Data Privacy - R3V3RS3D Lecture Summary
Lecture Overview
Section titled “Lecture Overview”This comprehensive presentation explores the intersection of data privacy, cognitive warfare, and open-source intelligence (OSINT) in the digital age. The lecture examines how personal data is generated, collected, and weaponized in modern information operations.
Key Topics Covered
Section titled “Key Topics Covered”1. Data Generation in the Digital Domain
Section titled “1. Data Generation in the Digital Domain”- Personal security checklists and best practices
- Adversarial techniques (makeup, clothing patterns) to evade facial recognition
- WiFi mapping and Bluetooth beacon tracking
- Digital footprint analysis across platforms (Google, Facebook, social networks)
Resources:
- Personal Security Checklist
- Digital Defense Guide
- Adversarial Makeup Research
- WiFi Mapping - Wigle.net
2. Data Collection & Marketing
Section titled “2. Data Collection & Marketing”- Data Brokers: Major players include Acxiom, Oracle Data Cloud, Experian, Equifax, TransUnion
- What They Collect: Demographics, financial data, online behavior, health information, location history, political affiliations
- Who Buys It: Marketers, employers, insurance companies, law enforcement, political campaigns
- Regulation Status (2025): Patchwork laws in US (CCPA/CPRA); GDPR restrictions in EU
3. Cognitive Warfare
Section titled “3. Cognitive Warfare”The presentation details how psychological operations exploit human cognitive vulnerabilities:
Core Concepts:
- Overton Window Shift: Normalizing extreme ideas through gradual exposure
- Memes: Cultural units that spread ideas, emotions, and tribal identities
- Narratives: Story frameworks that promote specific worldviews
- Dark UX Patterns: Manipulative design tactics including misinformation loops, echo chambers, fear appeals
Psychological Exploits:
- Cognitive biases (confirmation bias, bandwagon effect)
- Emotional decision-making over logic
- Information overload leading to uncritical acceptance
- Social identity manipulation (us vs. them tribalism)
Real-World Example: Operation SIMCARTEL - Europol operation that seized 40,000 SIM cards used to create 49 million fake online identities for fraud and influence operations.
Research Reference: Cognitive Warfare Academic Paper
4. NLP Detection & Analysis
Section titled “4. NLP Detection & Analysis”Four AI/NLP Techniques for Narrative Intelligence:
- NER (Named Entity Recognition): Identifies persons, organizations, locations, dates
- POS (Part of Speech): Grammatical categorization for syntactic analysis
- Topic Modeling: Discovers hidden thematic structures using BERTopic
- Sentiment Analysis: Classifies emotions (polarity: -1 to +1; subjectivity: 0 to 1)
Applications:
- Automated detection of disinformation campaigns
- Narrative tracking across multiple sources
- Identifying coordinated inauthentic behavior
- Protecting analyst mental health through automation
Tools & Research:
5. OSINT (Open Source Intelligence)
Section titled “5. OSINT (Open Source Intelligence)”Ethical Guidelines:
- Use only legally accessible data
- Respect privacy and Terms of Service
- No doxxing, harassment, or vigilantism
- Consider potential harm
Essential OSINT Tools & Resources:
Web Archives & Search:
Image Intelligence:
Geospatial:
Infrastructure Research:
Frameworks & Training:
Code & Materials
Section titled “Code & Materials”GitHub Repository: UNICRI-Decode-CW Contains code samples, analysis notebooks, and methodology for cognitive warfare detection.
Contact
Section titled “Contact”Jindrich Karasek Senior Cyber Threat Researcher, PSU CAS Linktree Profile