Successfully reported this slideshow.
We use your LinkedIn profile and activity data to personalize ads and to show you more relevant ads. You can change your ad preferences anytime.

Teen Hacks for Obfuscating Identity on Social Media

638 views

Published on

It turns out our kids were listening to our caution about privacy, social media, and opsec. There is widespread use by teens “sharing” social media accounts with friends, i.e., having friends post to shared accounts: multiple phones, multiple locations (even globally) to confuse social media applications and obfuscate their identity. They figured out how to share accounts without sharing passwords and methods for monitoring accounts and deleting abusers in the group. They use different accounts for interacting with different groups, like that one they share with “old people.”

Father-daughter presenters, Russell and Samantha, will discuss the pro’s and con’s of these methods and share insights on what teenagers have learned from parents and from each other about privacy and opsec.

This talk was given at Shmoocon on February 1st, 2020. Not all images are the work of the presenters.

Published in: Technology
  • Be the first to comment

  • Be the first to like this

Teen Hacks for Obfuscating Identity on Social Media

  1. 1. Teen Hacks for Obfuscating Identity on Social Media @Pr0d1g4 @sm0kem
  2. 2. ● High school junior ● Coder ● Activist ● CISO ● 20yrs IT ops, secops @Pr0d1g4 @sm0kem
  3. 3. What We Teach ● Install updates ● Tape over webcam ● Never share passwords ● Stranger danger ● Internet is forever
  4. 4. Samantha’s take: ● Kids see things differently... ● Don’t link social media apps ● Don’t be obsessive
  5. 5. Metadata ● Stylometry ● Image ● Reverse geocoding ● Apps!
  6. 6. Methods for obfuscating your identity ● Ambiguous, confusing, misleading data ● Creating noise, changing, blocking data ● Ad-blocking, geo-spoofing apps ● Photo obfuscation
  7. 7. How it all Started ● Alligator Thingies ● FLL team shared instagram ● Noticed some things changed ● Shared account with cousin out of state
  8. 8. Security 1. Pick a strong password….it should be different from other passwords you use elsewhere on the internet. 2. Change your password regularly...prevent you from being hacked in the future. 3. Never give your password to someone... 4. Turn on two-factor authentication for additional account security... 5. Make sure your email account is secure... 6. Log out of Instagram when you use a computer or phone you share with other people... 7. Think before you authorize any third-party app. From Instagram Help Center
  9. 9. Types of Instagram RinstaFinsta
  10. 10. Other Types of Instagram Accounts ● Group ● Main ● Private ● Public
  11. 11. Procedure 1. Multiple accounts per person
  12. 12. Friends Family Work School Group Advocacy
  13. 13. Friends Family Work School Group Advocacy Advocacy Friends Family Work
  14. 14. Procedure 1. Multiple accounts per person 2. Password sharing across group
  15. 15. Password Sharing
  16. 16. Reset Links ● Forgot Password ● Access to account using email ● Send link to others
  17. 17. How? ● System of trust ● Frequent communication ● Monitoring progress
  18. 18. Rules ● Post when asked ● Like relevant posts ● Avoid follow requests
  19. 19. Explore ● People to follow ● Posts to like ● Based on ○ Activity ○ Posts ○ Friends ○ Movements ○ Hashtags
  20. 20. It works!
  21. 21. “Cooperative obfuscation” on Instagram ● No articles on this specific tactic, similar to: ● Criminals and terrorists SIM swapping ● TIL grocery store loyalty card swapping is a thing
  22. 22. Observations & Conclusions ● Teens figured this out ● Shared accounts obfuscation? ● Optimal environment ● Requires trust and oversight ● Identification through metadata
  23. 23. ThankYou! References: “Doing data differently? Developing personal data tactics and strategies amongst young data mobile media users” Neil Selwyn and Luci Pangrazio, Big Data & Society, January 2018 “You are your metadata: Identification and Obfuscation of social media users using metadata information” Beatrice Perez, Mirco Musolesi, Gianluca Stringhini, Twelfth International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media 2018 “Deobfuscation ..a User’s Guide for Privacy and Protest” Finn Brunton and Helen Nissenbaum, MIT Press 2015. @Pr0d1g4 @sm0kem

×