Cornell Tech researchers have developed a new method to help home-grown militants prevent hackers from tracking, harassing and damaging their devices and social media.
The model focuses on “continuous care,” so clients over time experience a seamless relationship with a volunteer technology consultant, just like a health care provider. Reconciles survivors with trusted and trusted counselors, provides survivors with a number of safe ways to communicate with counselors, and securely store their history of technology abuse and concerns.
In a paper on the model, Dr. Emily Tessing, a doctoral student and lead author, said: They are limited by one-size-fits-all protocol. “
Tseng will present a paper entitled “Digital Security Infrastructure Infrastructure” in April at the ACM CHI Conference in New Orleans on the humanities in the computing system in New Orleans.
Tessing and her colleagues worked with the New York City Mayor’s Office to curb the Cornel Tech Clinic to Tech misuse. Their study included eight months of data as well as interviews with volunteer technology consultants and IPV experts.
“This work faithfully addresses the benefits and burdens of both IPV volunteer technology consulting services and computer security counseling,” said co-author Nicola Del. , Associate Professor at Cornel Tech Jacobs Technician-Cornell Institute. “We hope our experience will be useful to others who are interested in helping vulnerable communities with computer security problems.”
Survivors of various forms of gender-based violence, including technology-related violence, are being targeted, said Cecil Noel, commissioner of the Office of the Mayor for the Prevention of Domestic and Gender-Based Violence. “The Cornell Tech Infrastructure Program is not only helping the survivors of technology abuse, but is also working to better understand how people are abusing technology so we can better protect the survivors,” Noel said. “We are proud of the significant role that our long-time partner Cornel Tech has played in improving the lives of the survivors.”
Tech abuse is often found in the web of big damage, Tsing said. “In the real world, people on the Geek Squad can treat technological abuse with the help of a social worker.”
Attackers can abuse their victims, also known as technology, spyware, and stereoware, and abuse location tracking features on phones and other devices. They harass their ex-partners on social media, for example by posting personal photos and posing as victims to separate family and friends. Abusers can hack into email accounts and disrupt victims’ work by altering recovery emails and phone numbers.
In previous models, counselors remained anonymous, building trust in survivors. Short, one-time appointments were not enough to meet customer demand. And appointments are made within a certain period of time; Survivors who are unable to leave their homes or are unable to call a secure private location have not been able to access services and have not been able to contact counselors. “It can be frustrating and even frustrating to share their story with new counselors at appointments,” Tseng said.
One of the main goals of the team is to provide the survivors with more peace of mind and encouragement – they have the tools to deal with future challenges. “There are many ways for you to engage with your caregiver even after you are physically and romantically involved with technology,” she said.
One difficult part is deciding how much support is real. A one-time “urgent care” visit may not be enough, and long-term involvement will not be sustainable for counselors and the clinic as a whole. “In many cases, consultants have worked with clients on multiple appointments that last for weeks or months,” he said.
As a next step, she wants to explore more ways to assess ongoing safety and security relationships with survivors, especially those from marginalized communities.
Dell created a clinic to end technology abuse with Cornell Tech Associate Professor Thomas Wistenport. Both Dell and Restenport are from Cornell Ann. Bowers is affiliated with the College of Computer and Information Science.
Other co-authors on the paper are Ristenpart, postgraduate associate rozana belini, doctoral student mahernaz sabet and harkiran sodihi, MBA ’21. The study was partially funded by Google and supported by the National Science Foundation.
Adam Conner-Simon is communications director at Cornel Tech.