous employers, personal interests, and preferences. In addition to this, Facebook collects information on a user’s browser types, IP address, location, Operating System. Facebook also states that they may ‘collect information about you from other sources, such as newspapers, blogs, instant messaging services, and other users of the Facebook service through the operation of the service, in order to provide you with more useful information and a more personalized experience.’  However, many users fail to understand that social networking sites are not private spaces but public forums.  Any user generated information on Facebook may be copied and distributed without the users’ knowledge.

Such information generated on a massive scale gives analysts and cybercriminals alike the ability to deliver spam and malware to targeted users at unparalleled speeds and efficiency. Facebook proclaims that it is an intermediary allowing advertisers to ‘reach the exact audience with relevant targeted ads.’  However, the more Facebook becomes capable of learning about users and translate that data into advertising revenues, the more is the burden on user privacy. Facebook’s CPO (Chief Privacy Officer), Chris Kelly, has often protested that internet users no longer wish to remain anonymous online. 

Spyware, keyloggers, scrapers, are some of the tools which have applications in online threats. The commonality shared by these tools is that they exchange consumer information for applications. Though it must be mentioned that such tools do find applications in secure internal environments, such as maintenance of trade secrets.

Behavioral Engineering is another method of inducing desired behavior in a target that relies on “smooth talking” or other manipulative behavior.  This implicates persuading the target and convincing them to go against their better judgment and divulge personal information.

Adware

Adware is a software that spontaneously displays downloads and advertising material to users I unexpected and unwanted manners. Often, adware employs tracking functions to compile information to generate complete profiles on websites such as Yatedo and Skillpages. Adware also collects information about websites that the users visit and monitor the usage to target advertising efficiently. Often, such information is procured in unwarranted ways.

Adware that engages in tracking behavior reports back to a central server and stores information in databases. The information is then analyzed and used to select the types of advertisements to be displayed to users. Adware can tie personally identifiable information to specific individuals, ensuring data is collected only once for each user.

Not all adware is privacy breach. Often users sign up for adware in exchange of free software. It is when adware is installed without the consent of the user it calls in the category of unwanted technology. The most notorious forms of adware annoy consumers by opening multiple browser windows and displaying pop-up advertisements.

In 2005, Symantec performed an experiment connecting a new computer without security software to the internet and browsing websites directed at children. Within an hour, 359 pieces of adware were found.  During the same time, Trend Micro conducted a survey of 500 IT managers and found that 95% of the companies frequently find adware in their organization. The majority of the survey respondents ranked spyware among the top 3 IT priorities for 2005.  Although adware exists mostly in the realm of individual consumers rather than businesses. The most prolific adware distributors are as shown. McAfee’s SiteAdvisor.com survey found that 97% of internet users could not differentiate between safe and unsafe sites, and the vast majority just 1 click away from downloading spyware, adware and other potentially unwanted software. 

Conclusion

The world would seem alien today without the presence of social media. But we must also be aware that every piece of information we are generating and perceiving is going to affect us in the future. We want to be able to decide what we share, with whom we share, and till when we share. We would like to know how much information about our online behavior the companies are collecting and what are they using it for.

What the companies really want is simple – a detailed profile of our interests to target advertising at us. And since we use the services of these companies every day, they are in a well-equipped position to know more about us than most.

Despite that knowledge, balancing between making useful products while keeping the users safe seems like a chore every company struggles with. This might lead us into a future where users realize that social media is a necessary evil which just treats users like information clusters rather than people.

References

a. 21 September 2010. Nasty Twitter Worm Outbreak. KrebsonSecurity Official Blog.

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2010/09/nasty-twitter-worm-outbreak/

b. Doshi N, 10 May 2011. Facebook Applications Accidentally Leaking Access to Third Parties. Symantec Official Blog.

http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/facebook-applications-accidentally-leaking-access-third-parties

c. Internet Advertising Bureau. April 2013. IAB internet advertising revenue report: 2012 full year results. PricewaterhouseCoopers.

http://www.iab.net/media/file/IAB_Internet_Advertising_Revenue_Report_FY_2012_rev.pdf

d. Internet Advertising Bureau. October 2013. IAB internet advertising revenue report 2013 first six months' results.

http://www.iab.net/media/file/IAB_Internet_Advertising_Revenue_Report_HY_2013.pdf

e. Facebook’s Privacy Policy.

http://www.facebook.com/policy.php

f. Killick R, 7 February 2008. Facebook and the death of privacy. Spiked Ltd, London.

http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/4482#.U8fQbPmSxhM

g. Facebook ads.

http://www.facebook.com/ads/?src=gca2

h. Malkin B, 11 September 2007. Facebook under fire over targeted advertising. The Telegraph, UK.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1562752/Facebook-under-fire-over-targeted-advertising.html

i. Cippic (Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic), 2008. Online Privacy Threats: A Review and Analysis of Current Threats. Cippic, University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

https://www.cippic.ca/sites/default/files/publications/CIPPIC-Online_Privacy_Threats-Final.pdf

j. Symantec, September 2006. Symantec Internet Security Threat Report: Trends for January 06 - June 06, Volume X. Symantec Corporation, Cupertino, CA, USA.

http://eval.symantec.com/mktginfo/enterprise/white_papers/ent-whitepaper_symantec_internet_security_threat_report_x_09_2006.en-us.pdf

k. Trend Micro, February 2007. Threat Management: Challenges and Solutions, Web Threats. White Paper.

http://www.trendmicro.com/NR/rdonlyres/75541153-BFB6-4540-8E12-FD4051DCB28D/22391/WP03_Webthreats070223EU.pdf

l. McAfee, 2006. Adware and Spyware: Unraveling the Financial Web.

http://www.mcafee.com/us/local_content/white_papers/threat_center/wp_adware.pdf

Office Affairs

Isha remembered being happy once. Now, it felt like a memory from another life she’d think of every night, waiting for her husband to come back home. He always said it was work. But she knew otherwise. She had spotted those long strands of hair on his shirt. She didn’t confront him. Why? She didn’t know. There weren’t even tears. She was surprised, not because she knew that her husband was cheating on her but because of the lack of her own reaction.

Isha was never one to make rash decisions, nor did she like confronting situations. Where would confrontation lead to anyway? Would their marriage fall apart? Was there anything left to fall apart? She hardly saw him through the day anyway. They hardly talked. He was in a hurry to leave every morning and late every night. Every month he’d take two trips out of town. She had the place to herself and her friends. What good could possibly come from confrontation?

Maybe he wasn’t having an affair after all. Maybe it was just someone he happened to cross by or a hug. It was never good to jump to conclusions. Was she jealous? Yes. She was. The thought did make her uncomfortable. But she took it as a part and parcel or her marriage. Even if he was having an affair and they did talk about it and their marriage did indeed fail, what would she do next?

The doorbell brought Isha back from her thoughts. The clock on the wall showed half-past-midnight. Rajeev came in, looking tired as ever. As he unfastened his tie, Isha couldn’t help but notice the wrinkles in shirt. As he took it off, Isha tried to bring back the old days.

‘Dinner?’

‘Oh no,’ Rajeev said. ‘I’m sorry I forgot to call you. I already had some at the office. Have you been waiting for me?’

Of course not, I know better than that, Isha thought. But said, ‘then would you like to have some dessert?’ or have you had that too?

Rajeev turned to see Isha smiling at him loosening her hair. Her body had lost its elegance in the 13 years of their marriage. But Isha was still a long distance away from looking plump. Somehow, Rajeev couldn’t show much interest.

‘I’m sorry dear. I’ve just had a really tough day at work. All I want right now is some sleep.’

Isha remembered how he used to lunge at her at every opportunity he got in the early days of their marriage. But that seemed like a distant dream now. She dejectedly tied her hair back and watched in silence as Rajeev walked towards the bedroom.

The next day as he was leaving for office, Rajeev told Isha that Sanjay would drop by to get her signatures for the insurance papers. Isha knew Sanjay through her husband’s office parties. Sanjay wasn’t a particularly charming man, but Isha liked him anyway. He was an old friend of Rajeev through their college days and handled the paperwork in Sanjay’s company. Always courteous, he seemed to hold Isha in high regard. Once during a joke Sanjay had even gone as far as saying that even if something were to happen to Rajeev, Isha need not worry about anything as long as he was there. Rajeev was too drunk to notice, but Isha knew that Sanjay's glance lingered at her for just a moment more than it should have. Not that Isha minded. But it did seem strange to her how Sanjay could say such a thing in front of Rajeev. Perhaps they were good enough friends to let that pass.

‘Hi! Come on in,’ Isha welcomed Sanjay in.

‘Hey! How are you? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. We should plan something sometime,’ Sanjay entered in his office formals.

‘I know. But Rajeev is always busy with work.’

‘Yes. He has been working hard lately. The region has been booming since the last quarter and while the economy is doing great, he and Maya have been swamped with work.’

‘Maya?’ The name seemed to ring a bell in Isha’s mind. She’d heard that name somewhere. ‘Where have I heard that name before?’

‘She’s an old friend. She was our junior at college and boy did we have a crush on her! To tell you a secret, she’s partially responsible for me not being married till now,’ Sanjay winked at Isha with a smile. A smile she knew a bit too well.

‘Ohkay… That’s news!’ Isha said. ‘So are Rajeev and Maya working closely these days?’

‘You can say that the sales for the entire region depends on them. They’re handling everything from customers to vendor issues. They have pretty late hours. I can’t remember the last time I saw either of them leave office on time.’

‘Ok. And are they… like… close close?’ Isha asked.

‘Sorry? I didn’t get you?’

‘Never mind. So you brought some papers for me to sign?’

‘No wait. What did you just mean Isha? Is there anything bothering you? You look worried.’

‘It’s just a small thing… nothing actually…’

Sanjay noticed Isha’s hands shaking and came forward to hold them, ‘tell me Isha. What’s bothering you?’

‘Is this girl… Maya… is she beautiful?’

‘You may say so. She used to be the college hottie back in the day. Even after all these years, she hasn’t lost her grace.’

‘Can I see a picture?’

‘Sure. Wait a second.’

Sanjay took out his phone and showed Isha a group picture from their office. Sanjay pointed at the slender girl right next to Rajeev in the pic, ‘that’s her.’

Isha looked at her for a while. Sure the girl was looking pretty in her purple blouse that seemed to bring out her bosom too well, without looking vulgar. And Rajeev seemed a bit too happy with her. In fact, it had been a long while since she had seen Rajeev smile. And they seemed close, too close to Isha. Isha zoomed in at them and noticed that there was a hand on Maya’s waist, and the hand was Rajeev’s. Isha felt a lump in her throat. Sanjay came to hold her hands and the phone.

‘What’s the matter Isha?’ He asked. Then taking a glance at the phone, he said, ‘oh come on Isha. Don’t be melodramatic.’ Isha looked at Sanjay, not knowing which side he was on. She however held her composure.

‘It’s not just this. He has been going out too often now. He hardly talks to me anymore. He returns every night tired and is in a hurry to leave every morning. And now he’s spending lonely hours at night with this girl from his college whom he’s had a crush on. What am I to make of this?’

‘Nothing. That college thing was an old crush and she didn’t as much as glance at either of us back then. They’re just working together.’

‘You don’t know Sanjay. There was this time, I saw a strand of hair on his shirt. I’m pretty sure he has another woman in his life.’

‘It might have come from anywhere. Maybe she rested her head on his shoulder sometime. I don’t know. Let’s not be making hasty judgments here.’

‘So you’re telling me that they just work together every night, and there’s nothing else between them? They’re not close in any way?’

‘Of course they are close. When you work this long with someone you become good friends. And then… you do get close.’

What the hell is going on between my husband and that bitch?' Maya's patience was at its lowest ebb and she was ready to burst.

Sanjay knew that she was serious. 'Look, Maya. There is nothing going on between the two of them. Just a little bit of healthy flirting, I'd say.'

'Flirting? Healthy flirting? Really Sanjay . . .' she rolled her eyes in disgust. 'That's what you men call it? There is nothing healthy about flirting, Sanjay, not for a married man.

Healthy flirting is a term introduced by perverted men who want to lend legitimacy to their extramarital dalliances. Flirting invariably has a sexual connotation to it.' She got up from her seat and walked around the room gesticulating and muttering something to herself. Suddenly she stopped, turned back, looked at Sanjay and asked, 'Did my husband sleep with her? You are his friend. Did he ever tell you anything about it?'

‘Well… yes and no.’

‘Be definite. Yes or no?’

‘Well, there was this once time when a couple of us were having lunch when someone said that you shouldn’t marry till you’re 30. Rajeev supported that and said that if he had waited, he might have been able to get his college crush. Not many understood what happened there, but Maya and I did. We took it as a joke.’

‘And now he’s getting over that mistake by screwing with that bitch.’ Isha was in tears now. The tears had never come till now, but today she couldn’t stop herself. Neither could Sanjay from getting up to and taking her in his arms.

‘Don’t worry Isha. There’s nothing between them. And even if there is,’ Sanjay paused for a moment to bring his hand to her chin and raised her head, ‘you always have me.’ Sanjay winked at her with a smile.

Isha looked at him through her tears. He was looking at her. She knew that look. Isha was not a woman to make rash decisions. Even as a girl, she always kept good company and scored good grades. She had promptly agreed to marry the “right man” her parents had chosen for her. Since then, she had given up her own dreams and dedicated herself to her husband like a good wife should have. And since that day she had seen herself being transforming from her parents’ princess to her husband’s accessory. He had valued her till her had use for her. Now she was another useless trophy at his home. And there was this man, who always spoke to her with respect. He was holding her in her weakness and looking at her with loving eyes. But she was a wife, a wife committed to her husband like a good wife should. She didn’t know how long it was till she looked at him.

Then, she leaned in.

‘Did you the signatures?’ Rajeev asked.

‘Have I ever failed you?’ Sanjay replied.

Rajeev looked at him and smiled, ‘Great. I knew I could count on you. Maya come on in! It’s time to celebrate.’ Rajeev called on to Maya.

It was another night at the company balcony when Rajeev, Maya, and Sanjay were having drinks and dinner. It had taken some bit of planning, but it all had been simple enough.

‘And we wouldn’t have had to go through it all had you noticed me in college to begin with,’ Rajeev smiled at Maya sitting next to him

‘I know dear,’ Maya said as Rajeev leaned in for a kiss. ‘I didn’t think you guys would be able to pull it off but hats off to you.’

‘It was nothing,’ Sanjay replied. ‘Anything for my friends.’

‘Yeah, and besides he got to sleep with my wife. For all her sweet goody-two-shoes attitude, she still is pretty hot.’ Rajeev felt a short stare from Maya, ‘but not as hot as you dear.’ Rajeev leaned in for another kiss.

‘So tell me you didn’t feel a little bit bad letting your friend sleep with your wife.’ Maya asked.

‘Not a bit. I’d stopped loving her a long time ago. And I’ve never made love to her since we…’

‘I know.’ Maya said

‘And besides, I knew he wouldn’t mind. I know the way he looked at her.’ Rajeev turned to Sanjay.

‘Hey man I was just trying to help my friends here. And I wouldn’t mind doing it all over again,’ Sanjay smiled at Maya.

‘Fuck off!’ Maya laughed. ‘I know how to keep my man happy.’

‘Good for you guys.’ Sanjay said. ‘So when do you file for the divorce?’

‘First thing tomorrow. And once that’s done, you’re moving in with me baby. No more late nights at the office.’ Rajeev drew Maya close to him.

‘I’ll let you guys have your moment. My job here is done.’ Sanjay said. ‘Have fun kids. But not too much.’ Sanjay winked at them and left.

Sanjay came out with a smile on his face. There! He had done it. Two birds with one stone. They should’ve known that he wasn’t lying when he told them that Maya was responsible for him not being married for so long. And if she wasn’t going to be with him, she wasn’t going to be with Rajeev either, that gold-digger bitch. But then, she wasn’t as gullible as Isha. Seducing her would be a different challenge. But if he could make a tape of him with Isha, he could also make a tape of Rajeev and Maya.

Sanjay stopped by the HR’s office on his way out and dropped in a small package. There was a smile on his face.