What are Cyber Social Threats

🙏 08.30 - 08.45 AM | Welcome the CySoc 2024 workshop attendees.
🎤 08.45 - 09.45 AM | Keynote I: Reza Zafarani, Syracuse University.

Fake news detection: Limited Ground Truth, Limited Text, No Understanding of Spreading Intent
"Fake news" is now viewed as one of the greatest threats to democracies and journalism. Massive spread of fake news has weakened public trust in governments and its potential impact on various political outcomes such as the Brexit is yet to be realized. We will briefly review fake news detection techniques, along with some of the current challenges that these methods face. We will discuss some recent advancements to tackle these challenges, particularly focusing on multi- modal fake news analysis and assessing the intent of fake news spreaders.

A Multidisciplinary Approach to Unpacking the Impact of Cyber Social Threats on Mental Health
As social media platforms continue to provide enriching, candid spaces for discourse on multi-faceted topics, they also increasingly surface a range of social threats to users. Pervasive exposure to such threats not only jeopardizes adequate platform functioning and safety, but also risks exacerbating stress, anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues, highlighting a critical area of concern in today's society. However, significant gaps remain in our understanding of the full extent and mechanisms by which these cyber threats impact mental health. In this talk, I will present empirical evidence and lessons learned from large-scale causal investigations on quantifying and understanding the nature of this relationship. Through a series of interlinked studies that have harnessed rich, longitudinal social media data alongside social science theory, I will situate how online harassment, hate speech, and misinformation are associated with increased reports of emotional distress and psychological trauma in individuals and communities. The talk will underscore the urgent need for robust and comprehensive solutions to mitigate the harmful effects of such cyber social threats. By collaborating with mental health professionals, policymakers, and the victims of these threats, the talk will conclude with calls to action to imagine and develop targeted interventions that can effectively safeguard mental well-being in today's rapidly evolving digital age.

• Emiliano De Cristofaro, University of California, Riverside, USA.
• Huan Liu, Arizona State University, USA.
• Filippo Menczer, Indiana University, USA.

• Nitin Agarwal, Information Science, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, USA.
• Esra Akbas, Computer Science, Georgia State University, USA.
• Mehmet Emin Aktas, Network Science, Georgia State University, USA.
• Ahmed Al-Taweel, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, USA.
• Charlotte Alexander, Law, Georgia Tech, USA.
• Zeyad Alghamdi, Computer Science, Arizona State University, USA.
• Moonis Ali, Information Science, Max-Planck Institute.
• Falah Amro, Information Science, George Mason University, USA.
• Ismailcem Budak Arpinar, Computer Science, University of Georgia, USA.
• Goonmeet Bajaj, Computer Science, Ohio State University, USA.
• Utkucan Balci, Computer Science, Binghamtom University, USA.
• Apaar Bawa, Computer Science, Georgia State University, USA.
• Canyu Chen, Computer Science, Illinois Institute of Technology, USA.
• Zhouhan Chen, Computer Science, Safe Link Network, USA.
• Francesco Corso, Computer Science, Politecnico di Milano, Italy.
• Yingtong Dou, Research Scientist, Visa Research, USA.
• Tuğrulcan Elmas, Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
• Stefano Guarino, Computer Science, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Roma, Italy.
• Sudhamshu Hosamane, Information Science, Rutgers University, USA.
• Bing He, Computer Science, George State University, USA.
• Desheng Hu, Informatics, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
• Wenjia Hu, Social Computing, Carnegie Mellon University, USA.
• Loukas Ilias, Computer Science, National Technical University of Athens, Greece.
• Julia Jose, Computer Science, New York University, USA.
• Vedant Khandelwal, AI Institute, University of South Carolina, USA.
• Do Won Kim, Information Studies, University of Maryland, USA.
• Munjung Kim, Informatics, Indiana University, USA.
• Laura Kurek, Information Science, University of Michigan, USA.
• Valerio La Gatta, Computer Science, Università di Napoli Federico II, Italy
• Negar Mokhberian, Computer Science, University of Southern California, USA.
• Raha Moraffah, Computer Science, Arizona State University, USA.
• Bharath C. Muppasani, AI Institute, University of South Carolina, USA.
• Lynnette Hui Xian Ng, Social Computing, Carnegie Mellon University, USA.
• Alex Nwala, Data Science, William & Mary, USA.
• Burak Özturan, Network Science, Northeastern University, USA.
• Swati Padhee, Computer Science, Ohio State University, Ohio, USA.
• Trilok Padhi, Computer Science, Georgia State University, India.
• Jay Patel, Computer Science, Binghamtom University, USA.
• Manita Pote, Informatics (Complex Networks and Systems), Indiana University, USA.
• Ashwin Rao, Computer Science, University of Southern California, USA.
• Md Main Uddin Rony, College of Information Studies, University of Maryland, USA.
• Koustuv Saha, Computer Science, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, USA.
• Agnik Sahah, Computer Science, Georgia State University, USA.
• Fabio Saracco, Physics, IMT, Lucca, Italy.
• Yasas Senarath, Information Science, George Mason University, USA.
• Chengcheng Shao, Computer Science, National University of Defense Technology, China
• Mainuddin Shaik, Information Science, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, USA.
• Shadi Shajari, Information Science, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, USA.
• Billy Spann, Information Science, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, USA.
• Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan, Computer Science, Wright State University, USA.
• Bao Tran Truong, Informatics, Indiana University, USA.
• Oguzhan Turkkan, Computer Science, IBM, USA.
• Ruijie Xi, Computer Science, North Carolina State University, USA
• Xinchen Yang, Computer Science, University of Maryland, USA.
• Niloofar Yousefi, Information Science, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, USA.
• Satrio Yudhoatmojo, Computer Science, Binghamtom University, USA.
• Jiawei Zhou, Information Science, Georgia Tech, USA.