echosec: search engine taps open data, social networks - video presentation camera

Without realizing that people are being watched, how easy is it to use social media to find out what people are doing?
It took me less than two minutes to identify not only the randomly selected 16-year-
The old girl lives there, goes to school, goes out to play with friends, but also finds her place to look after her children in three houses.
When she was alone with the kids
From the Google Street view of these houses, it is likely that she has the one with all the toys in the yard.
I know she plays football and is immersed in France, and if there are any signs in her spring break resort, she may be a snowboarder or snowboarder.
I may be able to determine correctly where she went to primary school.
I know what she looks like and I can recognize her friends.
Once I know where she lives, it's no big deal to guess the identity of her parents. Creepy? Yes. Hard to do? No.
Ask Karl Swannie, founder of Victoria tech startup
Created a search engine to mine up EchoSec, a company that has nearly 500 data feeds, including social media networks and open data from both the government and the private sector-I used to randomly pick a traveler's search engine at Vancouver airport to see how much I could learn from their digital footprint.
If not because EchoSec aggregates everything posted at a certain location in a single search, then it's hard to pick out the teen's single Twitter post from millions of others.
Unlike other search technologies, EchoSec is able to "geography-
Fence "-that is, draw a virtual line around a building or area and mine all publicly available data from that location.
This means not only social media data, but also open data, including everything from real-time webcams to government information.
"It definitely opened my eyes," Swannie said . "
"There must be a certain level of education.
People must realize (
Their Digital Post is)
Permanent, open.
This is definitely a new way to visualize data.
Public version of Echo
There are only a few feeds of the Sec search technology I use.
The full version will have nearly 500 sources of information that can provide all the information from risk to risk.
Swannie's ability to track the child by targeting the school building has made Swannie so worried that he has disabled software that is easy to track the individual.
However, it is not to say that some people still cannot do it themselves.
He warned police, governments, companies and even military organizations that they should be aware that the information being shared is time-stamped, traceable, and can be "mined, tracked, and predicted ".
Swannie's company stumbled upon the discovery while developing search engines to help urban planners determine how people use public space.
But the information that search engines click on is provided free of charge, and anyone with time, interest and technical talent can create similar tracking tools.
"Everything we do is public information," Swannie said . ".
"We did not dig deep.
This is something you are free to find.
Swannie used his company's search engine to draw a circle of local high schools on the map.
From the icon cloud that displays everything from Twitter posts to Instagram photos, Swannie picks a tweet from a teenage girl.
Another click and a string of posts show where teens are most of the time.
"This is where she goes to school," said Swannie . " He hovers his cursor over a bunch of posts on social media.
"This is probably where she lives," he said . " He hovered on another set of Twitter.
Google opened the Street View and saw several houses.
"Probably in one of the houses," Swannie added . ".
EchoSec's search engine, which can search for photos, text and other information posted by social media users and link it to a map-reflects a trend, that is, companies manipulate large amounts of data from Internet and child safety experts in a way that attracts privacy advocates attention and prompts warnings.
BC Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham "individuals agree with Twitter just because the information has been released
Find their posts and they don't understand that there are other companies that might dig into that data, mix that data with other data and create these new tools, "said B. C.
Elizabeth Denham's Commissioner for Information and Privacy.
"I do think there is a problem with the consent chain and the ecosystem around the use of data, especially social media.
"It's complicated, but at the end of the day, individuals have the right to know how companies use their information.
"The search engine for EchoSec depends on the geographical location
In many social networks, the location feature is prominent-it may be someone who is in the fourthSquare (
Social media networks that identify user locations)
, Or someone on Twitter or other social networks who chooses to publicly post GPS-based location information-
Provide latitude and longitude.
This information is public, but unless someone knows exactly what they are looking for, it is likely that it will not be accessible.
EchoSec's full search engine can reveal much more information than the public version, and privacy and security experts point out that others can take advantage of the same available data-both beneficial (Law enforcement)and for bad. “I think geo-
"Fencing and this crawling factor is something we all really need to focus on," Denham said . ".
Her office held discussions with EchoSec and other companies that are developing new technologies and encouraged them to consider privacy issues.
"Technology itself is neutral, but they all have different meanings depending on how technology is used and implemented, and how governments, business enterprises or individuals use it," said Denham.
"This is a fairly complex area.
Open data is a good concept, says Denham, but we need to think about it carefully because it's not just data.
"This is usually personal information about real people, the person who has the right to be informed that the business is collecting data, and they have the right to know how the business uses the data.
"In Canada, privacy laws protect people from using data, even public data, without notice and without consent.
"Unlike the US, in Canada we have these comprehensive privacy laws that apply to public personal information, such as personal information in geolocation social media posts," she said . ".
But Denham says consumers have a responsibility to protect their privacy.
"No one likes to think someone is watching them.
But many people can't disable GPS and they also need to change the settings when they get a new device, "she said.
"Consumers need to do some work.
They need to make themselves aware of privacy controls in social media.
Swannie said he did not think the government or the company was aware of the extent to which information employees disclosed through social media.
Using the geo-fence tool of search engines, Swannie looked at military bases throughout North America and overseas.
"The first thing people check at any base is ammunition (depot).
I can show you the exact location of each ammunition depot at the military base, "he said.
Swannie drew a map of Esquimalt Forum base in Canada nearby and found a large number of photos and posts.
The Vancouver Sun sent examples of military positions to defense ministry media relations director Daniel le boutrier, who said they were "no operational security issues ".
Le Bouthillier said that members of the armed forces are encouraged to openly exchange their own experiences and expertise in accordance with the government's communications policy.
One of the requirements of the policy is that employees respect the terms of privacy and national security.
Starting at the military base, EchoSec began exploring other sensitive sites.
"We started to get into areas like Fort McMurray and found something equally interesting," Swannie said . ".
He said that the search engine found a picture of a person with a big bag of weeds, and 15 minutes later he released a photo showing the person using heavy machinery.
The information is mapped so you can pick out anything from the riots in your house, the company's corporate headquarters, high school or the streets of Kiev.
Data can also be filtered by date. Peter Chow-
White is a communications professor at Simon Fraser University and deputy director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy and Research
Experts proficient in big data and social media, but even he was surprised at how much information EchoSec's search engine disclosed about people who might not be aware that they could be tracked in this way
"This approach leads our privacy laws in a direction that is absolutely not intentional," he said . ".
"Our current privacy laws were drafted in the era of email, not in the era of geographic information.
Add tags for social media and big database links. ”Chow-
White drew a geographical location around the SFU and found photos of the children attending the spring break camp on campus.
"On the one hand, these children are just sharing their information.
On the other hand, I don't want people to know that my children are not in the camp, "he said.
"This is another example of privacy.
In the digital age, you must be very active and savvy in order to maintain your privacy. ”Chow-
The use of the database itself may be limited, but when they are connected together, they can reveal more information, White said.
"Obviously, from day-to-day risks to people's personal information and their own health, these risks cover all aspects --
He said: "This is their own feeling of walking around without being monitored, but it also raises some of the bigger key national issues surrounding security, becoming military and other security agencies
There is a free public version of the search engine on EchoSec's website, but when collecting information for law enforcement agencies or other customers, the company uses only a few sources.
The unknown risk, Echo says, is Kelly Sandberg, associate professor of justice at Mount Royal University, who studies the use of social media in law enforcementSec’s geo-
Through the fence, you can easily see a variety of information about social media, including confidential data about companies and other websites. “If you geo-
You can even see the fence in the sensitive area (into)
"Where there are policies, people should not take pictures and post them publicly," Sundberg said . ".
With some of the technologies available, such as facial recognition, people can create search tools to mine data that may become more exposed, Sundberg said.
When many people turn off their geographical location
Find the features of their social media feeds, others open it on purpose, and many people don't even know it exists at all.
"I don't think many people realize that the default setting for a phone or smartphone is geo-location
Said Sunderberg.
"A lot of people don't realize that their smartphones and mobile devices are being tracked geographically.
Merlin Houghton, executive director of the security online outreach Association (SOLOS)
The EchoSec search engine, which teaches online security to parents and children, highlights the risks young people take unconsciously when posting geographic information
Posts located on the Internet.
"This technology has unexpected consequences.
"You are using military-grade tools and you can apply them to investigate teenagers and minors," she said . ".
The EchoSec search engine is more than just mining social network data.
It can also take advantage of public camera feeds as well as other open data.
"It's getting really creepy," says Horton . ".
"We live in an era in which we are all observed at this moment.
The problem is that people lack awareness.
"As children use smartphones when they are younger, they often lack knowledge and experience to keep themselves safe online, according to Horton.
"This is a fifth-grade student with a mobile phone full of Uzi in her hand," she said of a smartphone full of social networking apps.
"They always leave digital marks.
Horton said the SOLOS demo included a discussion about closing geo-
Location, but even careful people sometimes don't know where they are broadcasting their whereabouts.
"When we talk about location in our speech, they turn it off.
But when you reset your phone, it usually reopens, "she said. Const.
Mike Russell, a social media official and spokesman for the Victoria Police Department, said that while the information disclosed by EchoSec is not fresh, its scope and the way it is delivered are new.
"The fact that this information is concentrated in one place is new," he said . ".
Individuals need to check the privacy settings on their social media networks, Russell said, and employees should be aware of the social media policies of their company or organization.
"If the location service is opened on your Twitter account, you can find a house in about three houses," he said . ".
"People need to be aware of this. ”However, geo-
Social media posts can also help the police.
In Victoria, a man boasted on Facebook after driving 2013 kilometers.
The police opened fire after him and the police were alerted to the post.
Dennis Fletcher was arrested for attempted murder and sentenced to eight years in prison.
It's hard to keep up with the privacy settings on all social media networks, but here's a screenshot of the iPhone that opens the location service, but turns off the Facebook location service.