Modern Technology - Is Facebook safe from hackers Essay

Modern Technology - Is Facebook safe from hackers - Essay Example Despite the growing popularity of Facebook, this social network’ reliability is being questioned because Facebook is extremely vulnerable to computer hacking and data loss. This paper will particularly discuss modern technology and evaluate whether Facebook is safe from hackers. The surprising revelation is that more than three quarters of the teens and almost the same percentage of middle aged persons in the nation presently use social media; and in addition, there is the stunning revelation that â€Å"according to 42% of the population, internet is the most essential thing when the other options available are television, radio, and newspaper†. The last few decades witnessed tremendous changes in technology, specifically information technology, and this explosive technological growth entirely changed the way people across the globe communicate with each other. Some of the major modern technological advancements include iPhone, tablets, smartphones, and e-book readers. Although the modern technology improved people’s living standards and assists them to save time and money, it has some major disadvantages too. It is clear that social networking websites constitute the world’s largest database and therefore computer hackers specifically aim at popular networks like Facebook in order to obtain unauthorized access to users’ personal data.... In addition, Facebook is a hot spot of virus attacks and other malware threats. Nowadays, malwares appear in Facebook in the form of advertisement links or porn videos. If an individual clicks on those links or videos, they will automatically be reposted or shared on his friends’ Facebook walls and this error leads to misunderstanding and conflicts. The weak default security settings of this website make things worse. To illustrate, any person can post a malicious link or video on the wall of a Facebook user who follows default security settings. According to Consumer Reports survey 2011, nearly 7.5 million children under the age of 13 and 5 million under the age of 10 maintain a Facebook account and violate this social website’s terms of service. Evidently, these children are not adequately informed of various hacking threats like posting of malicious links and videos and hence they are extremely prone to Facebook hacking. Today, Facebook has become a common platform f or people around the globe to express their opinions or to share their views. Recently, many public movements have been set up using Facebook as a common place to meet. According to a report by Brodzinsky, hundreds of thousands of Columbians are planning to organize a rally against the nation’s most powerful rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC). They use Facebook to meet together and make future plans. However, some security threats limit the scope of Facebook. Phishing is a major threat that challenges the security of Facebook accounts. According to Straub et al, phishing can be defined as the â€Å"act of tricking someone into giving†¦ confidential information or tricking them into doing something that they normally would not do or should