A Report on Security and Privacy Issues in Social Media Platforms

This report examines the security and privacy issues associated with social media platforms. It identifies key problems such as password vulnerabilities, unauthorized access, and the leakage of personal information. The report highlights the role of technologies like the Internet and various systems in social media operations and discusses their impact on society, particularly the youth. It also emphasizes the importance of user awareness, including changing passwords regularly and protecting personal data. The report concludes by summarizing the critical aspects of social media security and privacy and suggests measures to mitigate the risks. It emphasizes the need for users to be cautious about sharing personal information and managing their online interactions. The report also references the most relevant technologies utilized for social media and the impact of these issues on the society.

Running head: SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
Security and Privacy Issues Associated with Social Media
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SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
Executive Summary
The main objective of this report is to get to know about the several and various security and
privacy issues and problems related to social media. It is an application that helps to make new
friends, exchange data and information by communicating virtually. The aim of this report is to
identify the security and privacy issues that are associated with social media applications.
Moreover, the problems, challenges, relevant technologies and the impact of these issues on the
society are also identified here.

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SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................4
Security and Privacy Issues in Social Media...............................................................................4
Problems..................................................................................................................................4
Relevant Technologies.............................................................................................................5
Impact of the Security and Privacy Issues...............................................................................6
Most Important Lesson............................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................9

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SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
Introduction
The computer based technologies, which help for creating and sharing any type of data or
information or ideas through several communication networks that are present virtually is known
as social media. This social media has several features and aspects. The main feature is the
interactive Web 2.0 applications (Bertot, Jaeger & Hansen, 2012). The users have to create
account in the application and thus can communicate with the entire world. There are several
types of social media platforms in the modern world. The most popular are the Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and many more. Facebook has the largest number of users, which
crosses over almost thirty billion in number (Gundecha & Liu, 2012). WhatsApp is the second
most popular after Facebook. It came in the year 2009 and soon it gained popularity all over the
world. In the year 2014, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for more profit. Currently, almost one
billion users are using WhatsApp and it is the most significant popular messaging and texting
application. These social media applications are extremely popular for all the users and
individuals especially for the youth generation (Chen & Bryer, 2012). However, there are several
security and privacy issues related to these social media platforms, which often turn out to be
vulnerable for the society.
The report covers a brief description about the security and privacy issues associated with
social media. The report provides a detailed discussion on the challenges and problems occurred
due to the security and privacy issues. The report also discusses about the relevant technologies
of the social media and the impact of social media in modern society. The report further helps to
understand what lessons are learnt from this discussion.

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SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
Discussion
Security and Privacy Issues in Social Media
The social media is the most utilized applications in the modern world. Several types of
social media are present in today’s world. The most popular amongst them is the Facebook. A
famous entrepreneur, namely Mark Zuckerberg created this very popular and user friendly
application for its users (Smith et al., 2012). The users have to create accounts in the social
media platform and then access their accounts. They can share information, photos, videos and
many more. Above thirty billion people are there in Facebook. WhatsApp is the second most
popular social media platform after Facebook. Around one billion users are using WhatsApp
today. However, there is a negative side in every positive aspect. Security and privacy issues are
extremely common in social media sites (Kavanaugh et al., 2012). The security and privacy
issues often turn out to be absolutely vulnerable and dangerous for the society. These security
issues mainly have a tremendous negative impact on the entire society and especially for the
youth generation, as they are mostly involved in the social media platforms.
Problems
The problems and the challenges that are common for the security and privacy issues
associated with social media are as follows:
i) Password: The most vulnerable and sensitive issue in any type of social media
application is the password. The hacker or intruders often hack into the account by getting the
passwords of the users (Taylor, Fritsch & Liederbach, 2014). These types of attacks are known
as the Brute Force Attacks. These are extremely common in any social media. The hacker or the

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intruder applies a specific software that helps to retrieve the password of the user and thus the
hacker can use the account.
ii) Unauthorized Access: This is another major privacy issue in any social media
application (Joe & Ramakrishnan, 2014). The authorized access to the account of a particular
user is not only dangerous but also illegal according to law and regulations. Either this
authorized access can occur by hacking that is by entering into someone’s account without
his/her permission or this access can be of unauthorized physical access (Berns, 2017). It is
absolutely illegal to access someone else’s computer, laptop, tablet or mobile phones without
his/her permission.
iii) Leakage of Personal Information: This is another significant threat in case of
security and privacy for any social media application (Trainor et al., 2014). Nowadays, every
personal photo, video, audio is posted and shared with the social media friends by all users. The
social and the personal life are opened in front of everyone. However, not everyone present in
the social media is safe (Criado, Sandoval-Almazan & Gil-Garcia, 2013). The hacker or the
intruder gets all the personal information or data as soon as the victim enables all his/her photos
or videos online.
Relevant Technologies
The technologies play the most significant roles in social media application. Any
application needs technology for running (Berthon et al., 2012). The most relevant technologies
utilized for the social media are as follows:
i) Internet: Internet is the most important resource that is needed for any activity related
to social media. Any type of application can only work if the device is enabled with Internet

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connectivity (Oliveira & Welch, 2013). Without the Internet connection, even the hacker cannot
hack any profile or account. Therefore, the most relevant technology is the Internet for social
media.
ii) Any Type of Systems: Any type of application requires a system or device to run on it.
The second most relevant technology is any system. The mobile phones, the computers, the
laptops, the tablets all of them are considered as systems (Gil de Zúñiga, Jung & Valenzuela,
2012). Social media applications can only run if any type of systems is present or involved with
it. Without the presence of systems, it is impossible to access any social media site.
Impact of the Security and Privacy Issues
The security and the privacy issues that are associated with the social media have an
extremely strong impact on the society, especially for the youth generation, as they are the main
users of these applications (Criado, Sandoval-Almazan & Gil-Garcia, 2013). This impact is
absolutely negative in nature and causes massive problem for the society. The main impact that
is caused is the isolation or lack of communication outside the virtual world. People are not
communicating in their social life and thus there social life is affected as they are more involved
in the virtual world. The second impact is the health issues. This is mostly for the youth
generation (Fuchs, 2017). They are not having any outdoor activity and thus several health issues
are striking them like obesity, eye sight problem and many more. These impacts are extremely
vulnerable for any individual.
Most Important Lesson
I have learnt an important lesson from the above discussion. Social media is needed for
all human beings as this helps in making new friends. I have learnt that making new friends is

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not a problem, however depending on them and the social media application is not feasible.
Moreover, the security and the privacy issues can be extremely dangerous for any user; therefore
one should be careful about them. I have got the lesson that one should not share their personal
information, photos, videos and other personal stuffs with any online friend. This can help them
to be safe and secure. The next lesson that I have got from this discussion is that passwords
should be changed and modified periodically for avoiding any type of hacking and one should
not allow strangers to access their computers, laptops, tablets and mobile phones at any cost.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above report the conclusion can be made that, social media are
computer based technologies, which help for creating and sharing any type of data or
information or ideas through several communication networks that are present virtually. This
social media has several features and aspects. The main feature is the interactive Web 2.0
applications. The users have to create account in the application and thus can communicate with
the entire world. There are several types of social media platforms in the modern world. The
most popular are the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and many more. Facebook has the
largest number of users, which crosses over almost thirty billion in number. WhatsApp is the
second most popular after Facebook. It came in the year 2009 and soon it gained popularity all
over the world. In the year 2014, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for more profit. Currently,
almost one billion users are using WhatsApp and it is the most significant popular messaging and
texting application. These social media applications are extremely popular for all the users and
individuals especially for the youth generation. However, there are several security and privacy
issues related to these social media platforms, which often turn out to be vulnerable for the
society. The above report describes about the security and privacy issues that are related to the

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SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
social media. These security issues should be resolved as they are affecting to the modern society
massively. The report has given a detailed discussion on the challenges and problems on the
security issues of social media. The report also provided a brief description on the relevant
technologies that are needed for social media and the impact of these issues on the society. The
final part of the report has described about the lessons learnt from the above discussion.

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References
Berns, N. S. (2017). Framing the victim: Domestic violence, media, and social problems.
Routledge.
Berthon, P. R., Pitt, L. F., Plangger, K., & Shapiro, D. (2012). Marketing meets Web 2.0, social
media, and creative consumers: Implications for international marketing
strategy. Business horizons, 55(3), 261-271.
Bertot, J. C., Jaeger, P. T., & Hansen, D. (2012). The impact of polices on government social
media usage: Issues, challenges, and recommendations. Government information
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Chen, B., & Bryer, T. (2012). Investigating instructional strategies for using social media in
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Criado, J. I., Sandoval-Almazan, R., & Gil-Garcia, J. R. (2013). Government innovation through
social media. Government Information Quarterly, 30(4), 319-326.
Fuchs, C. (2017). Social media: A critical introduction. Sage.
Gil de Zúñiga, H., Jung, N., & Valenzuela, S. (2012). Social media use for news and individuals'
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Gundecha, P., & Liu, H. (2012). Mining social media: a brief introduction. In New Directions in
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Joe, M. M., & Ramakrishnan, D. B. (2014). A survey of various security issues in online social
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Kavanaugh, A. L., Fox, E. A., Sheetz, S. D., Yang, S., Li, L. T., Shoemaker, D. J., ... & Xie, L.
(2012). Social media use by government: From the routine to the critical. Government
Information Quarterly, 29(4), 480-491.
Oliveira, G. H. M., & Welch, E. W. (2013). Social media use in local government: Linkage of
technology, task, and organizational context. Government Information Quarterly, 30(4),
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Smith, M., Szongott, C., Henne, B., & Von Voigt, G. (2012, June). Big data privacy issues in
public social media. In Digital Ecosystems Technologies (DEST), 2012 6th IEEE
International Conference on (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Taylor, R. W., Fritsch, E. J., & Liederbach, J. (2014). Digital crime and digital terrorism.
Prentice Hall Press.
Trainor, K. J., Andzulis, J. M., Rapp, A., & Agnihotri, R. (2014). Social media technology usage
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