Towards Predictive Modeling Deviant Cyber Flash Mobs: A Socio-Informatics Driven Hypergraph Framework (5.4 Social Informatics)
Abstract
Flash mob is defined as a self-organized group that gets together, performs an unpredicted act, and disperses. A cyber flash mob (CFM) is one that is coordinated and conducted in cyber world via social media and "deep web" channels. Due to afforded anonymity and perceived less personal risk of connecting and acting online, CFM behavior is increasing among hacktivists/hacker groups who recruit, train, and arm attackers to coordinate and launch cyberattacks. Despite wide media coverage of CFM, systematic investigations of such phenomenon are lacking. This research will advance our understanding of CFM behavior, a manifestation of interconnected collective action conducted through modern social information systems. This research utilizes the theory of collective action to model the dynamics of deviant CFMs, borrows from the literature on collective identity formation to explain the motivation needed to sustain such coordinated acts, assimilates factors pertaining to collective failures or success (such as group size, diversity, asymmetry in resource distribution, and critical mass), and leverages notions of hypergraph to model complex (multidimensional and supra-dyadic) relations commonplace among members of deviant CFMs. A three-phased research effort is developed to address the objectives of the study, focusing on - Phase 1: Development of analytical models to explain deviant CFM behaviors, Phase 2: Data collection targeting extremist/violent CFMs, complex relation extraction, and hypergraph representation, and Phase 3: Model refinement, verification, and prediction performance evaluation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 12, 2017
- Source ID
- W911NF1610189
Entities
People
- Nitin Agarwal
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- United States Army
- University of Arkansas at Little Rock