Analyzing deviant behaviors on social media using cyber forensics-based methodologies
Brandon Dalton, Nitin Agarwal · 2016
Today human behaviors are easily influenced by mobile technologies. With the widespread availability of inexpensive mass communication tools deviant actors and groups are able to carry out information warfare online. By utilizing cyber forensic based techniques one is able to gain insight into the “who, what, when, where, and why” of these actors, blogs, and groups. The terrorist organization ISIL for example, is able to effectively militarize social media in order to coordinate cyber campaigns and steer public behavior and perspectives through the use of propaganda. Through the utilization cyber forensic based tools on information put out by these actors; one is able to obtain a great deal of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) about these groups and their activities, such as, influential bloggers, websites, blogs, locations, and social media accounts. However, utilizing cyber forensic tools of this kind manually on large datasets is both time consuming and error prone; this paper will present a JavaFX application which automates the cyber forensics process for this reason. Both the Center of Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies (COSMOS) and Blogtrackers researchers headed by Dr. Nitin Agarwal at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) have been investigating and analyzing these blogs to gain situational awareness from the internet and across social media. This tool will allow the Blogtrackers team to effectively collect, analyze, and visualize the gathered data which is then, in some cases, presented to NATO and the Office of Naval Research (ONR).