An Infographic: Social Media Security — For Teens in High School
An EID100 Final Project by: Ronit Frigillana, Colin Jay, Daniel Plater, Ryan Saballa and Michelle Tran.
With the increasing popularity and access to the Internet, do you ever wonder exactly how many high school students are “online”? According to a study conducted by Pew Research in 2015, a shocking 94 percent of teens go online daily! Now, how many of these teenagers are using popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram? According to a survey performed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 71 percent of teenagers say that they use more than one social media website.
However, the growing popularity and accessibility to the Internet is not all positive, as there are also increased dangers to users. Just one click of a button can turn your life upside down.
Having said that, high school students should take a few minutes to read this blog regarding Social Media Security and check out our infographic (created on Piktochart) below for some key statistics, insights and tips on how to ensure safety and security online!
METADATA
Meta is a prefix that in most information technology is defined as the suppressed or underlying definition or description. Simply put, it is data about data.
In the digital world, metadata is used to categorize and organize content. In the omnipresence of social media and the usage of technology rapidly growing, it is important to know when online information is being collected and when it crosses the line and gets too personal.
Access to these nodes of data collection can be given to anyone, especially with the use of the internet — as online information in accessible in an array of unique and ample ways. From sending an email on your mobile device or computer to the metadata that is incorporated in the files you send (such as images and videos), access to any type of information can form new information that can potentially lead to breaches of privacy. For example, the access of an individual’s: personal data, passwords or credit card numbers.
For instance, when the government collects metadata on people, the government puts them under surveillance. With this in mind, Bruce Schneier — renowned computer security professional and privacy specialist — simply says that Google does the same thing; metadata equals surveillance, it’s that simple.
Popular social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram collect data about individuals in order to make its advertising more relevant. The problem is, is that people are afraid of their data ending up in the hands of those who could actually cause them harm. In a very expansive amount of cases, the government has a vested interest in gaining access to the data that various companies have.
According to Computer Business Review, Facebook has slipped in terms of its privacy security as third-party organizations have been handling data provided by Facebook. Facebook, a prominent and fast-growing technology company has failed to audit the way in which information is being used by third-party processors. In essence, users of the internet must be considerate about the type of data (videos, photos, comments etc.) they are sharing and with whom — specifically teens, as this demographic tends to lack awareness and are prone to online misconducts.
NETIQUETTE
Netiquette is a term that is synonymous for ‘Online Etiquette’. Establishing acceptable online behaviour is quintessential to social media security. Being secure online ensures that you are knowledgeable, accountable and liable for your online presence in entirety.
Why is Netiquette important? In this digital day and age, bullying has gone cyber. Cyber bullying is using technology to deliberately and repeatedly bully someone else, deliberately or not, cyber bullying can leave peers feeling unsafe and alone. Unfortunately cyber-bullying has and continues to affect many and most students in junior high and high schools. The Canadian Red Cross states that according to a 2010 research project studying 33 Toronto junior high and high schools reported that 49.5% of students surveyed had been bullied online. Social Media is a ‘cyberspace’ that makes bullying more easily feasible with technology right at our fingertips.
We must remind ourselves of the impact that our presence online has on others. We must remember that every post we send, share, or influence is a direct reflection of who we are. Communication is important to social media security. Staying safe online requires us all to think about if we are portraying ourselves and others respectfully.
Establishing a respectful online presence means that you are doing your part to help stop cyber bullying, while also ensuring your social media safety.
TERMS OF SERVICE (ToS)
According to Techopedia, Terms of Service are a set of rules and regulations that users must agree to before using an online service. The vulnerability of social media to ToS will be outlined through examples of some of the most surprising terms that users agree to (with or without knowledge) when they decide to engage with these website.
By accepting these social media websites’ Terms of Service (ToS), users are agreeing to:
→ Permission for Facebook to USE all of your pictures and videos you upload, or are tagged in.
→ Permission for Facebook to TRACK your device locations, using GPS, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
→ Permission for Twitter to TRACK not only your device location, but also: IP address, browser type, operating system, pages visited, mobile carrier, kind of device, cookie information and even more!
→ Permission for Instagram to keep, use, and share YOUR personal information, including: your name, email, school, phone number, birthday.
→ Permission for instagram to use all of your pictures and videos. This includes access to sell them to third parties WITHOUT having to pay you for your original content.
It is very important for users to understand what terms they are actually agreeing to, but if you are thinking, “Wow, I never actually read these”, you are definitely not alone!
- A study conducted by Deloitte found that a baffling 91 percent of Americans accept Terms of Service WITHOUT reading them at all.
Many users believe that ToS are way too long to read and to be completely honest, they are not wrong.
- Research completed by Carnegie Mellon, a private university in Pittsburgh, determined that it would take the average American 76 DAYS to read all of the ToS that they agree to every year.
WIth this being said, social media users need to be aware of the Terms of Service that they are agreeing to! Try using Google to find shortcuts on specific ToS for social media websites you are interested in using. Always remember how vulnerable you become when you give these websites information about yourself. The study conducted by Deloitte also determined that only 13 percent of users never share their personal information online.
Let’s try to increase this number and protect your privacy and content!
MALWARE
Malware is software that is specifically designed to gain access or damage a computer without the knowledge of the owner. It is something that many young users of social media are often not worried about when browsing the web. There are a few recent trends within the malware space and things that online users should be aware of, in order to deepen their understanding of careless online behaviour.
Phishing
According to Dictionary.com, Phishing is the act of trying to obtain financial or other confidential information from Internet users. This is done by typically sending an email that looks as if it is from a legitimate organization, usually a financial institution, but contains a link to a fake website that replicates the real one.
Trojans
Trojans are a type of malware that are often disguised as legitimate software. It was also reported by Unucheck et. al, that 14 of the top 20 malware programs are classified as Trojans. This means that many malware programs that are being detected are adopted as Trojans. Users should have an understanding of what trojans are because if they fall victim to malware on their device, there is a strong chance it will be a trojan.
Social Media Scams
Social media has been targeted by viruses in a unique way. Often, users will now be cleverly “clickbaited” into clicking on a link that will allow viruses onto their devices. Most clickbait viruses can result from taking popular, trending topics online and exploiting them for clicks. For example, according to Norton, when the show Breaking Bad was at its peak, there was a popular scam online leading users to a file of the unaired upcoming episode. This in fact turned out to be spammers trying to make money by getting users to download an app that would allow them to play the file. In this case, there was no virus given out but had their been one, its impact could have been much worse.
Mobile Ransomware
Ransomware has become popular in the form of mobile applications. Many apps currently ask for aspects regarding the users files such as photos, videos, location, etc.. With this, fake apps are being disguised so that users will download them and allow the app access to certain information. According to Norton, from there, things such as photos and videos are encrypted and lock out the user from accessing them. This in turn, leads to a demand of information or other personal assets in order to allow the user access to the files again.
Tips To Stay Safe On Social Media
There are a few easy ways to prevent yourself from being the victim of malicious attacks online. In the social media space there are three key things to keep in mind.
- Make sure it’s legitimate! If you’re clicking a link or downloading something, pay attention to the source and determine its legitimacy. Look for characteristics such as a verified checkmark, amount of likes/dislikes or skimming through the comments to make sure there isn’t an overwhelming response that doesn’t include words like “fake” or “doesn’t work”.
- Make sure you have an antivirus program installed on your computer! Obviously, this sounds simple but anyone can accidently click something they didn’t mean to or make other mistakes. Having an antivirus program can help detect when you visit a website full of suspicious content and can act as a safety net if you encounter anything malicious online.
- Stay away from fake social media accounts! Fake accounts are often easily detectable because of their lack of friends/followers, lack of mutual friends/followers, and by their posts. If a majority of their posts are trying to get others to click a link or lead them somewhere else, this can easily be identified as clickbait.
VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK (VPN)
Both digital and physical security, as well as privacy are equally important. However, the focus of this blog and infographic is merely on social security and digital privacy. Even though a user is using all of the security features on digital media platforms, there is still a chance for hackers to access their social media accounts. When users are not socially secured digitally, this could result to identify thief, and stalking.
The recommendations for users on the web to be more socially secured are to stay one step ahead of identity thieves, by creating strong passwords and avoiding sharing your location. By creating a strong password, it makes it more difficult for hackers to log into your accounts; avoid names, and birth dates suggested by Consumer FTC. Avoid location sharing by leaving the location blank, or share a fake location. High school students are active users for social media platforms such as Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram. All of these social media platforms allow users to share their location. Specifically, Snapchat’s location sharing could be in real time; this means that it tracks your phone location similar to a GPS in a car.
To prevent one from stalking you, individuals on the web must be cautious of what information is being shared online. Once information is shared online, it is no longer private, and this cannot be undone. If it is something as small as web surfing the internet, cookies can track one’s individual online activity. Techwalla suggests to prevent someone from stalking through cookies, users should clear cache and cookies regularly.
However, there is one specific technique to make the internet more safe and secure, which is using a VPN, acronym for Virtual Private Network.. A VPN makes your internet connection secure and safe by providing a temporary IP address, hiding your true IP address, defined by Webopedia. Ultimately, users with a VPN make their social security more safe, private and anonymous.
We hope that these key statistics, insights and tips that were outlined were informative and will create increased discussion throughout high schools. This next generation needs to be aware, and learn from the mistakes and lessons of previous online users!