Yazan Boshmaf ; Konstantin Beznosov ; Matei Ripeanu

27 September 2011

Abstract: In this presentation, we outline the latest automated social engineering attacks in Online Social Networks (OSNs) such as Facebook. We review the techniques used by the adversaries and discuss the corresponding threat models. We then show a new attack where an adversary infiltrates a targeted OSN on a large scale. After that, we discuss the consequences of this attack and propose a socio-technical countermeasure, which enables the collaboration of security decisions among a circle of trusted friends.

Keyword(s): Online Social Networks ; Social Network Security ; Social Engineering ; Large-scale Infiltration

Published in: Yazan Boshmaf, Konstantin Beznosov, and Matei Ripeanu. Automated social engineering attacks in OSNs. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (Ottawa), May 2010: