Security and Privacy Protection for Social Computing

我们越来越多地将个人信息存储在各种数字平台上。尤其值得关注的是，社交计算平台（如Facebook、Foursquare）的出现，作为我们私人和社交生活信息的保管人，以及下一代愿意通过这些平台披露个人生活细节的文化转变。这些平台提出了传统保护技术无法解决的独特安全和隐私挑战。**访问控制的研究涉及对信息访问规范的保护模型的阐述和分析，以及实现这些模型的机制和技术的设计。在这个提议的研究计划中，我将探索访问控制创新，这些创新是由社会计算的新安全和隐私挑战所激发的。这个拟议的研究计划有三个目标。首先，它旨在设计创新的保护技术，以解决社会计算平台中独特的安全和隐私挑战。例如，用于防止Facebook应用程序的推理攻击的技术，用于控制对影响多方隐私的资源的访问的保护技术（例如，照片标记），以及地理社交网络系统（例如，Foursquare）中隐私风险的评估。其次，本研究计划旨在制定数学模型，以提高我们对新兴社会计算范式的理解。例子包括为在线社区（如维基百科）的社会契约建模建立数学理论，以及为地理社会网络系统的授权机制制定数学模型。本研究计划的第三个目标是设计支持技术，使用户更容易与用于社会计算的高级访问控制模型进行交互。一个例子是设计可视化的形式化，以便用户可以绘制图表来指定在线社区的社会契约。

We increasingly store personal information on various digital platforms. Of particular concern are the emergence of social computing platforms (e.g., Facebook, Foursquare) as custodians of information about our private and social life, as well as the shifting culture of the next generation to willingly disclose the minute details of their personal lives via such platforms. These platforms present unique security and privacy challenges that are not addressed by classical protection technologies.**The study of Access Control involves the articulation and analysis of protection models for regulating access to information, and the design of mechanisms and technologies for realizing these models. In this proposed research program, I will explore access control innovations that are motivated by the novel security and privacy challenges of social computing. **This proposed research program has three objectives. First, it aims at devising innovative protection technologies for addressing the unique security and privacy challenges in social computing platforms. Examples include technologies for the prevention of inference attacks by Facebook applications, protection technologies for controlling access to resources that affect the privacy of multiple parties (e.g., photo tagging), and assessment of privacy risks in geo-social network systems (e.g., Foursquare). Second, this research program aims at formulating mathematical models for improving our understanding of emerging social computing paradigms. Examples include building mathematical theories for modelling social contracts in online communities (e.g., Wikipedia), as well as formulation of mathematical models for the authorization mechanisms of geo-social network systems. A third objective of this research program is to devise supporting technologies that would make it easier for users to interact with advanced access control models for social computing. An example is to design visual formalisms so that users may draw diagrams to specify social contracts for an online community.