While reading up on outlier
cohesion analysis in collaborative social networks, I came across this article which
I found pretty interesting in the security niche; “Structural Analysis and
Destabilizing Terrorist Networks” by N.
Memon et al. The article discusses key areas in network analysis such as
(i) cohesion analysis (such as cliques, ncliques, n-clans
and k-plex) to determine familiarity, robustness and reachability.
(ii) role analysis (such as position role index) to
determine critical nodes and
(iii) power analysis (such as degree centrality, Eigenvector centrality and dependence centrality)
This work has further
been refined and published as IEEE conference on intelligence security and ADMA
Practical
Algorithms for Destabilizing Terrorist
Networks
N Memon, HL Larsen - Proceedings of IEEE Conference on
Intelligence Security …, 2006 – Springer
And
Structural Analysis and Mathematical Methods for Destabilizing Terrorist Networks Using
Investigative Data …
N Memon, HL Larsen - … Conference on Advanced Data Mining Applications (ADMA 2006),
2006 – Springer
From
a generic covert network perspective, there has been previously a lot of work
done for darkNet exploration, automated discovery for nodes with case studies
in Allpeers, anoNet, Freenet, GNUnet, I2P , Tor, Turtle F2F and WASTE.
A good
overview can be found here.
Destabilizing dynamic covert networks
KM Carley, M Dombroski, M Tsvetovat, J Reminga, N … - Proceedings
of the 8th International Command and Control …, 2003 - casos.cs.cmu.edu
The problem of network
outliers is not only crucial in intrusion detection but also an interesting
network theory problem where a leaf node posses attributes out of the ordinary.
As discussed by N. Memon et al for the social aspect of network; “The analysis
of the interaction structures that is involved in social network analysis is an
important element in the analysis of the micro-macro link, the way in which individual
behavior and social phenomena are connected with one another. In this
perspective, social networks are both the cause of and the result of individual
behavior.”
References from the
paper and further readings
1. Scott, J.: Social
Network Analysis: A Handbook, 2 edn. Sage Publications, London 2000.
2. Wasserman, S., Faust,
K.: Social Network Analysis. Cambridge University Press.1994.
3. Sageman, M.:
Understanding Terrorist Networks. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.
4. Berry, N., Ko, T.,
Moy, T., Smrcka, J., Turnley, J., Wu, B.: Emergent clique formation in
terrorist recruitment. The AAAI- 04 Workshop on Agent Organizations: Theory and
Practice, July 25, 2004, San Jose, California, 2004. http://www.cs.uu.nl/virginia/aotp/papers.htm
5. McAndrew, D.: The
structural analysis of criminal networks. In: D. Canter, L. Alison (eds.) The
Social Psychology of Crime: Groups, Teams, and Networks, Offender Profiling
Series, III.Aldershot, Dartmouth ,1999.
6. Davis, R.H.: Social
network analysis: An aid in conspiracy investigations. FBI Law Enforcement
Bulletin pp. 11–19, 1981.
7. Chen, H., Chung, W.,
Xu, J.J., Wang, G., Qin, Y., Chau, M.: Crime data mining: A general framework
and some examples. Computer 37(4), 50–56, 2004.
8. Krebs, V.: Mapping
networks of terrorist cells. Connections 24, 45–52, 2002.
9. Bonacich, P., Power
and Centrality. American Journal of Sociology 92: 1170-1184, 1987.
10. Burt, R. S.,
Structural Holes, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992.
11. Hanneman, R. E.,
Introduction to Social Network Methods.Online Textbook Supporting Sociology
175. Riverside, CA: University of California, 200.
12. Burt, R. S.,
Structure, A General Purpose Network Analysis Program. Reference Manual,
Newyork: Columbia University, 1990.
13. Luce, R., Perry, A.:
A method of matrix analysis of group structure. Psychometrika 14, 95–116, 1949.
14. Seidman, S.B.,
Foster, B.L.: A graph theoretic generalization of the clique concept. Journal
of Mathematical Sociology 6, 139–154, 1978.
15. Freeman, L.C.: The
sociological concept of “group”: An empirical test of two models. American
Journal of Sociology98, 152–166 ,1992.
16. Luce, R.:
Connectivity and generalized cliques in sociometric group structure.
Psychometrika 15, 169–190, 1950.
17. Mokken, R.: Cliques,
clubs and clans. Quality and Quantity 13, 161–173, 1979.
18. Balasundaram, B.,
Butenko, S., Trukhanov, S.: Novel approaches for analyzing biological networks.
Journal of Combinatorial Optimization 10, 23–39, 2005.
19. Latora, V., Massimo
Marchiori How Science of Complex Networks can help in developing Strategy
against Terrorism, Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 20, 69-75, 2004.
20. Memon, N. Henrik
Legind Larsen, Practical Algorithms for Destabilizing Terrorist Networks, In
Proceedings of IEEE Intelligence Security Conference (ISI 2006), San Diego, California,
USA (to appear), 2006.
Newman, M. E. J. The structure and function of
complex networks, SIAM Review 45, 167- 256, 2003.
And on a humorous side, here is an interesting video about how NOT to do it.:)