Author Archive | Matt Shanahan

Does tracking frequency of access find shared accounts?

No. At least not very accurately. Some online services have tried to use high frequency of access as a positive indicator of account sharing. The following example illustrates the limitations of that metric. Scout Analytics has been analyzing access patterns for one online service that has approximately 6,000 active users. A recent regression analysis was performed where the percentage of shared accounts was correlated to the frequency of access as measured in standard deviations from the median. The graph below shows that frequency of access was not a good indicator until more than 9 standard deviations above the median which represented < 1% of the shared accounts.

Scout Analytics SU3 is Live

Scout Analytics Service Update 3 (SU3) went live on July 2. SU3 enhances the data collector with the following capabilities. Device Signature 46 new data elements about the machine and browser used to access a service were added to the collector. This information is used in analytics to provide richer understanding about the number of devices accessing a service as well as the demographics associated with access. Remember Me Login The collector now tracks the “remember me” option on a login page. The collector will register which subscribers are using “remember me” and can provide new insight into scope and revenue risk of “remember me” functionality. Mobile Device Login Page The collector has been designed to detect and accommodate mobile […]