Facebook showing Traces of Crowd Sourcing in Risk Management (?)

Picture by Matthew Filed/Creative Commons

If you're following the blog, you know I'm a big advocate of using the "wisdom of the masses" (well... at least their accumulated computational ability) to crowd-source complex tasks that cannot be easily automated. The way I see it, it's not that users merely "don't mind", they actually expect that to happen. This is the reason I'm pro offer walls (well, at least some of them) and like the concept of “jobs” or “tasks” incorporated into these walls. There's a lot to be done in the area of engaging users around various complex decisions, risk management being one of them (see other ideas on gwap). Now, I don't think that we cracked the code of making financials and risk interesting – whether it’s because financials are less “sexy” or because or more elusive reasons - but I do enjoy seeing interesting attempts.

That's why I liked the feature I discovered in a TC post: 

Yeah, I know, you’re wondering what I am so excited about. Well, for me it goes back to the dynamics that help establish and nurture communities. Online communities are here to stay, from Habbo hotel to SL to social networks. Communities like Facebook are growing by mere network effect; every day, people are pouring into the platform to interact, share, play. And at the same time, you can’t help but hear the murmur: Facebook did this, Facebook did that, I don’t like the new layout, I hate the privacy policy. This might means that we have (potentially) passed the docile stage of throwing sheep at other users, to the involvement period. What’s that? Basically, creating a real, lasting online community requires more than a news feed and a constant unedited stream of brain farts (dad, I actually like yours. Really). It requires users’ engagement, their involvement in regulating their environment, in setting its rules and in actively helping to make it better. It requires some kind of ownership, a sense of responsibility. This is what creates a healthy community that can be actually leveraged as more than a collection of unrelated, though somewhat connected, individuals. And that’s the reason why I like the potential of this nascent form of crowd-sourcing risk management: from my point of view, it’s a fair attempt at starting to enable users to assume that kind of responsibility. It’s a call to action where Facebook’s Risk team, effectively the police in a network that’s around 1.5X the size of US population, is asking you to join the neighborhood guard. If it’s really your neighborhood, won’t you act to keep it peaceful?

That’s why I like it. Or, at least, that’s the potential I’m loading on one poor notification feature… The other reason is, of course, the poetic justice of using the same type of resources fraudsters are using to overcome standard risk controls to actually deter fraud. Gotta love that.

What is your take on crowd sourcing risk-related process in your system?

PS

In case you’ve never seen it, catch this remarkable piece of the performing arts.

Lyrics are here.

And, of course: what goes around comes around. 

The A-Team: building the best risk management teams

WWII basically ended unemployment in the US. Increased wartime production and the drafting of millions of men had created so many new opportunities, that the effect of the great depression was finally countered. It was a time when millions of women would join the work force. They filled traditionally "female" jobs but also opened up many previously "male" jobs, from operating heavy machinery to traveling sales people. In a sense, it was a revolution stemming from necessity, which is often the case even when the necessity doesn't arise because of a world war; someone's next promotion might occur with the same dynamic.

It was in this atmosphere that Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers, started working on a personality type test that would help new female workers find the right job for them, where they could be more effective. More than 60 years later, MBTI is a commonly used test to assess personality types and help people of various preferences understand each other's perspective of ideas, data, decision making and planning, among others.

Amazon PayPhrase is a nice, risky step (plus some PayPal platform)

Today, TechCrunch posted about Amazon PayPhrase going live. It appears that Amazon customers were notified of this feature, allowing them to set a phrase they can later use on 3rd party sites to check out quickly - just type in your payphrase and PIN and you're out. The TC post mentions a similarity to PayPal's student accounts, I am not sure I agree, but that's not the case. The interesting question (one also raised in the post) is - what new risks does a new feature introduce into the system?

There's a lot to be said about modeling the possible risks in a new payment feature, and I find it to be some science, some art. You have to weigh not only what users and fraudsters are doing now, but also what opportunities will they have once you introduce a feature, and understand how to design controls that mitigate the major issues without hurting functionality. That's why there's some art in it.

PayPal Israel is looking for Analysts!

Disclaimer: This blog is not intiated nor endorsed by Paypal.com. I am writing it not as an employee of the company and my opinions are strictly my own. I am, however, posting a publicly available job opening since I find it to be a very interesting position, to be our single source of truth.

Read more about the domain and the type of people.

PayPal Israel is looking for Risk Analysts

Responsibilities:

Analysts in PayPal are highly motivated team players, working within the Live Analytics group, specializing in understanding, creating and applying advanced proprietary fraud prevention models. The group members work in a variety of fraud related fields while using state of the art tools and methods (profiling, forensics, network analysis, machine learning and more). The ideal candidates have a passion for solving fraud "riddles" and strong analytic skills allowing them to analyze various kinds of data and information and come up with new understandings. The role encompasses acquisition and application of vast knowledge areas over a short period of time and requires a strong sense of personal responsibility. The position is shift based, in a hectic live environment, held in regular working hours. Role development includes increasing contact with cross-organization research groups, project and product management roles and various other positions inside the greater global risk organization inside PayPal.

Requirements:

- BA graduate or a final year student
- Full time position
- 1-2 years work experience
- Proven analytical skills - scoring more than 700 in the psychometric test or an equivalent is a must
- Quick-thinker, fast learner, wide general knowledge
- Team worker, responsible and trustworthy
- Strong deliverability within strict time frames
- Computer skills: experience with programming /scripting language, Excel, SQL - a plus
- General familiarity with Internet technologies and protocols - a plus
- Excellent English. Other languages - a plus