Method and system for risk determination

Abstract

A method for determining a risk profile of an entity of interest, comprising interrogating a social media platform to determine a social media account corresponding to the entity of interest and generating a linked social network data structure linking the social media account corresponding to the entity of interest to one or more other social media accounts on the social media platform corresponding to other entities, where an individual link is based on one or more social media interactions between the social media account corresponding to the entity of interest and each of the one or more other social media accounts corresponding to other entities. The method further involves assigning an individual link risk measure to one or more of the individual links of the linked network data structure, the individual link risk measure based on a risk assessment of the one or more social media interactions upon which the individual link is based on and a risk profile of the entity of interest based on an aggregated risk measure based on the linked social network data structure comprising the individual link risk measures.

1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 interrogating by one or more electronic processors of a computer system a social media platform to determine a social media account corresponding to an entity of interest;   generating by the one or more electronic processors a linked social network data structure linking the social media account corresponding to the entity of interest to one or more other social media accounts on the social media platform corresponding to other entities, wherein an individual link is based on one or more social media interactions between the social media account corresponding to the entity of interest and each of the one or more other social media accounts corresponding to other entities;   assigning by the one or more electronic processors an individual link risk measure to one or more of the individual links of the linked social network data structure, the individual link risk measure based on a risk assessment of the one or more social media interactions upon which the individual link is based on; and   determining by the one or more electronic processors the a risk profile of the entity of interest based on an aggregated risk measure based on the linked social network data structure comprising the individual link risk measures.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein interrogating the social media account comprises:
 providing entity selection information characterising the entity of interest;   interrogating the social media platform to identify one or more candidate social media accounts, each candidate social media account comprising candidate information;   ranking the one or more candidate social media accounts based on a degree of similarity between the entity selection information and candidate information for each candidate social media account to provide a set of ranked candidate social media accounts; and   selecting the social media account corresponding to the entity of interest from the set of ranked candidate social media accounts.   
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the linked social network data structure comprises:
 collecting data items from the social media account;   determining data items corresponding to social media activities; and   determining social media interactions for the social media account based on the social media activities that relate to an interaction between the entity of interest and another social media account corresponding to another entity;   
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 3 , wherein determining data items corresponding to social media activities includes comparing a data item with a previous version of the data item to identify a change in the data item. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein determining social media interactions includes determining whether the social media account of the entity of interest and another social media account corresponding to another entity have interacted with common content on the social media platform. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the risk assessment is based on a textual analysis of the one or more social media interactions. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 6 , wherein the textual analysis includes a measure of a relevance of the one or more social media interactions in combination with a measure of a sentiment of the one or more social media interactions. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the risk assessment is based on an image analysis of the one or more social media interactions. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein an initial entity risk measure is determined for each of the one or more other social media accounts linked to the social media account of the entity of interest. 
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 9 , wherein the individual link risk measure for a link between the entity of interest and another entity is also based on the initial entity risk measure for the other entity. 
     
     
         11 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 10 , further including interrogating by the one or more electronic processors additional social media platforms to determine one or more related social media accounts corresponding to the entity of interest. 
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein generating the linked social network data structure includes:
 for each of the related social media accounts determining links based on social media interactions between each of the related social media accounts of the entity of interest and further social media accounts on the social media platform or the additional social media platforms corresponding to other entities.   
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the linked social network data structure and the risk profile of the entity of interest is updated over time. 
     
     
         14 . A computer-implemented system comprising:
 an interrogation server comprising one or more processors configured to interrogate a social media platform to determine a social media account corresponding to an entity of interest;   a collection server comprising one or more processors configured to generate a linked social network data structure linking the social media account corresponding to the entity of interest to one or more other social media accounts on the social media platform corresponding to other entities, wherein an individual link is based on one or more social media interactions between the social media account corresponding to the entity of interest and each of the one or more other social media accounts corresponding to other entities; and   a link analysis server comprising one or more processors configured to assign an individual link risk measure to one or more of the individual links of the linked social network data structure, the individual link risk measure based on a risk assessment of the one or more social media interactions upon which the individual link is based on and to then determine a risk profile of the entity of interest based on an aggregated risk measure based on the linked social network data structure comprising the individual link risk measures.   
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 14 , wherein interrogating the social media account by the interrogation server comprises:
 providing entity selection information characterising the entity of interest;   interrogating the social media platform to identify one or more candidate social media accounts, each candidate social media account comprising candidate information;   ranking the one or more candidate social media accounts based on a degree of similarity between the entity selection information and candidate information for each candidate social media account to provide a set of ranked candidate social media accounts; and   selecting the social media account corresponding to the entity of interest from the set of ranked candidate social media accounts.   
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 14 , wherein generating the linked social network data structure by the collection server comprises:
 collecting data items from the social media account;   determining data items corresponding to social media activities; and   determining social media interactions for the social media account based on the social media activities that relate to an interaction between the entity of interest and another social media account corresponding to another entity.   
     
     
         17 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 16 , wherein determining data items corresponding to social media activities includes comparing a data item with a previous version of the data item to identify a change in the data item. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 14 , wherein determining social media interactions includes determining whether the social media account of the entity of interest and another social media account corresponding to another entity have interacted with common content on the social media platform. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 14 , wherein the risk assessment is based on a textual analysis of the one or more social media interactions. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 19 , wherein the textual analysis includes a measure of a relevance of the one or more social media interactions in combination with a measure of a sentiment of the one or more social media interactions. 
     
     
         21 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 14 , wherein the risk assessment is based on an image analysis of the one or more social media interactions. 
     
     
         22 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 14 , wherein an initial entity risk measure is determined by the link analysis server for each of the one or more other social media accounts linked to the social media account of the entity of interest. 
     
     
         23 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 22 , wherein the individual link risk measure for a link between the entity of interest and another entity is also based on the initial entity risk measure for the other entity. 
     
     
         24 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 23 , further including interrogating by the collection server additional social media platforms to determine one or more related social media accounts corresponding to the entity of interest. 
     
     
         25 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 24 , wherein generating the linked social network data structure by the link analysis server includes:
 for each of the related social media accounts determining links based on social media interactions between each of the related social media accounts of the entity of interest and further social media accounts on the social media platform or the additional social media platforms corresponding to other entities.   
     
     
         26 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 14 , wherein the linked social network data structure and the risk profile of the entity of interest is updated by the link analysis server over time. 
     
     
         27 . A system comprising:
 one or more processors;   memory in electronic communication with the one or more processors; and   instructions stored in the memory and operable, when executed by the one or more processors, to cause the system to:   interrogate a social media platform to determine a social media account corresponding to an entity of interest;   generate a linked social network data structure linking the social media account corresponding to the entity of interest to one or more other social media accounts on the social media platform corresponding to other entities, wherein an individual link is based on one or more social media interactions between the social media account corresponding to the entity of interest and each of the one or more other social media accounts corresponding to other entities;   assign an individual link risk measure to one or more of the individual links of the linked social network data structure, the individual link risk measure based on a risk assessment of the one or more social media interactions upon which the individual link is based on; and   determine a risk profile of the entity of interest based on an aggregated risk measure based on the linked social network data structure comprising the individual link risk measures.