TY - GEN
T1 - The tools and tactics used in intimate partner surveillance
T2 - 29th USENIX Security Symposium
AU - Tseng, Emily
AU - Bellini, Rosanna
AU - McDonald, Nora
AU - Danos, Matan
AU - Greenstadt, Rachel
AU - McCoy, Damon
AU - Dell, Nicola
AU - Ristenpart, Thomas
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Sandra Ebirim for vital contributions to the data analysis phase of our study. We are also grateful to our reviewers, whose comments greatly helped to improve our paper. This work was funded in part by NSF Awards #1916096 and #1916126, as well as gifts from Facebook and Google.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by The USENIX Association. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Abusers increasingly use spyware apps, account compromise, and social engineering to surveil their intimate partners, causing substantial harms that can culminate in violence. This form of privacy violation, termed intimate partner surveillance (IPS), is a profoundly challenging problem to address due to the physical access and trust present in the relationship between the target and attacker. While previous research has examined IPS from the perspectives of survivors, we present the first measurement study of online forums in which (potential) attackers discuss IPS strategies and techniques. In domains such as cybercrime, child abuse, and human trafficking, studying the online behaviors of perpetrators has led to better threat intelligence and techniques to combat attacks. We aim to provide similar insights in the context of IPS. We identified five online forums containing discussion of monitoring cellphones and other means of surveilling an intimate partner, including three within the context of investigating relationship infidelity. We perform a mixed-methods analysis of these forums, surfacing the tools and tactics that attackers use to perform surveillance. Via qualitative analysis of forum content, we present a taxonomy of IPS strategies used and recommended by attackers, and synthesize lessons for technologists seeking to curb the spread of IPS.
AB - Abusers increasingly use spyware apps, account compromise, and social engineering to surveil their intimate partners, causing substantial harms that can culminate in violence. This form of privacy violation, termed intimate partner surveillance (IPS), is a profoundly challenging problem to address due to the physical access and trust present in the relationship between the target and attacker. While previous research has examined IPS from the perspectives of survivors, we present the first measurement study of online forums in which (potential) attackers discuss IPS strategies and techniques. In domains such as cybercrime, child abuse, and human trafficking, studying the online behaviors of perpetrators has led to better threat intelligence and techniques to combat attacks. We aim to provide similar insights in the context of IPS. We identified five online forums containing discussion of monitoring cellphones and other means of surveilling an intimate partner, including three within the context of investigating relationship infidelity. We perform a mixed-methods analysis of these forums, surfacing the tools and tactics that attackers use to perform surveillance. Via qualitative analysis of forum content, we present a taxonomy of IPS strategies used and recommended by attackers, and synthesize lessons for technologists seeking to curb the spread of IPS.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091927738&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85091927738&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85091927738
T3 - Proceedings of the 29th USENIX Security Symposium
SP - 1893
EP - 1909
BT - Proceedings of the 29th USENIX Security Symposium
PB - USENIX Association
Y2 - 12 August 2020 through 14 August 2020
ER -