Social media is a tool for sending and receiving of information from various people in different geographic locations of the world across the internet. However, through this process of communication, there have been several loopholes that have created an environment for attackers and malicious acts that have left its users exposed to risks of their critical details being lost and their privacy rights being bleached. Attackers use the advantage of anonymity, full secrecy and the interconnectedness as given by the internet, thereby attacking the pillars of the information society. Some of the crimes may include; computer viruses, cyber bullying, identity theft and hacking. Different agencies have attempted to hunt for the criminals who violate the online rights which cost the world billions to manage. This essay focuses various ways how attackers have taken advantage over individuals over the internet, later gives a conclusion that discusses ways to curb these crimes.
Firstly, different social sites have infringed data integrity with their customers. They have interlinked their users to other programs and other services thereby building trust issues among their members. Concerns from different parties have raised in cases that individuals have felt like trust doesn’t really matter when it comes to third party programs, software’s and sites. In the occurrence of this events, users have been triggered to share their personal information with unknown entities thereby leaving them on the risk of being exploited.
Secondly, during interconnectivity, hackers have had pop-up ads and links that they have sent over the internet thereby hunting victims to hackers after clicking. They are unidentified personnel or systems that by-pass security levels of devices and gadgets to monitor or have authorization. As a result, hacking have left behind a massive data loss and security of users weakened, they also have had access to critical information which they have used it in a negative manner.
Also, as a result of online engagement, computer spammers have sent attachments over the e-mails have in pursuit of victims to devour. These attachments appear as adverts which are viruses, once downloaded they take over the computer system and may to some extents lock out a user from his/her computer until they buy an antivirus from the spammers. This is very expensive to administer since the spammers are anonymous so the victim doesn’t know how to go about to recover back their system or files.
Cyber bullying still has been an issue in the online world among the teenagers and adults. This refers to the action whereby there’s a communication between persons but the conversation has ended leaving one party as a victim, it is characterized by abuse, attack or intimidation. This form of discrimination has been a wide in aspects of religion, economy and political beliefs of different cultures. Most of the occurrences of bullying comes where one is being threatened or held into victimization over certain matters contrary to them.
Identity theft is another form of cyber crime on Social media. This attack impersonates user’s information thereby performing illegal activities within the accounts. This form of crime has been mostly into the online platforms such as online banking, Facebook, Instagram and even the e-commerce sites. This form of impersonation has left the victims’ accounts bankrupt and exposed.
Due to modern technology advancement, online crimes have increased majorly in the platforms where people use them regularly. This includes the big five giants in communication and entertainment sites, this includes; WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. It has been an easier task for the attackers to do this because the users of these platforms don’t know the corrective and preventive measures to secure them against these crimes. Therefore a discussion will site out different precautions to undertake while on the internet.
To start with, online users should avoid sharing of passwords and other critical information to unknown entities. Sharing our data with unknown personnel’s gives an authorization to the operations of our accounts thereby violating our privacy. Unless we are asked to give out our credentials by known people or sites we should keep our information undisclosed. To do this we ought to update the information in our accounts regularly, this doesn’t pave way for attackers.
Secondly, unknown files and attachments should be avoided because these are embedded into viruses and other junk files thereby harming our computers once downloaded. To avoid this we should take the precaution of denying to open or download any mails whose their sender is unknown or are not reliable. Other form of precaution includes installing an up-to-date antivirus in our gadgets and devices, antivirus handles all the suspicious mails, junk files and programs in our devices and cleans them out, leading to our safety while surfing.
Another aspect of safeguarding our security on the internet is revoking the third party access of apps and programs that are commonly used on the internet. This helps to maintain data integrity, privacy and trust between brands and their customers. Brands should not violate the user’s rights of privacy by sharing their information to other sites without permission. As a result of information sharing, people are lured to risks of having their credit cards amongst other financial details stolen or exposed, thereby paving a way for attackers to get this easy.
Visiting trusted sites and web pages can also be a caution against insecurity on the internet. Unknown sites and web pages can be a hunting ground for cyber criminals where attacks over the internet are carried out in, avoiding this sites can save a lot in terms of security and threats. Users and account holders should be aware when visiting some sites or pages to avoid them being hacked or being spammed.
Other aspect of internet security includes creating online content that doesn’t bring favoritism or even discrimination to others, this may be against their religious beliefs, ethnic backgrounds or even economical classes. This judgmental facts may draw conversations on the social media that may humiliate others thereby leading to cyber bullying. To avoid the fuss people should keep respect to other peoples’ opinions and ideas while interacting.
In conclusion, social media is a powerful tool to communicate, to educate, exchange ideas, market goods, buy goods or even build brands among other aspects. Alternatively, people should not misuse this sites to spread hatred or malice against people, companies or brands. To halt cyber crimes, different parties, organizations or agencies should bring up ways to a more developed internet infrastructure that is designed with security mindset. Information security experts, government officers, in conjunction with intelligence agencies should invent tools that controls and adapts to the future risks and threats of the internet. Users should check security policies and be aware of unknown emails and links provided by unknown users.