Cybersecurity Challenges in Social Media Erdal Ozkaya

1.5
 
The scope of the research 
This research has a wide scope. It looks at the privacy issues on social media 
platforms and also touches on the security issues faced by users on these platforms. On 
privacy issues, it looks at the issues emanating from social media companies and those 
coming up due to the careless sharing of information by users. This is what connects the 
research to the security issues on social media. Careless sharing of sensitive information on 
social media is the course for some of the security issues on social media. There are many 
cyber attackers on social media busy collecting the sensitive information so that they can 
utilize it in attacks. The research, therefore, combs through the privacy issues and security 
issues on social media. In its recommended solutions, the study also gives attention to the two 
issues. It focuses on governments, users, and social media companies and gives practical 
solutions for both security and privacy issues on social media platforms.
1.6
 
The aim of this research
The thesis aims at addressing the social media privacy and security issues that users 
are currently facing. It aims at coming up with workable solutions that they can implement, 
legal measures that governments should take, and responsible actions that social media 
companies should take in the best interests of the defenseless social media user. It also aims 
at informing users on the social media about the threats they may face and empowering them 
by teaching them the techniques they can use to mitigate these threats. 
1.7
 
Contribution of the research
This thesis makes significant contributions to social media security, user privacy, and 
the challenges of cybersecurity related to social media:

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a.
On social media security, the thesis explores a big privacy and security problem 
that users are not aware of. It highlights the threats that users are often blind about 
and yet have severe consequences.
b.
The thesis also makes contributions to the issue of user privacy. It is a big issue 
that is not just limited to social media platforms. There are many other cases of 
user privacy invasion by employers and even by governments. However, the 
research explores what is currently the biggest privacy violation and risk—privacy 
invasion by social media companies.
c.
Tied to user privacy is also the issue of oblivious sharing of sensitive information. 
The research looks into this and makes contributions on how the issue should be 
handled.
d.
Lastly, the thesis makes many contributions to cyber security. It focuses on social 
media threats and social engineering. These are two of the most prevalent security 
threats that today’s Internet users are facing. 

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