SBIR Phase I: Stopping Cybercrime in Social Networks

该项目提出的创新是一种保护人们和企业免受社交软件侵害的新技术，社交软件指的是由Facebook、Twitter和Pinterest等在线社交网络（OSNs）启动并传播的网络犯罪活动。首先，很明显，osn是网络犯罪的新战场，其趋势令人担忧，而一个安全的互联网计划必须包括更安全的社交网络。其次，社会软件将需要新颖的安全解决方案，因为它与其他安全威胁（如病毒和恶意软件感染的网站）的现有安全解决方案有很大不同，无法检测到。该项目的创新之处在于为osn和用户提供全面有效的安全保障。这种方法在技术上的新颖之处在于：(a)它如何通过结合所有可能有用的信息（最重要的是帖子的“社会背景”）来确定社会软件，以及(b)它回答的广泛问题，包括检测恶意帖子、用户和Facebook应用程序。一个关键的技术挑战是为大规模部署设计解决方案。使用早期的原型，可以观察到超过60%的人在5个月内至少接触到一个Facebook恶意链接。鉴于社交网络时代仍处于早期阶段，facebook有巨大的机会成为这一领域的安全先锋。拥有8亿用户的Facebook已经成为新的网络：Facebook的个人资料现在是公司的面孔，而不是独立的网站。当用户在osn上花费大量时间并受到它们的影响时，软件的影响只会增加。从历史上看，每当出现新的技术平台（pc、互联网和web），就会出现新的网络威胁和新的专业安全解决方案。osn的安全领域目前是开放的，没有一个占主导地位的参与者。最初，该项目将专注于Facebook，利用其当前的Facebook安全应用程序，但它将扩展到其他osn，成为任何社交网络的安全场所。在这个提议的范围之外，长期的未来计划将是机会主义的，可能包括b谷歌+，Twitter, LinkedIn，以及最终的外语网络，如中国的人人网，微博，这将是一个重要的，但潜在利润丰厚的扩张。该项目采用了多管齐下的策略来将拟议的技术货币化，这将有助于创造新的服务，并补充公司目前成功的服务，正如公司合作伙伴的反馈所证明的那样。

The innovation proposed in this project is a novel technology to protect people and businesses from socware, which refers to cyber-crime activities enabled by and propagated on Online Social Networks (OSNs), such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. First, it is clear that OSNs is the new battleground of cybercrime with worrisome trends, and a plan towards a secure the Internet has to include safer social networks. Second, socware will require novel security solutions, as it is significantly different and cannot be detected with existing security solutions for other security threats, like viruses and malware-infected websites. The innovation of this project is a holistic and effective approach for securing OSNs and their users. The technical novelty the approach lies in: (a) how it determines socware, by combining all possible useful information, and most importantly the "social context" of a post, and (b) the extensive repertoire of questions it answers, which include detecting malicious: posts, users, and Facebook apps. A key technical challenge is to engineer the solution for a large-scale deployment. Using an early prototype, it is observed that more than 60% of people are exposed to at least one malicious link in 5 months in Facebook.There is a tremendous opportunity for the company to become the security pioneer in this space, given that these are still the early years of the social-web era. With 800M users, Facebook has become the new web: Facebook profiles are now the face of companies, instead of stand-alone websites. The effect of socware will only increase as users spend substantial time in OSNs and are influenced by them. Historically, every time a new technological platform emerges (PCs, Internet, and web), new cyber-threats and new specialized security solutions have emerged. The security landscape in OSNs is currently wide open, without a dominant player. Initially, the project will focus on Facebook, leveraging its current Facebook security application, but it will expand to other OSNs, to become the go-to security place for any social network. Outside the scope of this proposal, the long-term future plans will be opportunistic and could include services for Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, and eventually, foreign-language networks, like the Chinese Renren, Weibo, which will be a non-trivial, but potentially lucrative expansion. The project has a multi-pronged strategy for monetizing the proposed technology, which will help create new services and complement the current successful services of the company, as evidenced by the feedback from the company's partners.