Security Issues in Online Social Networks

Security Issues in Online Social Networks

The online social network has been the latest trend in the communication sector, and it has made communication fast and more affordable. Such online network platforms include Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and they have all relied on the internet to facilitate communication. The expansion of internet technology has enhanced the sharing of ideas across borders. For one to use the online social networks, they are required to create e-mail addresses so that they may communicate with other users. It is estimated that online social network users are around one billion worldwide (Milton, Ramakrishman & Shaji, 2013). Of all the social network platforms, Facebook has the most user’s majority of whom are the youth, while Instagram is amongst the platforms with the least subscribers.  The availability of online social networks over the internet has resulted in security concerns. Some of the security issues that have raised concern among the users include; tagging of images, hacking of pictures, the anonymity of users, profile and personal information, use of profiles which are not original, hacking of e-mails, attack by malware viruses, users account being deleted, collecting of social data, exchange of daily activities and physical threat.

The security issue with tagging of images is that some of the online social network users tag their account photos with their e-mail addresses and their names and hence providing easy access to these details by the public. Little do they know that they are presenting an opportunity for hackers who have evil interests to access their details? Milton & Ramakrishyan (2014), states that hacking of images is also a common security concern amongst online social network users, and this has been attributed to a lack of awareness. Most users upload their images to the online platforms, and they do not mind any available privacy settings, and as a result, their images end up being accessed by a large number of subscribers. Lack of privacy awareness opens an opportunity for the hacking of photos, which is done through photos dragging until they are saved. Once the images are saved, the hackers can do any malicious activity with the images.

Another method used for hacking to gain access to images in social platforms is by the use of a unique feature in window OS called the snipping tool, which enables hackers to cut and save photos posted by the users. Additionally, hackers can create fake accounts more so for those individuals who are popular or have more influence. The hackers use the details of the user to create fake accounts and then post false information that might tarnish the name of the individual in the general public. Another security concern of online social networks is the anonymity of users. The majority of online social network users use their actual names as their profile names. Hence online hackers can gain access of the user name and tarnish the user’s image over the social platforms, and this may make individuals lose important opportunities such as job opportunities because the employers can search the individual in online social platforms (Mohamed, Anna, Gail-Joon & Irini, 2012).

Additionally, online social network hackers can gain access to critical personal information. A larger percentage of online users provide sensitive information about themselves in their accounts. Such critical information may include real e-mail addresses, dates when they were born, real names, their cell phone numbers, and their places of employment, and such information is not restored to privacy settings. Hence hackers have the opportunity to access important details of individuals, and they can use such information for their malicious actions. Flesher (2006), notes that the availability of user’s profiles, which are not their real accounts, has also raised concerns among a vast number of online social users. When online users provide sensitive information about themselves, hackers are able to access such information and then create fake accounts of individuals and then damage the respect of such individuals in the general public.

Furthermore, the hacking of e-mails has become a serious security issue. Most of the online social users provide their real e-mails on social platforms, or they provide their real names, and hackers can guess their e-mails using a combination of the user’s names. Alternatively, hackers can use specific websites to send messages to the users informing them to legitimize their e-mail accounts; otherwise, they will be blocked. Some of the users will heed to this call, and the hackers will be able to gain the passwords of the user’s e-mails, and they can do evil actions with the user’s details (Fuller, 2006). Malware viruses is also a security concern by some of the online social users. The hackers can send malware uniform resource locator to the accounts of the users. Once the users click on the resource locators, a unique code is installed on the user’s account, and the hacker can access the user’s information.

Another security issue is concerned with the deleting of user’s profiles. The users may delete their profiles, but realistically an account in online social networks cannot be deleted permanently. Once the users delete their accounts, any information they posted will remain on social platforms, and hackers can use such information to trace their accounts. In addition, the exchange of information on social platforms has raised security concerns. Sharing of information such as a change of business location, which is communicated to potential customers over social media platforms helps hackers to monitor certain individuals, and they can use such communication to commit crimes. Hackers can use the information on the user’s accounts to derive key conclusions about the user, such as the user’s tastes. If the user’s taste is in fashion, the hackers can decide to cone the victim by offering the latest fashions in the online social platforms. The victim may then be told to pay for the fashions after which they will be delivered, only to end up not receiving the items. Some users provide their cell phone numbers in their accounts, and hackers can use such detail to call the user and threatened him or her or send threatening messages to the user (Balachander & Craig, 2008).

References

Milton, J., Ramakrishman, B. & Shaji, R. (2013). “Prevention of Losing User Account by Enhancing Security Module: A Facebook Case.” Journal of Emerging Technologies in Web Intelligence. Vol.5 No. 3

Milton, J. & Ramakrishyan, B. (2014).  “Enhancing Security Module to Prevent Data Hacking in Online Social Networks.” Journal of Emerging Technologies in Web Intelligence. Vol. 5, No. 2.

Mohamed, S., Anna, S., Gail-Joon, A. & Irini, K., (2012). “Access Control for Online Social Networks Third Party Applications.” Elsevier-Computers & Security.

Flesher, J. (2006). How to Clean up Your Digital Dirt Before it Trashes Your Job Search. In the Internet Engineering Task Force.

Fuller, A. (2006). Employers Snoop on Facebook. In the Standford Daily.

Balachander, K., & Craig, E.W., (2008). “Characterizing Privacy in Online Social Networks,” WOSN ’08 Proceedings of the First Workshop on Online Social Networks.

Facebook. (2011). Facebook Statistics <http//www.facebook.com/press>.

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Facebook. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/facebook>.

www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/all-social-networking-statistics/