An Assessment of the Extent of Vulnerabilities in Social Media

An Assessment of the Extent of Vulnerabilities in Social Media

Vera Azonim Erhabor

Social media has gained grounds in recent times becoming an integral part of human lives enabling communication, friendships, and opinions. The paradigm shift has brought about risk and threats especially to those cyber criminals who want to capitalize on the unwariness or ignorance of the users and to exploit the vulnerabilities identified. This study sought to assess the vulnerabilities in social media with regards to the possible strategies to mitigate the threats. The perception is that users of these social media believe that they have internet security suite install to safeguard their devices against threats including social engineering threats. The study employed the qualitative research design i.e. gleaning through reports and literature and the questionnaires approach through interview to evaluate the vulnerabilities that come with the use of social media. The study area consisted of users of the social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter etc. in the central business district of Accra. A study size of 120 social media users was drawn. The research used both the random sampling and purposive sampling techniques to select the study subjects. The results show that 64% of the users surveyed are between 20 to 40 years. From the results, majority of the respondents representing 46.7% use Facebook. Majority of the respondents representing 76% said they are secured and protected using social media little do they know they are not protected in anyway. It is also recommended that advances technologies be used in the blockage of social media at work places. Monitoring is also keen and is recommended in order to curb the rate of usage of social media. The recommendation is that awareness creation and training of staff members on the vulnerabilities or threats on social media. The theories employed in this study, is the Personal Behavior Theory that explains users’ Personal traits and their attitudes on social media.

Msc Management Information Systems

Ghana Technology University College

September, 2017

Dr. Ezer Osei Yeboah-Boateng