Understanding Etiquette: Navigating Traps and Pitfalls in Digital Communication

1. Traps, Pitfalls, Swindles, Lies, Doubts and Suspicions: A Counter-Case for the Study of Good Etiquette Jack L. Edwards & Greg Scott A I Management & Development Corp. Sharon McFadden & Keith C. Hendy Defence Research & Development Toronto Defence R & D Canada - Toronto

2. Etiquette • A Nice Image • Context: Human & System Etiquette • Benevolence Assumption

3. Some General Rules of Etiquette • Be helpful • Be respectful • Be relevant • Be prompt • Be brief • Be protective (of privacy) • Be pleasant • Be adaptable

4. Foundational Rule • Foundational Rule of Etiquette • Assumption of Honesty (“Be honest”) • Benevolence Assumption • High Correlation With Some Overlap in Meaning

5. The Internet: Ubiquitous and Evolving • Work & Leisure Time Extends Beyond Local Processing • Increasing Involvement of Technology in Person-To-Person Exchanges • E.g., email;chat-rooms; video conferencing • Modern Agents Increasingly Software and Internet-Based • Traps, Pitfalls, Swindles Generalize Easily to the Internet

6. Violations of the Foundational Rule:Traps, Pitfalls, Swindles, Lies... • Nigerian Fee Scam • On-line Credit Card Fraud in 2001 • (5% of online consumers)* • Merchant’s lost $700M in 2001* • Lies & Hoaxes (Bush’s IQ) * Gartner Group

7. Thorough Understanding of Etiquette Is Not Possible Without An Active Study of the Abuse of Good Etiquette • Focusing Only on Good Etiquette Prejudices Us Toward Assumptions of Benevolence • Actively Assume Mantle of Hacker, Vandal, Scam Artist, Thief or Terrorist • Explore how to enlist rules of etiquette in deception & fraud • Active Contemplation Will Engage the Mind in a Creative Pursuit of a Deeper Understanding of Etiquette • Norman & Rumelhart Example

8. Applying Etiquette Rules in the Service of Scams & Frauds • Be helpful • Be respectful • Be relevant • Be prompt • Be brief • Protect privacy • Be pleasant • Provide options • Give the Appearance of Honesty • Falsely Establish Credibility • Some Examples of Grfter Etiquette

9. Fraud, Vandalism, Theft & Terrorism on the Internet • Ubiquitous Computing Is Giving Rise to Ubiquitous “Underworld” Activity • Generalization of Classic Con Games is Underway • Ponzi schemes – Identity Theft • Affinity Fraud – Insider Trading • Badger Game – Twice-fleeced Fraud • Embezzlement – Weights and Measures Frauds • Segmentation & Other Refinement Techniques • Mark (or Victim) Categories

10. Generalizing Grifter and Other Criminal Agents • Current & Future Software Agents • Roper Agents – Manager Agent • Inside Man Agent – Forger Agent • Shill Agents – Vandal Agents • Humans, Corporations & Other Organizations • The Target, Victim or Mark

11. Generalizing “Big Con” Grifters to Software • Roper Agents - Automated Solicitations (e.g., Nigerian Fee Scam) • Inside Man - Remotely Controlled & Coordinated Attack Agents • Manager - External Automated Attack Agents on Distributed Machines • Shills - Support Agents in a Society of Grifter Agents

12. Malicious Software Agents (Zeltser, 2000) • Rapidly Spreading Agents • Viruses and Worms - Explicitly Copy Themselves • e.g. Melissa Virus and Morris Worm • Spying (Espionage) Agents • Transmits Sensitive Information • e.g. Caligula, Marker and Groov Viruses • Remotely Controlled Agents • Complete Control of Victim’s Machine • Client/Server Architecture • Server Communicates with Attacker through Outbound HTTP & FTP Channels • Client directs Agent through Inbound Email and Web Browsing Channels • Programming API Permits Controlling Traffic to be Encrypted with Plug-Ins • Plug-Ins Permit Newly Propagated Versions to Register with Home-Base • e.g. Back Orifice and NetBus

13. Malicious Software Agents (Zeltser, 2000) (continued…) • Coordinated Attack Agents • Complete Control of Victim’s Machine • Client/Server Architecture • Multiple Clients Operate from Compromised Machines • Difficult to Trace • e.g. Trinoo and TFN • Advanced Malicious Agents • Builds on Strengths of Previously Described Agents • Alleviates Their Weaknesses • e.g. RingZero Trojan

14. Veracity Agent Network (VAN) - A Society of Protection Agents - • Monitoring Agents - Incoming/Outgoing Traffic & Unusual Local Activity • Filtering Agents - Filters (Blocks) Unwanted Activity • Masking Agents - Masks Identify (Hides or Falsifies) • Tracking Agents - Track & Identify Unknown Sources • Information Agents - Explains Activities to Users • Proactive Agents - Build User Profiles of Attackers; Report Violations; Alter Code of Intrusive Agents; Search & Destroy

15. VAN Functionality: Ensuring Good “Underworld” Etiquette? • Monitoring, Intercepting & Controlling Cookie Traffic • Monitoring Automatic Version Checkers Sending Personal Info to Company Sites • (e.g. usage statistics correlated with software Serial No.) • Blocking Unwanted Transmission of Personal Info • (e.g. credit card numbers, email address) • Stripping Browser Type, Platform & OS Info Sent With Every Request for Web Page • Blocking Banner Ads; Automatic Closing of Pop-Up Ads

16. Current Level of Development: Monitoring Agents • Internet Traffic Can Be Intercepted Either: • leaving an application & passing to the OS • leaving the OS & passing to network • Both Require Low-Level Drivers to Intercept Data

17. Current Level of Development: Monitoring Agents (continued…) • Look Up IP Addresses Automatically Using “whois” • Determine Usage Stats Being Collected, by RealPlayer • Port Number Look-Up (65K+ Ports): Identify Type of Traffic Using Ports & Build a DataBase • Identify Information Sent Out Without Asking User • cookies • software update requests • AOL messenger activity • usage stats

18. Current Level of Development: Monitoring Agents (continued…) • Outside Attempts to Access System • Personal Info Being Sent Out • e.g. credit card numbers; email addresses; passwords • System Info Sent Out While Web Browsing • e.g. browser type, operating system, type of computer • Monitor Email to... • identify common Internet hoaxes & scams • compile statistics on incoming messages for future use

19. Support Technology • NetTraffic & WinpCap - Monitors Low-Level Event Traffic on PC • Current Open Source Code from Politecnico di Torino • http://winpcap.polito.it/ • Original UNIX Pcap Developed at Berkeley • Higher-Level Functionality is Needed to Interpret & Use That Information

20. User Requirements • Protection Only - Don’t Bother Me With Details • Track Activities (At Least in the Beginning) • See Explanations of Activity; ID Sources; Report Intrusions & Misuse of Information • Be Proactive Realtive to Intruders

21. “User” Models • For Actual User (Encrypted) • For Several Masked Versions of Own User • For “Friends” of Own User • For Tracked (Potentially Malicious) Sources

22. Possibility of Agent Wars • Disseminate Info Other Agents Created To Block • Misrepresent Themselves For Nefarious Purposes • Hack Other Agents to Prevent Them from Achieving Competing Goals

23. The Future of “Underworld” Internet Computing • “Underworld” of the Internet - The “Wild West” • Few Rules and Little Explicit “Consideration of Others,” as We Defined as the Source of Good Etiquette • Helplessness of Average User to Protect Themselves From This “Underworld” Activity Will Help Drive Etiquette • Our Goal: Agents to Help Ensure You Are “Taken Into Consideration,” in this New World of Ubiquitous Internet Computing