New Class of Malware Will Steal Behavior Patterns 73
KentuckyFC writes "The information within huge, supposedly anonymized data sets can be used to build a detailed picture of an individual's lifestyle and relationships. This data is hugely valuable, which is why many companies already mine the pattern of links in their data to help them build things like recommender systems. Now a group of computer scientists say it is inevitable that a new class of malware will emerge for stealing this behavioral pattern data from social networks. They've analyzed the types of strategies this malware will use to collect information from a real mobile phone database of 800,000 links between 200,000 phones. They point out that the theft of behavioral data can be much more serious than the theft of other personal information. If somebody steals your credit card or computer password, for example, you can just get another card or change your password, thereby limiting the damage. That can't be done with behavioral data, they say. Who would be willing or able to change their real world pattern of person-to-person relationships, friendships and family ties?"
Your giving the criminals (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:fud (Score:4, Insightful)
what a retarded fearmongering pile of crap (Score:3, Insightful)
If somebody steals your credit card or computer password, for example, you can just get another card or change your password, thereby limiting the damage. That can't be done with behavioral data, they say. Who would be willing or able to change their real world pattern of person-to-person relationships, friendships and family ties
ooooh. you spent 15 minutes yesterday on google looking for pet carriers. now i know who you will marry!
behavioral data is not mind reading or future predicting. its application is extremely narrow. this story is scaremongering stupid bs
Re:Sophisticated credit card fraud (Score:3, Insightful)
I recently ordered a netbook for my brother off an online website. The next day I got a call from my credit card company asking me if it was actually me making the purchase. I said yes it was, and THANK YOU for calling me. I feel the same way when I go to use my credit card and they ask for ID. Sure it inconveniences me, but I'd rather have false positives that only require me to say OK when I do something unusual, then someone making fraudulent purchases with my card. I know in the end my credit card company will be footing the bill, not me, but it still is a large waste of time.
I can see how a local pizza hut being flagged as unusual would be an issue, but that is a flaw in the implementation, not the algorithm.
Re:Mod parent up. (Score:3, Insightful)
Cash out your address at Thanksgiving while you're at your mom and dad's, eating pumpkin pie: quite possibly.