Introduction
We live in a digital age today, where everything is accessed and stored online. One observable effect of this phenomenon is that millions of people are now using social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and the like. The primary objective of people using these sites is that they can be updated on the latest news and trends, as well as to communicate with friends and loved ones. Because of this, people put personal information such as contact numbers, passwords, school and work information, e-mail and home addresses, and the like so that they can be easier to be found by people who are searching for them. In the most extreme of cases, people even put highly sensitive information such as credit card numbers because of their major dependency on these social networks.
However, the digital age we live in connotes that some things that are previously done in real life can also be done over the internet. Unfortunately, one of this things include technological warfare. Cyber warriors, people who participate in cyber warfare, usually exploit sites in order to gain personal information from its users using various methods which means people who use social sites and thus upload information on them may be at risk. Awareness of some of the ways cyber warriors obtain information may be useful in combating these malicious attacks.
Cyber Warriors and Cyber Warfare
A cyber warrior is defined as any person who is involved in cyberwarfare due to various reasons. Cyber warriors can attack and exploit security and network systems, or they can defend them against attacking fellow cyber warriors by setting up defenses and the like.
Cyber warriors utilize the power of information technology in order to attack or defend their side in the field of cyberwarfare. Cyberwarfare, on the other hand, is the attempt of sabotaging a nation or an organization’s computer and security systems by using techniques such as malware exploitation and DDoS attacks. Since everyone is very reliant on the use of digital media nowadays, damaging the cyber network can prove irreparable for the nations involved. Cyberwarfare, then, is a serious threat in today’s age of information.
One of the tactics that can be used by cyber warriors is obtaining the information users have put on their social media sites and use them for various illegal activities such as identity theft, among others. In order to this, they have various methods that they use which are reliant on the protection of the information uploaded on the social sites. It is therefore imperative that users should be extra careful regarding the data that they enter on social sites, as carelessness can result in the cyber warriors gaining access to them.
Cyber Warrior Tactics
There are many methods in which cyber warriors can gain access to the information in social sites. Some of them will be discussed below.
One of the techniques that cyber warriors practice is using malware to steal information. Certain malware, such as Trojan Horses and keyloggers, can gain access to the passwords and the like entered by users on their PCs. Unfortunately, many people use the same passwords all throughout so once the password is determined, these hackers can gain access to all social sites which use the same password and consequently steal the information within it.
It can be argued that people mostly use social sites on smart phones, so malware are largely irrelevant since they only work on PCs and desktops. However, this is not the case since there are malware which work on smart phones; in fact, ten out of the 25 most prevalent spyware are malware which work on mobile phones. Therefore, users must also be aware on the security not only of their PCs but also of their smartphones as well.
Another known tactic is known as phishing, were scammers and hackers try to trick users that they are a reputable site and then ask for their personal information such as passwords and the like. Once this information has been obtained, it can then be used to commit identity theft. Alternatively, hackers can shut user accounts down if the situation calls for it.
Majority of media accounts allow users to input their location by using GPS, which make it seem customized for the user. However, GPS locations in social sites are also at risk since they reveal your address or the places which you frequent. In addition, photos uploaded to social media have their EXIF data embedded into them, some of which can have information such as the date and the place where the picture was taken. Seemingly innocuous information like these can lead into cyber warriors into having access to a myriad of an individual’s personal data.
Lastly, people get information from the social sites because people leave their personal information out in the open and do not care to tweak their privacy settings. Many people just put personal information on sites like Facebook where majority of the public can see them. As a result, cyber warriors can take advantage of such information without using some special tactic.
Bibliography
Action Fraud. “Phishing”. Accessed April 6, 2016. http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/fraud-az-phishing
RAND. “Cyber Warfare”. Accessed April 6, 2016. http://www.rand.org/topics/cyber-warfare.html
Schiffner, Bill. “Could You Fall Victim to Crime By Geotagging Location Info to Your Photos?” Digital Trends. Accessed 6 April, 2016. http://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/could-you-fall-victim-to-crime-simply-by-geotagging-location-info-to-your-photos/
Steinberg, Joseph. “7 Things You Need To Know About Smartphone Malware”, Inc. Accessed April 6, 2016. http://www.inc.com/joseph-steinberg/smartphone-malware-what-you-need-to-know.html
Techopedia. “Cyber-Warrior”. Accessed April 6, 2016. https://www.techopedia.com/definition/28615/cyber-warrior
