ONLINE SOCIAL ENGINEERS AND CYBER THREATS: AN EVALUATION OF YOUNG NIGERIAN FACEBOOK USERS

Charles Chukwuemeka Okika, Allen Nnanwuba Adum, Uchenna Patricia Ekwugha

Abstract


Facebook social networking has forever changed the face of communication and socialization in Nigeria because of the interactivity it affords users. According to Facebook Reports, (2015), the highest population of Facebook users which constitutes 30.9% of the entire 1.4 billion subscribers are young adults within the age range of 18 to 25 years and also form the average age range of undergraduate students in various universities in Nigeria according to the United States Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria (2015). The Federal Bureau of Investigation (2015) describes social engineers as those who specialize in exploiting personal connections through social networks and are sometimes referred to as human hackers,. It is argued that these social engineers manipulate the young facebook users through social interactions and other facebook communication platforms. It is also established that all manner of cybercriminals especially social engineers prowl this new information super highway with nefarious intentions.This study is therefore an attempt to assess the threats posed by the online engineers to young facebook users as regards to the violation of their personal security. Survey method was employed in this study and a sample size of 400 Facebook users were randomly selected through multi-stage sampling technique. Findings of the study indicate that most of these subscribers perceive Facebook as a relatively safe website despite the unguarded posts recorded on facebook. The findings further revealed that the young facebook users percieve facebook sites as a platform for valuable sales, public relations, advertising, marketing and diversions.


Full Text:

PDF

References


Anderson, R, J. (2008). Security engineering: A guide to building dependable distributed systems (2nd ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Wiley. p. 1040.

Carlson, N. (2010). "At Last The full story of How Facebook was founded". Business Insider. March 5, 2010.

Chan, M. (2010). The impact of email on collective action: A field application of the SIDE model. New Media & Society, 12(8), 1313-1330.

Cluley, G. (2010) "Revealed: Which social networks pose the biggest risk?". Sophos. Retrieved July 12, 2010.

Daily Mail UK (2015). 400% of UK crimes linked to facebook: Retrieved from http://dailymail.co.uk.

Diener, E. (1980). Deindividuation: The absence of self-awareness and self- regulation in group members. In P. B. Paulus (Ed.), The psychology of group influence (pp. 209242). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Ellison, N. (2008). Introduction: Reshaping campus communication and community through social network sites. In G. Salaway, J. B. Caruso, & M. R. Nelson, The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology,Research Study, Vol. 8. Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research.Availableonline athttp://connect.educause.edu/Library/ECAR/TheECARStudyofUndergradua/4 7485.

Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook friends: Social capital and college students use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer- Mediated Communication, 12, pp.1143 1168. Available online at http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/ellison.html.

Facebook Reports (2015). First Quarter 2015 Results. April 22, 2015. Retrieved April 26, 2015

Federal Bureau of Investigation(2015). Internet Social Networking Risks. Retrived from www.fbi.gov/ InternetSocialNetworkingRisks.htm.

Federal Trade Commission (2012). How to keep your personal information secure. Retrieved from http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0272-how-keep- your-personal-information-secure.

Kashyap, S (2014). Hack a Facebook Account with Social Engineering (Easiest Way) : Amazing Hacking Tricks. Retrieved from http://www.amazinghackingtricks.com/2014/06/hack-facebook- account-with-social.html.

Kwon, K.H., Stefanone, M.A. and Barnett, G.A. (2014).Social Network Influence on Online Behavioral Choices: Exploring Group Formation on Social Network Sites. American Behavioral Scientist September 2014 vol. 58 no. 10 1345- 1360

IBT Media Inc. (2015). Facebook Gets Older: Demographic Report Shows 3 Million Teens Left Social Network In 3 Years. Retrived from www.ibtmediainc/ Facebook Gets Older: Demographic Report Shows 3 Million Teens Left Social Network In 3 Years.htm.

iStrategylabs. (2015). 2014 Facebook Demographic Report. Retrieved from www.istrategylabs.com/facebooksocialadsplatform.htm.

Jaco, K: (2004)"CSEPS Course Workbook", unit 3, Jaco Security Publishing.

Meyer, P. (1973). Precision Journalism. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Mitnick, K., & Simon, W. (2005). "The Art of Intrusion". Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing.

Pew Research Center (2015). Social Networking Fact Sheet. Retrievement from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Technology-and-social- networks.aspx.

Reicher, S., Spears, R., & Postmes, T. (1995). A social identity model of deindividuation phenomena. European Review of Social Psychology, 6, pp.161198.

Richmond Day & Wilson. (2010): Train for life Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/ 20100105024813/ http: //www.trainforlife.co.uk/onlinecourses.php.

Talbot, J. & Jakeman, M. (2011). Security Risk Management Body of Knowledge.John Wiley & Sons. pp. 7273.

Tom Postmes, Russell Spears and Martin Leas SIDE-Effects of computer-Mediated Communication.

Tyska, L, A. & Fennelly, L. J. (2000). Physical Security: 150 Things You Should Know. Butterworth-Heinemann. pp. 3.

The Sun September 2, 2012. The Police and Cynthia Osokogu. Retrieved from http://www.sunnewsonline.com/home/opinion/thepoliceandcynthiaosukogu.htm.

United States Bureau of Diplomatic Security(2014): Personal Security--At Home, On the Street, While Traveling. Retrieved from http://bds.gov.

United States Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria (2015). Nigerian education profile. Retrived from http://www.nigeria.usembassy.gov/resources/aboutNigeria/education.htm.

Van Swol,L.M, Braun,M.T. and Kolb,M.R. (2015). Deception, Detection, Demeanor, and Truth Bias in Face-to-Face(FtF) and Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC). Communication Research December 2015 vol. 42 no. 8 1116-1142

Zimbardo, P. G. (1969). The human choice: Individuation, reason, and order vs. Deindividuation, impulse and chaos. In W. J. Arnold & D. Levine (Eds.), Nebraska symposium on motivation ,Vol.17, pp. 237307. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


(c) Rex Commpan Publishing Group