Background
Riofrio (2013) opined that data generated online was useful to legal enforcement officers and marketers. However, the emergence of new technologies amplified the problem of data security in regards to access by third parties without the consent of the users. Safety issues arise in the process of human-computer interactions. Therefore, both the end-user and the manufacturers of the devices, or proprietors of social media are at the center of privacy concerns. Consider the recent stand-off between Apple and the FBI whereby the latter wanted the company to bypass the security setting of the iPhone of one of the suspects. The incidence touched on the most fundamental issues of privacy of user because the FBI wanted the company to break its rules on encryption and weaken the security of the products (Benner and Lichtblau, 2016). It is noteworthy that data breach may occur at the point of transmission, during transmission or at the point of receiving and storage. In this regards, end-to-end encryption is critical in protecting the data.
Ross (2016) quoting a 2015 research by the Ponemon Institute and Symantec Corp noted that a cyber-attack exposed data for eighty million patients and employees in Anthem including, income data, social security numbers, emails, dates of birth, and names, among others. In the same year, hackers released data including first and last names and emails addresses of thirty-three million clients of Ashely Madison to the public. Ebay in 2014 suffered a similar fate when hackers accessed data for one hundred and forty million accounts. JPMorgan Chase in 2014 followed with sensitive personal and financial information for seventy-six million clients, and a further seven million small businesses were accessed illegally. There are many other examples of unauthorized access to personal data.
Thomson (2016) quoting a 2015 Information Security Breaches study indicated that 13% of data breaches involved social media. The bulk of the hacking in social media did not use code manipulation but social engineering including phishing, bating, pretexting, and Quid pro quo. It follows that end-users need to be aware of these methods to protect themselves from the hackers.
Ackerman and Mainwaring (2013) motivated by the increasing security breaches, investigate the privacy aspects of the Human-computer Interaction stated that privacy raises stakes. A poorly designed security feature leads to user rejections and a high cost of production and vulnerability to harm (pg. 5). Besides, every system must meet the regulatory and legal requirements because they set up the minimum security levels that manufacturers should uphold, and also determines what the end-users need to know to protect themselves.
Scope
The report focuses on the end-user privacy and the safety with particular emphasis on the methods used to compromise the data security. The study analyses issues of data mining, phishing, and the role of awareness by the users on the safety breaches. Understanding the methods for hacking or compromising data integrity is a prerequisite for understanding the issues of data security and approaches to stopping them. The report also addresses the issues surrounding social media and the privacy perceptions of the users in determining the amount of information to share online. User knowledge influences their behavior online and, therefore, can promote or hinder data security.
References
Ackerman, M. S., & Mainwaring, S. D. (2013). Privacy Issues and Human-Computer Interaction. O’Reilly Associates. Retrieved on May 19, 2016 from http://web.eecs.umich.edu/~ackerm/pub/05e07/ackerman-mainwaring.pdf
Lichtblau, E., & Benner, K. (2016). Apple Fights Order to Unlock San Bernardino Gunman’s iPhone. Retrieved May 19, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/technology/apple-timothy-cook-fbi-san- bernardino.html
Riofrio, M. (2013, April 8). The 5 biggest online privacy threats of 2013. Retrieved May 19, 2016, from http://www.pcworld.com/article/2031908/the-5-biggest-online-privacy- threats-of-2013.html
Ross, A. (2016). 11 Major US Data Breaches | Bankrate.com. Retrieved May 19, 2016, from http://www.bankrate.com/finance/banking/us-data-breaches-1.aspx
Thomson, C. (2106, April 4). IT Governance Blog. Retrieved May 19, 2016, from https://www.itgovernance.co.uk/blog/cyber-security-and-social-media/
