Browser History Research for Anti-Phishing
We are conducting a research study which involves studying web browsing histories to discover and understand its commonalities.
Specifically, we are researching the distribution of website visits and commonalities of website visits across users to understand if sharing information about phishing targets will be effective.
For our experiment, we would like our volunteers to install a browser extension that will record their website visit history for one week, starting on March 27, 2020 and ending on April 2, 2020, and then share with us their anonymized history.
Participating in the Research Study
- Read about the research study and procedures on the informed consent form.
- If you wish to volunteer, sign and submit the informed consent form via Google Forms or PDF.
- Install the extension
- On or after April 3, 2020, submit your anonymized history.
Install the Extension
Google Chrome/Chromium/Brave: visit the Chrome Web Store and click on the blue “Add to Chrome”.
Firefox: click to download and install the add-on.
Using the Extension
Once the extension is installed, you can click on the purple icon in your toolbar to open up the Research page:
The Research page has 3 sections: Truncated Browser History, Instructions for Submission, and About the Research.
The Truncated Browser History displays your web history and its anonymized form. The timestamps and anonymized domains (both in purple text) is what we would like you to share with us (see next section).
Submitting your Anonymized Browser History
We aggregate the purple text into a structured format in Instructions for Submission, and provide several ways to share your data with us.
On or after April 3, 2020, please follow the instructions in Instructions for Submission.
You can uninstall the extension once submission is complete:
Thank you!
About
Approved by USC IRB #UP-19-00826.
Questions about the research or extension? Email calvin@isi.edu.
Extension:
- source code (GitHub)
- Download Firefox Add-on (.xpi) (for Firefox)
- Chrome Web Store (for Brave/Chrome/Chromium)