Social Networking Security - Technological

1. Social Networking Security - Technological

2. Already existing problems • Due to curiosity, negative intentions, and creator errors, users have found holes in major social networking sites, exposing the users to attack from either an unmanned virus, or another user. • With people learning how to read and decipher a computer’s encryption software, one could manipulate it through a command console (command prompt, cmd.exe), and connect to another users computer by entering the target IP Address, and possibly take over that user’s computer discreetly. • Some people in the world just want to watch the world burn, without reason, and are unfortunately very technologically advanced. People like that will go into major sites and search engines, and unleash a virus that causes to site to either temporarily shut down in order to quarantine the virus, or spreads the virus to any user who visits the site. • People who are tech-savvy will often group together and collaborate, which often leads to a destructive digital act.

3. New technology = New problems • As companies like Dell, HP (Hewlett-Packard), and Lenovo produce more intelligent computers, capable of almost thinking for themselves, people strive to control such technology, and sometimes even turn it in to something capable of mass cyber destruction. • Antivirus software providers such as Norton from Symantec, Kaspersky, and McAfee upgrade their software every year, they develop virus countermeasures for social networking sites. Unfortunately, a lot of this software isn’t enough to combat the growing number of attacks on such sites. • As technology advances, so does the risk of attack. Viruses today have taken many forms in order to get into the programming of a users computer.

4. Top antivirus companies • Norton: Developed and distributed by Symantec Corporation, provides malware prevention and removal during a subscription period. It uses signatures and heuristics to identify viruses. Other features include e-mail spam filtering and phishing protection. • Kaspersky: Russian. an antivirus program developed by Kaspersky Lab. It is designed to protect users from malware and is primarily designed for computers running Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, though a version for Linux is available for business consumers. Used in more of a business or enterprise environment. • McAfee:  An antivirus program created and maintained by McAfee Inc. (formerly known as Network Associates). McAfee markets VirusScan to home and home-office users; McAfee also develops VirusScan Enterprise for use in corporate environments. The product is not available as a standalone package, but is included in the McAfee VirusScan Plus package or as part of McAfee Internet Security Suite. McAfee also produces a similar product for Mac OS X under the name of VirusScan for Mac. • BitDefender:  an antivirus software suite developed by Romania-based software company Softwin. It was launched in November 2001,and is currently in its 15 build version. The 2011 version was launched in August 2010, and it includes several protection and performance enhancements as Search Advisor and Performance Optimizer. The 2012 version was launched in 27 July 2011. The BitDefender products feature antivirus and antispyware, personal firewall, privacy control, user control and backup for corporate and home users. PC Tuneup and Performance Optimizer are available in the Total Security Suite.

5. Social networks & their own means of security • Although it may currently be the most popular social networking site, Facebook's software has proven vulnerable to likejacking. On July 28, 2010 the BBC reported that security consultant Ron Bowes used a piece of code to scan Facebook profiles to collect data of 100 million profiles. The data collected was not hidden by the user's privacy settings. Bowes then published the list online. This list, which has been shared as a downloadable file, contains the URL of every searchable Facebook user's profile, their name and unique ID. Bowes said he published the data to highlight privacy issues, but Facebook claimed it was already public information. Facebook constantly watches and updates it’s security. • Twitter: Twitter messages are public but users can also send private messages. Twitter collects personally identifiable information about its users and shares it with third parties. The service reserves the right to sell this information as an asset if the company changes hands.While Twitter displays no advertising, advertisers can target users based on their history of tweets and may quote tweets in adsdirected specifically to the user. A security vulnerability was reported on April 7, 2007, by Nitesh Dhanjani and Rujith. Since Twitter used the phone number of the sender of an SMS message as authentication, malicious users could update someone else's status page by using SMS spoofing.The vulnerability could be used if the spoofer knew the phone number registered to their victim's account. Within a few weeks of this discovery Twitter introduced an optional personal identification number (PIN) that its users could use to authenticate their SMS-originating messages. Twitter’s security is harder to maintain, but still manages to keep the site safe.

6. Impact on society • In the past few years, the internet has become a dangerous place. Home to fake advertising (that sometimes can be very believable), credit card scams, illegal downloading, bullying, and thousands of viruses and malicious software. • About a decade ago, people used to be able to connect to the internet with peace of mind, not worried that their personal information might be stolen, or that a virus would infect their computer, causing it to improperly function. Social networking sites weren’t around then, so people communicated through the means of an e-mail client. E-mail was, and still is, one of the safest forms of communication, having a secured line whenever someone sends a message. The user controls who they send to, and once received, if forwarded, the original sender is cut of, and the forward is in the new sender’s name. • Several teenagers all across the United States have fallen victim to cyber bullying, having been taunted or made fun of through popular social networking sites. This has resulted in teens isolating themselves from society, becoming very violent, hurting themselves or others, and sometimes even coming suicide. • Parents of children also say that they don’t want their children exposed to the internet, but with growing sources of internet connections (computers, laptops, phones, tables, etc.), parents are finding it to be extremely hard to keep their kids away.

7. Fighting off attacks • Even as users, we can still do our best to keep us and others safe from malicious attacks and hackers. People who know the dangers of the internet will often do the following: • Change their passwords to accounts every couple of months • Keep their personal information secure and don’t share it with anyone • Don’t get too personal online. You don’t know who’s real and who’s not • Only talk to who they know or who they’ve met before • Protect themselves by turning on an antivirus program and checking it at least once a week • Only download legal and trusted programs • Make sure to check your antivirus software every so often for updates and information. After surfing the web for a while, your computer has surely picked up something it didn’t want and disposed of it discreetly. It’s good to know what you’re computer is finding and getting rid of (helps the “peace of mind” concept) • Don’t visit sites you’re unsure about

8. Bibliography/Citations • Facebook user statistics • Twitter security • Norton from Symantec • Kaspersky Lab • McAfee • National social media usage statistics • CNN • Dell (for the Alienware Aurora Alx) • Lenovo (for the Thinkpad x220) • Hewlett-Packard (for the HP Pavilion)