The Risks Associated with Socoal Networking Websites

 

THE WEAKEST LINK: THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES

 The popularity of social networking websites has increased to astonishing levels not only in west but also in other parts of the world. I agree that it is not right to argue the positive aspects of using these social networking websites but I would like to point out the fact that using these websites for different purposes mostly networking could result in a potential threat to the security of a user.

Different US governmental organizations and security professionals are revising their policies to fight with the potential threat hackers can cause by hacking their personal information which is normally available on the internet. Different governmental officials and their family members emails and social networking accounts have been hacked in the past. These days professional organizations have restrict the use of these websites at workplace to avoid the potential security threat. In this articles one of the most important term the author has used is 'SOCIAL ENGINEERING" means act of manipulating people into performing actions rather than by breaking in or using hacking technologies

Social engineers look for personal information and create a security threat to the user in many ways. This method of stealing information is becoming a fine art and more and more people are falling victim to online scams that seem genuine. This can result in data or identity theft. Social engineers present themselves as a trusted user and try to convince the target to give personal details such as Social Security numbers, employment details and so on. By collecting such information, data theft becomes a serious risk. We as civilized and sensible citizens would never disclose certain information when meeting someone for the first time but we see nothing wrong with posting it online for all to see on their profile, personal blog or other social networking site account. This data can often be mined by cybercriminals resulting in security loss.

Users are aware these days and normally avoid opening links and attachments send by strangers on the internet, hence hackers have discovered this new method of obtaining personal info which is social engineering.

According to one of the surveys there are more than 350 million users on face book. There are about 45m users registered on my space. This information reflects the fact that there is enormous amount of information available which can be used against the user and produces a threat.

A lot of discussion going on about the use of these websites as being more of a security threat rather than productive. It is right that we live in a world where technology has changed the way people communicate and do their businesses. The users of these websites should take these concerns seriously and never provide personal info because this action will not only harm them but also to other people associated with them.

http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jss/vol3/iss2/7/

Lehrman, Yosef. 2010. The Weakest Link: The Risks Associated with Social Networking Websites.Journal of Strategic Security, 3 (2): 63-72.
Available at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jss/vol3/iss2/7