Perceptual ad-blocking is a novel approach that detects online advertisements based on their visual content. Compared to traditional filter lists, the use of perceptual signals is believed to be less prone to an arms race with web publishers and ad networks. We demonstrate that this may not be the case. We describe attacks on multiple perceptual ad-blocking techniques, and unveil a new arms race that likely disfavors ad-blockers. Unexpectedly, perceptual ad-blocking can also introduce new vulnerabilities that let an attacker bypass web security boundaries and mount DDoS attacks.We first analyze the design space of perceptual ad-blockers and present a unified architecture that incorporates prior academic and commercial work. We then explore a variety of attacks on the adblocker's detection pipeline, that enable publishers or ad networks to evade or detect ad-blocking, and at times even abuse its high privilege level to bypass web security boundaries.On one hand, we show that perceptual ad-blocking must visually classify rendered web content to escape an arms race centered on obfuscation of page markup. On the other, we present a concrete set of attacks on visual ad-blockers by constructing adversarial examples in a real web page context. For seven ad-detectors, we create perturbed ads, ad-disclosure logos, and native web content that misleads perceptual ad-blocking with 100% success rates. In one of our attacks, we demonstrate how a malicious user can upload adversarial content, such as a perturbed image in a Facebook post, that fools the ad-blocker into removing another users' non-ad content.Moving beyond the Web and visual domain, we also build adversarial examples for AdblockRadio, an open source radio client that uses machine learning to detects ads in raw audio streams.• Security and privacy → Web application security; • Computing methodologies → Machine learning approaches.
The challenging task of image outpainting (extrapolation) has received comparatively little attention in relation to its cousin, image inpainting (completion). Accordingly, we present a deep learning approach based on [4] for adversarially training a network to hallucinate past image boundaries. We use a three-phase training schedule to stably train a DCGAN architecture on a subset of the Places365 dataset. In line with [4], we also use local discriminators to enhance the quality of our output. Once trained, our model is able to outpaint 128 × 128 color images relatively realistically, thus allowing for recursive outpainting. Our results show that deep learning approaches to image outpainting are both feasible and promising.
With the celebrated success of deep learning, some attempts to develop effective methods for detecting malicious PowerShell programs employ neural nets in a traditional natural language processing setup while others employ convolutional neural nets to detect obfuscated malicious commands at a character level. While these representations may express salient PowerShell properties, our hypothesis is that tools from static program analysis will be more effective. We propose a hybrid approach combining traditional program analysis (in the form of abstract syntax trees) and deep learning. This poster presents preliminary results of a fundamental step in our approach: learning embeddings for nodes of PowerShell ASTs. We classify malicious scripts by family type and explore embedded program vector representations. CCS CONCEPTS• Security and privacy → Malware and its mitigation; • Computing methodologies → Neural networks; KEYWORDS powershell scripts; malware; deep learning; abstract syntax trees ACM Reference Format:
No abstract
We study, quantitatively, for the first time, the traits of Twitter teenager networks. The results are compared with general population users, and show that teenagers behave uniquely. Teens tend to follow more users and increase friendships over time. They tend to friend individuals online who they already know offline. Teenagers also use Twitter as a news media and form supportive and dense communities. These results shed new light on the attributes of teenage communities. We can then utilize these ideas to find solutions to emerging problems involving the massive use of social media. For example, Twitter can be used as a positive tool for the prevention of bad habits among teens.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.