Cambridge Analytica is "only the beginning": Imperial data expert weighs in
Dr Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye has warned of the risk of privacy attacks that happen through friends. In a recent paper and accompanying blog post , data security expert Dr de Montjoye , from Imperial College London's Data Science Institute and Department of Computing , said attacks on privacy through friends are becoming a major risk in today's society. He said: "In our modern networked societies, privacy is a shared responsibility, because the people we interact with affect our privacy. What's worrying is that an online friend can, often without knowing it, share your data and that of other friends just by downloading seemingly innocent apps." The issue has been covered widely in the media after a whistleblower's revelations that Cambridge Analytica obtained private data on 30 to 50 million Americans. The Cambridge Analytica story is one of the first large scale examples of such group privacy attacks, and it is unlikely to be the last Dr Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye Data Science Institute The revelations cast doubt on current approaches to privacy, and highlight the ethical and legal issues with third-party companies harvesting data on users' friends and contacts. Node-based intrusions. Humans interact along complex social networks.
