Detecting a root cause for a vulnerability using subjective logic in social media

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium tangibly embodying a computer readable program code having computer readable instructions that, when executed, causes a computer device to carry out a method of identifying a computing device vulnerability, the method comprising:

• monitoring social media communication;
• identifying social media threads that relate to a discussion about a vulnerability of a computing device, based on the monitored social media communication;
• filtering the identified social media threads by removing SPAM postings therefrom;
• categorizing the filtered identified social media threads into one or more predetermined categories of computing device vulnerabilities;
• upon determining that a number of social media posts of the social media threads related to the vulnerability is above a first predetermined threshold:
• searching one or more dependable social media threads in a same one or more categories of the vulnerability;
• determining one or more possible root causes of the vulnerability from the searched dependable social media threads;
• assigning a validity score for each of the one or more possible root causes;
• and
• selecting a possible root cause from the one or more possible root causes that has a highest validity score that is above a second predetermined threshold, to be the root cause of the vulnerability;
• and
• upon determining the root cause of the vulnerability, sending a notification to one or more computing devices that are deemed to be affected or are at risk to be affected by the identified vulnerability, wherein the notification includes a patch to the identified vulnerability.