LESIS Bulletin #5 - Digital safety, dependency automation and FAIR

Introduction

This month we highlight recent research from the LESIS team, share an open-source tool designed for security investigations, and look at a development shaping the industrial cybersecurity landscape.

Research & Articles

Digital safety for children: preparing the next generation

Children are growing up surrounded by connected devices, online games, social platforms, and digital services. While technology creates new opportunities for learning and communication, it also exposes children and families to risks such as scams, account theft, data exposure, disinformation, and unsafe online habits.

This article presents O Cibernauta, a project that uses children’s literature to introduce digital safety and online citizenship in an accessible and engaging way. Its first book, O Cibernauta em A Super Senha Secreta, transforms password security into a playful story that helps children, parents, and educators discuss safer online behavior.

As part of its support for the initiative, LESIS purchased and donated 30 copies of the book to people and institutions that can help expand its reach. The initiative reinforces an important idea: security culture is not built only through tools, audits, or incident response. It also begins with education, practical habits, and conversations that prepare the next generation to navigate the digital world more safely.

Dependabot: automating dependency updates on GitHub

Keeping software dependencies updated is essential, but manually monitoring libraries across multiple repositories and ecosystems can quickly become inconsistent or difficult to maintain.

This article shares our experience configuring Dependabot in LESIS repositories. The GitHub-native tool monitors dependencies and automatically opens pull requests when newer versions or security fixes become available, turning dependency management into a continuous and auditable process.

The article also covers configuration strategies, update grouping, pull request limits, supported ecosystems, and some of the limitations identified during implementation. Automation does not replace testing and review, but it helps teams identify outdated components earlier and maintain a more consistent security process.

Tool Spotlight

FAIR: Fake Account Interaction Recognition

FAIR is an open-source Python tool developed by LESIS to identify potentially fake Instagram profiles through interaction graphs and heuristic analysis.

The tool collects public interaction data, builds relationship graphs, and analyzes profile behavior using indicators such as entropy, engagement patterns, and activity burstiness. Its results can be explored through an interactive visualization, helping investigators identify suspicious profiles and understand how accounts interact within a network.

FAIR also supports recursive profile exploration, allowing analysts to expand an investigation beyond the original account and examine connected profiles.

The project is open source and available for use and contribution.

Closing

LESIS is an applied security research entity focused on developing effective offensive technologies in support of critical operations. Its approach is grounded in a thorough attacker’s perspective and rigorous, research-driven thinking

If you found this issue interesting, feel free to share it with colleagues working in security research.
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