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Call Me MayBe : understanding nature and risks of sharing mobile numbers on online social networks
| Content Provider | Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi |
|---|---|
| Author | Jain, Prachi |
| Abstract | There is a great concern about the potential for people to leak private information on social networks. There are many anecdotal examples of this, but few quantitative studies. This research explores the activity of sharing mobile numbers on OSNs, in particular via public posts. In this work, we understand the characteristics and risks of mobile numbers sharing behaviour on OSNs either via pro le or public posts and focus on Indian mobile numbers. We collected 76,347 unique mobile numbers posted by 85,905 users on Twitter and Facebook and analyzed 2,997 numbers, pre xed with +91. We observed that most users shared their own mobile numbers to spread urgent information; and to market products, IT facilities and escort business. Fewer females users shared mobile numbers on Online Social Networks. Users utilized other social networking platforms and third party applications like Twitterfeed and TweetDeck, to post mobile numbers on multiple OSNs. In contradiction to the user's perception of numbers spreading quickly on OSN, we observed that except for emergency, most numbers did not di use deep. To assess risks associated with mobile numbers exposed on OSNs, we used numbers to gain sensitive information about their owners (e.g. name, Voter ID) by collating publicly available data from OSNs, Truecaller, Open government data repository (OCEAN). On using the numbers on WhatApp, we obtained a myriad of sensitive details (relationship status, BBM pins, travel plans) of the mobile number owner. We communicated the observed risks to the owners by calling them on their mobile number. Few users were surprised to know about the online presence of their number, while few users intentionally posted it online for business purposes. 1 We observed that 38.3% of users who were unaware of the online presence of their number have posted their number themselves on the social network. With these observations, we highlight that there is a need to monitor leakage of mobile numbers via pro le and public posts. To the best of our knowledge, this is the rst exploratory study to critically investigate the exposure of Indian mobile numbers on OSNs. |
| File Format | |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Measurement Security Design Human Factor Keywords: Online Social Networks Privacy Mobile Number Phone number Risks |
| Content Type | Text |
| Educational Degree | Master of Technology (M.Tech.) |
| Resource Type | Thesis |
| Subject | Data processing & computer science |
