Social Networking And Identity Theft
Social networking has changed the face of the world and has given a new meaning to the relationship among persons as it comes together the internet users, often in groups sharing their common interests. Face book, Twitter, and what’s App are such social network medias. As these networks require a minimum amount of personal information to join/ sign up, there is a possibility of hack attacks, say Identity theft. Identity theft occurs when an imposter gains access to personally identifying information and uses it for personal gain and exploitation. Thesis statement: The relationship between social networking and identity theft includes impersonation, lack of knowledge and giving out of password to others.
As pointed out, through impersonation the hackers steal identity of the users and make it for their use. Experts have identified several ways through which social networking users expose themselves to higher risks of identity theft: using low privacy or privacy at all, accepting invitations to connect from unfamiliar persons or contacts, downloading free applications on their profile etc. The recent studies show that millions of people were victims of identity theft and it is apparent that people need to be stricter about their privacies on social networks. With the increased use of social media, there are great opportunities to steal identities. The lack of knowledge of how to use social networking properly always helps others easily steal one’s identity. For example, status updates on Twitter or Facebook or many other social media sites can be used by offenders, if the user is not aware of their functions. Morley makes it clear that, “Unfortunately, identity theft is a very real danger to individuals today”. Giving out of one’s password often is a cause of this networking theft and fraud. At any cost, the passwords should not be revealed to others as it means digging of one’s one own grave.
On the other hand the so called identity theft/ fraud can be brought down if one does not share his password or passwords with a third party, uses strong privacy settings, and changes password regularly. Besides, one should try to have good knowledge about social networking and its dangers.
Summing up, the social networking is a great means of coming friends and relatives together and at the same time there are a lot of people waiting outside this galaxy to trap us. The one way to the hackers to steal one’s details is by impersonation. A lack of knowledge of the social networking and giving out of one’s passwords to others also invite one’s own fall. In short, the social networking medias should be used with great care.