ENCASE has implemented an intelligent Cybersafety Family Advice Suite for the protection of minors on online social networks.
ENCASE aims at leveraging the latest advances in usable security and privacy in order to design and implement a user-centric architecture for the protection of minors from malicious actors in Online Social Networks (OSN).
The first component of the ENCASE architecture is a browser extension responsible for notifying the user of imminent threats. The second component is the Intelligent Web-proxy which captures and analyzes all the user’s incoming and outgoing OSN traffic to block or protect traffic when malicious activity or sensitive content is detected. Last, the third component is the OSN data analytics software stack (back-end).
The main purpose of the back-end is to generate and install classifiers in the Web-proxy for the detection of:
a) bot/fake/troll user accounts;
b) hateful or racist text and memes;
c) sensitive pictures/data posted by the minor;
d) sexual predators and cyberbullies;
d) disturbing videos.
The consortium successfully disseminated and communicated its results, as evident by the numerous publications in top tier venues and the extensive international press coverage it has received. It has also successfully delivered and is currently piloting the integrated software system. The ENCASE system augments the key capabilities of state-of-the-art parental control tools to tackle a broader spectrum of cybersafety challenges. Its Machine-Learning-based classifiers are constantly updated via new data and feedback from users so they can remain effective as threats evolve. At the same time, ENCASE’s approach respects the privacy of adolescents and acts as a parental advice (rather than control) tool with a focus on encouraging discreet supervision.
ENCASE Open Repositories
| Repository description | URL |
| Source code created under WP4, WP5, WP6, and WP7 | http://encase.phabricator.cut.ac.cy/source/code.git |
| The source code of the ENCASE browser add on | http://encase.phabricator.cut.ac.cy/source/add-on.git |
| The source code of the Online Social Networks Data Analytics Software Stack Environment (Back-End) | http://encase.phabricator.cut.ac.cy/source/back-end.git |
| The source code of the Intelligent Web-Proxy | http://encase.phabricator.cut.ac.cy/source/proxy.git |
| The database of the ENCASE Back-End and Intelligent Web-Proxy Data Access Layer | http://encase.phabricator.cut.ac.cy/source/DataAccessLayer.git |
| The source code of the Parental Console | http://encase.phabricator.cut.ac.cy/source/console.git |
You can clone the repository to create a local copy on your computer using the command
git clone [url]
Using these credentials:
Username: encasebot
VCS password: enc@segit691025
Note:
In case you face any problems accessing our git repositories, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Other Open Software
- Software for “The Good, the Bad and the Bait: Detecting and Characterizing Clickbait on YouTube”
ZENODO - Software for “Who Let The Trolls Out? Towards Understanding State-Sponsored Trolls”
ZENODO, GitHub - Software for “On the Origins of Memes by Means of Fringe Web Communities”
ZENODO, GitHub - Crowdflower platform for “Large Scale Crowdsourcing and Characterization of Twitter Abusive Behavior”
ZENODO, GitHub - Software for “Disturbed YouTube For Kids: Characterizing And Detecting Inappropriate Videos Targeting Young Children”
ZENODO, GitHub - Software for: “It is just a flu: Assessing the Effect of Watch History on YouTube’s Pseudoscientific Video Recommendations” (not funded by ENCASE)
ZENODO, GitHub
DEMOS
- Setting up visibility options between the custodian and the minor – watch the demo here
- Detecting abusive users on Twitter – watch the demo here
- Detecting bot/fake accounts on Twitter – watch the demo here
- Protecting a minor from hateful or racist memes on Facebook – watch the demo here
- Protecting a minor’s picture on Facebook (encryption and steganography) – watch the demo here
- Detecting sexual predators on Facebook – watch the demo here
- Detecting cyberbullying on Facebook – watch the demo here
- Detecting personal data leakage on Facebook – watch the demo here
- Sentiment and affective analysis of a conversation – watch the demo here
- Detecting disturbing videos on YouTube – watch the demo here
GUARDIAN AVATAR APPROACH
- Setting up the tools and the guardian avatar – watch the demo here
- Detecting cyberbullying on Facebook – watch the demo here
- Detecting fake/spam accounts on Twitter – watch the demo here
- Preventing a minor from uploading a hateful/racism meme – watch the demo here
- Protecting a minor from hateful or racist memes on Facebook – watch the demo here
- Detecting personal data leakage on Facebook – watch the demo here
Cybersafety Family Advice Suite (CFAS)
CFAS is a suite of cyber safety tools aiming to protect minor users when interacting with online social network platforms. For more information and installing the CFAS, click here.
The continuous design and development of the CFAS tools are funded by the CYbersafety EU-projects (II, III, IV).
Important Note: Some techniques developed in the framework of the ENCASE project have been commercialized by the Astroscreen startup.