Business and Academic Writing: Analyzing Facebook Information Leakage

This report examines the pervasive issue of personal information leakage on Facebook, attributing it to factors such as user attitudes, promotional activities, social influence, advanced persistent threats, ignorance of privacy policies, and insecure app authentication processes. It provides tailored solutions for both users, including adopting strong passwords, being cautious with status updates, understanding privacy policies, removing unnecessary apps, limiting ad exposure, and avoiding public servers, and for Facebook itself, such as reframing privacy policies, protecting sensitive information, limiting media and contact access, stopping incursions, and auditing suspicious activity. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of these measures in safeguarding user data and maintaining trust in the platform. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and resources for students.

BUSINESS AND ACADEMIC WRITING

BUSINESS AND ACADEMIC WRITING 1
Executive Summary
The excess use of Facebook in recent years has resulted in many damages to the
individual users in form of leakage of personal information from their Facebook profile.
There are a number of reasons due to which, this leakage of information is continuously
increasing. This report analyzes the main reason and the solutions that can be used to deal
with this problem.

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Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Problem Statement: Leakage of Personal Information Through Facebook............................................3
Reasons.................................................................................................................................................3
Attitude towards using Facebook.......................................................................................................3
Promotion of products and brands.....................................................................................................4
Social Influence.................................................................................................................................4
Advanced Persistent Threats..............................................................................................................4
Ignorance of Privacy Policy...............................................................................................................4
Existence of paid promotion links and ads of websites......................................................................5
Authentication before installing apps................................................................................................5
Solutions................................................................................................................................................5
For Users...........................................................................................................................................5
Strong password............................................................................................................................5
Careful while updating status........................................................................................................6
Privacy policy................................................................................................................................6
Remove Apps................................................................................................................................6
Limit the exposure to certain advertisements.................................................................................6
Do not log in from Public Servers.................................................................................................6
Sharing of information...................................................................................................................7
For Company.....................................................................................................................................7
Reframe the privacy policy............................................................................................................7
Protect Information........................................................................................................................7
Option of accessing media and contacts........................................................................................7
Stop Incursion................................................................................................................................8
Limit the apps and advertises to get the personal information of users..........................................8
Audit of Suspicious Activity..........................................................................................................8
Provide information.......................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................8
References.............................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
In the last two decades, online social networks have moved from niche phenomenon
to a huge adoption. Facebook has transformed from a local college network to the most
popular social networking sites among the people of all age groups. The current research also
shows the sufficient evidence that Facebook is expanding as a ubiquitous giant information
leakage repository which collects the personal data of its users from various objects like
groups, events, interaction on community pages etc.
As per the information available on public sites, more than 30 billion pieces of
content like news, links, stories, notes, blog posts, and photo albums are shares by the
Facebook users in a month. The high volume of information sharing activities generates a
number of privacy risks for the users. The risks may involve unwanted stalking, duplication
of user id, the disclosure of accidental information, damage to reputation and many more
(Molok, Chang, & Ahmad, 2010).
This report describes the main factors that affect and increase the leakage of personal
information on Facebook. Such factors can be analyzed from the point of view of users as
well as the organization. Further, possible solutions that can prevent the breach of
information are provided separately for the users and company. In the end, a conclusion has
been drawn to summarize the main findings of the report and provide an overview of the
concept.
Problem Statement: Leakage of Personal Information Through Facebook
In present scenario, leakage and breach of personal information from Facebook is the
major problem, which is required to be considered by the users as well as by the organization.
The main reasons behind this problem can be described as below:
Reasons
Attitude towards using Facebook
The positive attitudes of the users are based on the simplicity, usefulness, informative
quality and compatibility of the Facebook. It helps the individuals to maintain the relations
with friends and family members and share the information in form of pictures, text
messages, and videos. Facebook has become an important platform for the individuals to

BUSINESS AND ACADEMIC WRITING 4
show their talent in form of individual and community pages. Irrespective of these uses, it has
the main downside in terms of security. As these all uses of demands to upload the personal
information of users. For example, to find out the friends, the users have to select the option
of synchronizing the phone contacts. In this process, all the related information of contacts
automatically uploaded on the Facebook server which can be used easily by the hackers.
Similarly, at the time of sharing any picture with the friends, such picture can be downloaded
by anyone and can be used for creating the fake profile or for doing any illegal activity
(Krombholz, Merkl, & Weippl, 2012).
Promotion of products and brands
The organization and companies create their profile to advertise their products and
services on the social media platform. Such profile is liked and shared by almost all the
employees working in the same organizations. Thus, it becomes easy for the cybercriminals
to get the data about the employees and use them in criminal activity against the organization.
Social Influence
Another factor, which forces the superiors and peers to use and share their personal
information over Facebook is the influence from society and the people around them.
Facebook is considered as the status of the knowledge and being updated of a person. An
individual not having a Facebook profile is considered old-fashioned. Thus, such individuals
are also influenced to use this social platform even they do not have much interest and
knowledge. (Privacy, Social Network Sites, and Social Relations, 2010).
Advanced Persistent Threats
Cyber industrial espionage, Aurora attacks, and net reconnaissance are some identical
terms that can be used to define advanced persistent threats (APT). APT is a well-organized
and well-funded espionage that employs social engineering techniques used to hack the
information and breach the rarely detected networks. APT attackers target the government,
defence a major financial sector organizations. Adobe, Google and other large organizations
of US have to face the cyber attacks from China in from of APT attacks. In such attacks
email accounts, intellectual property, financial records, and other information were siphoned
to the IP addresses of Taiwan. For APT hackers, it is very easy to obtain the personal
information of a Facebook user (Advanced Persistent Threat Awareness, 2013).

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Ignorance of Privacy Policy
Facebook is widely used social networking tool by the young age group in
comparison to the old age group. Only 14% of the total Facebook users tend to read the
privacy policy which is related to the old age group. Thus, the users do not have accurate
information related to the management of their personal information on Facebook. This is the
most important factor which increases the leakage of information by enabling the hackers to
get the information in an easy manner (Asif & Khan, 2012).
Existence of paid promotion links and ads of websites
There are a number of paid promotions and ads on the Facebook which attract the
users to follow their link and log in their account. When users login such accounts with their
Facebook profile, all the information and data available on Facebook are transferred to
another account. Thus, the users are the main responsible for sharing their personal
information on Facebook and other related networking websites (Caers, et al., 2013).
Authentication before installing apps
Facebook uses OAuth 2.0 protocol under which, if a user wants to link any
application to his/her Facebook profile, then, the application is required to access some basic
information including email address, mobile number authentication and linked detailed with
Facebook. If the user does not share the same, then he would not be able to link and use the
application. Thus, the users are bound to share their personal information, which can even
result to leakage of information, by the application developer and related hackers (Ghazinour,
Matwin, & Sokolova, 2013).
Solutions
The problem of leakage of personal information is a very critical issue which may
lead to the mental as well as financial loss to the users. Although there is no accurate safety
measure that can control such issue wholly as there are a number of high-level hacking
techniques and processes which can breach even the most powerful security measures.
However, there are some safety measures for the users as well as for the company that can
help in securing the personal data of users.

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For Users
Strong password
It is hard to guess the stronger password which is directly related to hacking. Hacking
is the process of stealing data and information about a person without his/her permission. A
Facebook user should never use the common passwords like date of birth, name of relatives
and friends, mobile number etc (Capua, 2012).
Careful while updating status
The users innocently post their regular life events that can often give the hint to the
extra security questions. For example, if someone post, ‘happy birthday to my best friend’
and then tag his/her best friend in that post now. Then first personal information that can be
leaked about the user is the name of his/her best friend. Further, a security question of
Facebook is, ‘What is the name of your best friend?', which can be easily noticed by the
social media hackers (5 Threats To Your Security When Using Social Media, 2013).
Privacy policy
The users should read the privacy policy at the time of creating their Facebook
profile. Although it is time consuming but contains all the information related to the use of
information on Facebook and to keep the account secure from unethical practices and
hacking. Thus, in order to get the privacy-related information, it is the first duty of the users
to read the privacy policy before signing up for Facebook (Esteve, 2017).
Remove Apps
Cambridge Analytica has acquired the details of Facebook users with the help of
connected applications. The users are required to manage the applications linked to their
Facebook profile like Instagram, messenger, youtube, twitter, online banking apps and many
more. For this purpose, users can Go to settings>select apps, edit and review all the linked
apps.
Limit the exposure to certain advertisements
The present business model of Facebook is running ads. Thus there is no practical
way to turn off the same completely. But, users can adjust their preferences to the type of ads
they want to get or the type of advertisers might be able to get them.

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After making the changes, users would not get the messages, links, and emails from
the unwanted advertisers (Garcia, 2017).
Do not log in from Public Servers
The users should not log in to their Facebook account from the public domain. The
chances of hacking increase in this situation, as it is easy to store the information in a public
domain. Thus, users should try to operate their account in the existence of the private
network.
Sharing of information
There are always huge possibilities of errors if a person shares any photo or post on
Facebook. Even if the privacy is restricted to ‘private’ or ‘friend only’, there is no guarantee
that no other person would be able to see it ever. Thus, it is best to share the sensitive and
important information by means of personal or direct communication. In addition to this, the
users should never update their bank account related information like debit or credit card
number on Facebook.
Further, the users should prefer to use a separate email account and cell number for the
personal transactions to remain safe in case of breach and leakage of any information
(Kaspersky, 2013).
For Company
Reframe the privacy policy
Firstly, Facebook is required to address its privacy policy at present. The devastating
information contained in the privacy policy needs to be summarized and presented in a user-
friendly and more readable document. However, the users would still cease from reading the
same, it is required by Facebook to clearly communicate the privacy practices in order to
appear honest and reliable.
Protect Information
The sensitive information of users must be protected on the highest priority
irrespective of the location of its storage of sent or used. For this purpose, the organization
can also provide the feature of personal chat with the feature to automatically removal of data

BUSINESS AND ACADEMIC WRITING 8
after sometimes as in the case of Snapchat and Whatsapp status feature (Venkatadri, et al.,
2017).
Option of accessing media and contacts
The option of accessing media files and contacts should be removed by the company
and there should not be any function which requires to share the same. It may prevent the
leakage of information up to some extent.
Stop Incursion
The company should shut down the avenues from its warehouses, which will help, in
preventing incursions by the hacker. Production, security, and management solution are
required to be combined to prevent the possible attacks (Rajkumar, 2018).
Limit the apps and advertises to get the personal information of users
Facebook should limit the accessibility of the app developers and advertisers to access
the personal information of users without their confirmation. It should also restrict the
advertisers to make the use of available information in an unethical manner.
Audit of Suspicious Activity
The company is required to monitor the type of activities on Facebook and should
audit the apps or advertise or any user performing any kind of suspicious activity on it. It
would help the company to access the threats existed and to deal with such threat in advance.
Provide information
If the personal data of any user is hacked and misused, then the organization is
required to inform such user immediately to stop the activities that can create more danger to
him/her. However, this act would result in disappointing the users but it can also save them
from any kind of major problem (Wang, Xu, & Grossklags, 2011).
Conclusion
On the basis of the above analysis, it can be concluded that leakage of personal
information of Facebook users depends upon the users as well as the organizations in an
equal manner. Both are responsible in different manners. The main reasons are listed above
summarizing the type of leakage of data. Further, solutions are mentioned that can provide an
overview to the readers that how can users and company control the breach and leakage of

BUSINESS AND ACADEMIC WRITING 9
data and save it from cybercrime and unethical attacks. All the information is derived from
the authentic websites and journal articles published in this regard. The paper reflects on the
concept of leakage of personal information over Facebook in an easy and precise manner.
References
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5 Threats To Your Security When Using Social Media. (2013). Retrieved September 7, 2018,
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