Do Content Management Systems Impact the Security of Free Content Websites?

Mohamed Alqadhi; Abdulrahman Alabduljabbar; Kyle Thomas; Saeed Salem; Dae Hun Nyang; David Mohaisen

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-26303-3_13

Do Content Management Systems Impact the Security of Free Content Websites?

Mohamed Alqadhi, Abdulrahman Alabduljabbar, Kyle Thomas, Saeed Salem, Dae Hun Nyang, David Mohaisen

Department of Cyber Security

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

Abstract

This paper investigates the potential causes of the vulnerabilities of free content websites to address risks and maliciousness. Assembling more than 1,500 websites with free and premium content, we identify their content management system (CMS) and malicious attributes. We use frequency analysis at both the aggregate and per category of content (books, games, movies, music, and software), utilizing the unpatched vulnerabilities, total vulnerabilities, malicious count, and percentiles to uncover trends and affinities of usage and maliciousness of CMS’s and their contribution to those websites. Moreover, we find that, despite the significant number of custom code websites, the use of CMS’s is pervasive, with varying trends across types and categories. Finally, we find that even a small number of unpatched vulnerabilities in popular CMS’s could be a potential cause for significant maliciousness.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Computational Data and Social Networks - 11th International Conference, CSoNet 2022, Proceedings
Editors	Thang N. Dinh, Minming Li
Publisher	Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages	141-154
Number of pages	14
ISBN (Print)	9783031263026
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26303-3_13
State	Published - 2023
Event	11th International Conference on Computational Data and Social Networks, CSoNet 2022 - Virtual, Online Duration: 5 Dec 2022 → 7 Dec 2022

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume	13831 LNCS
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)	1611-3349

Conference

Conference	11th International Conference on Computational Data and Social Networks, CSoNet 2022
City	Virtual, Online
Period	5/12/22 → 7/12/22

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Keywords

CMS
Free content websites
Measurement
Web security

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-031-26303-3_13

Cite this

Alqadhi, M., Alabduljabbar, A., Thomas, K., Salem, S., Nyang, D. H., & Mohaisen, D. (2023). Do Content Management Systems Impact the Security of Free Content Websites? In T. N. Dinh, & M. Li (Eds.), Computational Data and Social Networks - 11th International Conference, CSoNet 2022, Proceedings (pp. 141-154). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 13831 LNCS). Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26303-3_13

Alqadhi, Mohamed ; Alabduljabbar, Abdulrahman ; Thomas, Kyle et al. / Do Content Management Systems Impact the Security of Free Content Websites?. Computational Data and Social Networks - 11th International Conference, CSoNet 2022, Proceedings. editor / Thang N. Dinh ; Minming Li. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023. pp. 141-154 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)).

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title = "Do Content Management Systems Impact the Security of Free Content Websites?",

abstract = "This paper investigates the potential causes of the vulnerabilities of free content websites to address risks and maliciousness. Assembling more than 1,500 websites with free and premium content, we identify their content management system (CMS) and malicious attributes. We use frequency analysis at both the aggregate and per category of content (books, games, movies, music, and software), utilizing the unpatched vulnerabilities, total vulnerabilities, malicious count, and percentiles to uncover trends and affinities of usage and maliciousness of CMS{\textquoteright}s and their contribution to those websites. Moreover, we find that, despite the significant number of custom code websites, the use of CMS{\textquoteright}s is pervasive, with varying trends across types and categories. Finally, we find that even a small number of unpatched vulnerabilities in popular CMS{\textquoteright}s could be a potential cause for significant maliciousness.",

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author = "Mohamed Alqadhi and Abdulrahman Alabduljabbar and Kyle Thomas and Saeed Salem and Nyang, {Dae Hun} and David Mohaisen",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.; 11th International Conference on Computational Data and Social Networks, CSoNet 2022 ; Conference date: 05-12-2022 Through 07-12-2022",

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doi = "10.1007/978-3-031-26303-3_13",

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series = "Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)",

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Alqadhi, M, Alabduljabbar, A, Thomas, K, Salem, S, Nyang, DH & Mohaisen, D 2023, Do Content Management Systems Impact the Security of Free Content Websites? in TN Dinh & M Li (eds), Computational Data and Social Networks - 11th International Conference, CSoNet 2022, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), vol. 13831 LNCS, Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, pp. 141-154, 11th International Conference on Computational Data and Social Networks, CSoNet 2022, Virtual, Online, 5/12/22. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26303-3_13

Do Content Management Systems Impact the Security of Free Content Websites? / Alqadhi, Mohamed; Alabduljabbar, Abdulrahman; Thomas, Kyle et al.
Computational Data and Social Networks - 11th International Conference, CSoNet 2022, Proceedings. ed. / Thang N. Dinh; Minming Li. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023. p. 141-154 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 13831 LNCS).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review