Security Issues and Threats in Social Networking Websites

Analyse Security Issues and Threats
Associated with Social Networking Websites

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION:..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................4
Background of research :........................................................................................................4
Significance............................................................................................................................5
Aims and objectives...............................................................................................................5
Research questions.................................................................................................................6
Scope and Delimitations.........................................................................................................6
Sources of knowledge:...........................................................................................................6
Review of Literature .......................................................................................................................7
1. Types of security issues are associated with social networking websites..........................7
2. Ways or reasons of using social networking websites.......................................................8
3. Ways to mitigate risks associated with social networking websites..................................9
Research methodologies .................................................................................................................9
Ethics, legal and security issues...........................................................................................10
Activities timescale..............................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION:
Before discussing about issues related to social networking websites it is important to
understand that what is social networking websites and how it is being used by people. So, in this
context it can be said that it is sources and platforms which allow users to share their ideas,
photos, videos, posts and also communicate or make other people aware about their real world
activities (Saleem and Ellahi, 2017). It is in trend that people make use of social networking
websites and let others know about their daily real life activities as what they are eating, what
they are doing, where they are going , with whom they are going and others. This online
platform or websites are being developed to make people beneficial in making their work easier
and also make them feel refreshed. Some examples of social networking websites which are the
most used include: Face Book, LinkedIn, Twitter and others. These activities and sharing of
people about their daily lives online is increasing risks for them and it is the reason of increasing
cyber crimes. There are several cyber crimes which are increasing day by day and which are
affecting lives of innocent people. Some examples of security threats and issues which are
associated with social networking websites include: phishing and scams. It is all about related to
social media informations risks and breach of privacy data or informations which people share
with others. There are several organizations which make a great use of social networking
websites for making their work easier and great extent use of this site due to lack of knowledge
and others are increasing risks for their employees and business like breach of banking details,
professional and personal informations of employees and clients (Kuss and Griffiths, 2017).
In the context of phishing attack it can be said that it is one of the main concerns because
this cyber attack is affecting lives of users and organizations as well. In this type of attack,
attackers’ attempts to trick users into doing unethical and wrong things y clicking on a bad link
which download malware by which attackers can get all information stored in the system. It is
easier for attackers because they can attack systems and hack them via social media, text and by
phone but one of the main attacks which arrive is by E-mail. Because phishing e mails can reach
to several and millions of people at a time and install malware.
In addition, it can also be said that this attack has been a major issue for security since
long without having a good solution in place. The main problem with this phishing attack is a
holistic solution. It can help and protect users against being phished and securing their

informations as well. So, it can be said that there is requirement of advanced security and
effective ways of eliminating this problem in an effective manner.
MAIN BODY
Background of research :
Phishing attack is one of the major problem and concern for banking and all e-
commerce services providers. Uses of social networking websites and internet of things to the
great extent is increasing risks of cyber crimes and phishing attacks which need to be reduced
and eliminated in an effective and timely manner. Phishing attacks are becoming so advanced
and hackers and criminals are focusing on new and other ways of gathering personal and
professional data which are affecting profits of E-commerce and banking sector to the great
extent.
It is stated that half of SMEs of the UK has been affected because of Phishing attacks as
hackers go after smaller targets (Half of UK SMEs Hit by Phishing Attack, 2019).
Phishing is currently the dominant attack vector for entry into networks and also understanding
its popularity is becoming hard. An impersonation phishing attack which involve user’s friends,
families and close relatives is posing a particular threat. It is also stated that still UK’s businesses
are not taking these attacks and crimes seriously and also not taking strict actions against it. They
are only paying lip services to security training for compliance reasons for reducing human cyber
risks (Bharucha, 2018).
In addition, there are some other common types of cyber attacks which include:
password attacks, malware attacks, Denial of service attacks.
Password attacks: In password attacks, attackers try to get access to user's password by looking
around their desk and sniffing the main connection to the network in order to acquire un-
encrypted passwords. Brute forced password guessing is one of the main technique of password
attack in which attackers try different passwords which are commonly used by people.
Malware attacks: In addition, in malware attacks, attackers can have access to data by installing
unwanted software in system without consent of users. Macro viruses, file infects and Trojans
are some ways of malware attacking. All these techniques and viruses infect applications like
excel and others. When injected applications are opened by users then virus executes instructions
before transferring control to the application.

Significance
Social networking websites or internet has become an important part of people and their
daily lives as they cannot imagine their lives without internet and social networking websites. All
these sites was mainly developed to allow people to contact with their relatives friends and
anyone, anytime and also make uses in business promotion and other important activities. But
nowadays people are using these sites to the great extent and children are becoming addicted to
it. This addiction and lack of knowledge of using these sites in an effective manner is becoming
reason of cyber crimes which are affecting lives of people in a negative manner.
Some examples of cyber crimes in social networking include: malware in which due to infected
files and installed viruses by attackers, people open attachments sent by people in friend list, they
do not have knowledge that they are opening themselves up to the potential of malware infection.
Data breaches is main crime happened with social media platforms. By password attack,
attackers can get credit card informations and other personal informations which can create
several problems for users.
So, the main reason of selecting this topic is to make people aware about consequences of
using social networking sites in an ineffective manner and to the great extent (Parulekar, 2019).
To help people and prevent them against cyber crimes like breach of personal data, threats from
hackers and others and allow them to make use of internet and social media sites in an effective
manner is the main reason of conducting study on this topic.
Aims and objectives
Aim- To model a frame work that will analyze security threats and issues associated with
different social networking websites.
Objectives
 To critically evaluate cyber threats in social networking websites.
 To identify ways or reasons of using social networking websites.
 To critically evaluate data collection methodologies for data collection relevant to the
topic.
 To recommend some tools and ways to mitigate risks associated with social networking
websites.

Research questions
1. Which types of security issues are associated with social networking websites?
2. Why and how people are making use of social networking websites nowadays?
3. How to evaluate data collection methodologies for gathering information relevant to the
topic?
4. What are some ways of eliminating all security threats related to social networking
websites?
Scope and Delimitations
The reason of conducting this study is gathering informations and ways as how hackers
get personal informations and attack on systems. By knowing different types of cyber security
issues all users can be made aware as how to prevent themselves against all these issues. It will
also focus on collecting informations and know about phishing attacks in banking and E-
commerce sector. After analysing and identifying phishing attacks, scholar will create an
effective design in order to make users aware about taking prevention measures with the help of
informations which they gather from different sources and customers’ feedbacks (McGeehan and
et.al., 2017).
So, overall it can be said that the main objective is preventing all users and companies
against phishing attacks and continuing their functions in an effective manner. It has scope to the
great extent as it can help all users of internet and social networking websites.
Sources of knowledge:
Getting informations relevant to the topic is not an easy task as researcher has to make
lists of all resources or sources from where he can get all accurate and viable informations in an
ethical manner without hurting others. There are several sources are available but identifying is
whether they are reliable or not is the main task. So, in the context of social networking issues
and threat like phishing attacks and getting all informations like how many users and
organizations have affected, researcher will make an effective use of books and journals and peer
reviewed articles. These peer reviewed articles can allow them to get all effective informations
and making the study successful as well as making users aware about how to prevent themselves
against this.