Social Network as Facebook is Not Safe from Hackers - Essay Example

Social Network as Facebook is Not Safe from Hackers Introduction With the fast changing technologies in the 21st centuryand the increased use of the internet and computers for communication comes the increased concerns over security in the global environment (Sharpe 8); Since the advent of the internet, the platform continues to attract more users a feature that makes the internet unsafe for most people. Social networks such as Facebook result to the interconnection of millions of people from all over the world thus bringing diversities and similarities in close interactions (Lu?sted 9). In this regard, Facebook offers an effective opportunity for people from different backgrounds to identify their similarity and therefore converge through chart rooms and groups or pages; for instance, the Facebook group of people opposed to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is one such example of how people of similar interests converge on social media (Brodzinsky). However, this joining of different people with similar interests makes such individuals in those groups vulnerable to different forms of abuses at the same time. Hackers with ill intentions of compromising and sabotaging information communication systems have emerged and greatly undermined the reliability and security of information (Cavelty 1), and Facebook, like other communication systems, is not safe from hacker activities. Hacking refers to the unwarranted access of other people’s online databases and directories; hackers are targeting personal information in personal Facebook accounts such as passwords, confidential data, secrets, among other things, with malicious intentions whose sole purpose is to harm the victims, thus breaching individual privacy on social networks. With the growing number of internet users, the highly porous nature of information systems, and features of service providers including the social networking sites that make it possible for unwanted users to access other peoples’ databases, social networks as Facebook are not safe from hackers. There are numerous reasons and explanations why Facebook is not safe from hackers; for instance, nowadays there is increasing use of social network for business transactions and advertising, even though the platform is strictly meant for personal relationships (Lu?sted 10). In this case, hackers abuse social network as businesses by stealing vital information such as company trade secrets or operational blue prints thereby compromising the businesses. Investigations into cybercrimes are curtailed by the mere fact that the internet has transformed the world into a global village thus allowing hackers to commit crimes from any location of the world and go scot-free. Cyberspace security has also been largely compromised by the increasing internet population in addition to the aspect of anonymity that allows users to disguise themselves on social networks such as Facebook using fake account details while seeking to commit cybercrimes. New inexperienced Facebook users are particularly vulnerable to hacker attacks because they are yet to learn how to utilize the complex security features of the internet on the platform. Hackers can take advantage of the privileged personal information stolen from private accounts on Facebook to cause untold havoc and damage to personal and business relations; for instance, hackers may impersonate individuals to commit cybercrimes or damage reputations of individuals. Perhaps the most serious consequence suffered by victims of hacking activities is the loss or destruction of vital information thereby compromising the entire systems network. Research Statistics provide evidence of the hackers and hacker activities, for instance, a recent research by the Privacy Clearing House reports indicate that over 1oo million records have been compromised since February 2005, and over 80 million cases were due to web hacking attacks. A similar research at Acunetix reports findings that about 75% of cyberspace attacks occur at the web application level; most Facebook users are hacked at high rates even when they do not think they are practicing risky online behavior. The results of a survey presenting theft, abuse, and eventual recovery of Facebook accounts statistics indicate that less than one third of users notice when their accounts are compromised, and over 50 % rely on friends to point the hacking event to them. Another poll by common touch reveals that more than two thirds of compromised accounts are used to send spam and frauds, and in total, Facebook attracts 15-27% of the attention of Cybercriminals (Yadav). Suddath reported one such explicit experience of evidence of hackers in the Time whereby users were getting a quick message from a friend on Facebook but by clicking to the link, they were being redirected to a website pretending to be Facebook. This was a scam prank that happened after hackers attacked Facebook collecting users’ log in details and passwords stealing the victims’ friend lists to use as next targets for hacking activities (Suddath). However, despite Facebook’s reputation for pervasive internet security threats, the firm identified the fraud firsthand and contained the attack expediently and its ripple effects lasted only a few days. Statistics by 2009 indicated that currently Facebook has over 200 million users and this figure is constantly growing, thus making the social network prone to hackers and spammers who target the massive and rapidly increasing traffic on the site for malicious intentions. Overall, the eminent threat of cybercrimes due to hacking activities has never been as real as it is today given the fast-paced technologies; advent of the internet and a rapidly increasing internet user population; the integrity and safety of information systems has been greatly compromised because of hacking threats. Like other online information databases, social networks like Facebook are also increasingly becoming vulnerable to hacking activities due to their overwhelming populations that attract the attention of hackers. Hackers target to steal and compromise vital personal information from individual accounts on Facebook thereby undermining people’s privacy and integrity of information stored or shared over the social network. Stolen or compromised information includes account log in details, passwords and lists of personal connections or social circles; hacker’s knowledge of such critical information can have very catastrophic results for the victims because hackers may utilize it to harm individuals through manipulative defrauding or spamming tactics. Financial frauds are the most common impacts of hacker activities as hackers end up using stolen account information to ask friends to wire funds to international accounts thus leading to financial losses. Stringent measures must be put in place to curb hackers and all hacking activities including frauds and spams, to protect data from being stolen and to restore the integrity and safety of information systems. Works Cited Cavelty, Myriam, D. “Cyber-Security and Threat Politics: US Efforts to Secure the Information Age”. Routledge, 2008. Web. 3 July 2013 Lu?sted, Marcia A. “Social Networking: Myspace, Facebook, & Twitter”. Social Networking. 2011. Web. 3 July 2013 Brodzinsky, Sibylla "Facebook used to target Colombia's FARC with global rally". The Christian Science Monitor. 2008. Web. 3 July 2013 Sharpe, Mary. Science and Society in the Face of the New Security Threats: [proceedings of the Nato Advanced Research Workshop on Science, Society and Security: Developing a Scientific Community to Tackle New Security Threats. Amsterdam: IOS Press, 2006. Print. Yadav, Shubham, “The statistics of hacked accounts”. Hackillusion.com. 2013. Web. 3rd July 2013 Suddath Claire. “The Downside of Friends: Facebook's Hacking Problem”. Time.com. 2009. Web. 3 July 2013 Read More