Social networking sites account for a significant percentage of internet usage today. Sites such as Twitter, LinkeidIn, Yahoo, and Yelp provide an avenue for the interaction of users on the web. These sites have become exceptionally famous in the current internet age due to instant messaging and photo sharing features, with millions of people using them daily. Users in social networking sites are sometimes prompted to provide as much personal information as possible, including age, birthdays, addresses, and hobbies for advertising. However, this personal information offers an avenue for other internet users or criminals to exploit users of social sites. Hence, social networking enables the cyber-warriors to gain information about the person either for legitimate purposes or exploitation.
Cyber-warriors are individuals who aim to gain information or deal with security of systems on the internet either for personal or group reasons. 1 Notably, the role of cyber-warriors in obtaining knowledge from social networking sites retain two main perspectives to it on a broad platform. They may use the information gained from social networking sites to protect the systems or the users. They achieve their intentions by using information systems to identify vulnerabilities in the systems and develop methods of providing better security. For instance, a cyber-warrior might intentionally hack individual accounts in sites such as Twitter to identify weaknesses that may expose the system to other hackers with malicious intentions. Consequently, better security is developed that will prevent hacking in future. Also, a cyber-warrior will intentionally use their skills to find vulnerabilities in computers belonging to users of social networking. Hence, the owners are advised on the best methods of securing their personal information that may be accessed when using social networking sites.
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Conversely, cyber-warriors can be individuals who intend to wage cyber-attacks to systems or individual for personal or political gain. 2 The most common cases are of malicious cyber-warriors using sites such as facebook or twitter to intimidate users for personal gain. Again, they may use information gathered from these sites to access financial records of the users. Furthermore, due to global political and the needs to gain political control by various powers around the world, states employ individuals who use social networking as a tool for waging cyber-warfare against others or engage in cyber-terrorism. Cyber terrorism involves malicious internet acts that cause mayhem in a particular country. Cyber terrorism acts can effectively be waged through social networking sites like Twitter. Cyber-warriors deliberately access personal information on the users and design their agenda according to this information. The result of this planned assault in a particular country is the destabilization of systems based on lies carefully wired according to knowledge gained from social networking sites.
Another typical application of cyber-warrior skills is evident through acts of religious slander. This involves the warriors accessing information from social networking sites and using it against other religions. The information attained enables the cyber-warriors to identify weaknesses or areas that may draw passions from people of certain religions. They then use the knowledge to propagate lies or half-truths about their targeted religion. The method can effectively work turn members of sure religious against others in social networking sites, will the results spilling over into real life. For instance, divisive messages about Christians and Muslims often cause online arguments that manifest in real life hate by individuals who are not knowledgeable about the beliefs and cultures of the others.
Face and Twitter, arguably the two most social networks in the world offer a myriad of threats to users posed by the presence of cyber-warriors. These sites generate revenues through personalized advertisements based on location, demographics, and interests. 3 The registration process into these sites requires the users to provide information that will facilitate these advertisements or will help the companies to prioritize content according to the users’ needs. It is common practice for the users to post a lot of personal information. The situation is further enhanced by other super-active users who provide information about their daily lives. Surprisingly, most users fail to optimize the privacy setting that will prevent cyber-warriors from accessing it. Most of the users are ignorant of the hazards come with the cyber-warriors obtaining this information. Since the Facebook and Twitter earn most of their revenue through advertisement, users who offer as much information as possible are priced assets to the companies. Consequently, cybercriminals utilize these loopholes to monetize the data in these sites. 4 They may access vast amounts of data from these sites, arrange it and sell it to corporates or terrorists. The information may also be used to breach securities in financial accounts of the individuals.
Interestingly, cyber-warriors intending to use gain access to information from social networks users are a step ahead in their quest. They exploit the naivety or ignorance of users by setting up reward scam of irresistible offers individuals to unwittingly give up their personal information. The most common fraud in social sites are job offers, lottery scams and charity. 5 Job offers are the most utilized method by scammers on site such as LinkedIn and Facebook. The scammers often send an unsolicited job offer with lucrative salaries and benefits. Application for the job provides the scammers with information that they need for exploitative purposes. Lottery scams are one of the oldest methods that are still used today. Cybercriminals send messages with a lottery win, mostly for lotteries that the individual did not participate in or are even non-existent. Lottery scams aim to defraud the user directly or prompt them to offer information that will be used for criminal activities in future. Online dating scams are also gaining popularity owing to the number of people using social networking sites today. The scammers pose as potential dates and trick users into giving up personal information. Indeed, the popularity of social networks offers scammers several avenues to exploit the users.
Unsurprisingly, political organizations are also applying the techniques of cyber-warriors to gain as many followers as possible. They hire cyber-warriors to mine data from sites such as Facebook. The data is then used to design specific messages to the individual and help develop an interest in a certain politician or political organizations. Presidential elections are heavily influenced by cyber-warriors who create trends or use false accounts to sway voters. Therefore, social networking sites play a significant role in influence the political decisions of users.
Certainly, cyber-warriors have more opportunities today to gain information from social networking sites today than in the past. Owing to the increased number of users in these sites and revenues by companies, users are prompted to provide a lot of information during registration and in the course of using the site. Cyber-warriors are then able to access the information provided and either share it or use it for personal gain. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others offer opportunities for cyber-warriors to use information provide by users for criminal purposes or political gain. However, cyber-warriors can also access information in social networks and use it to enhance system securities.
Bibliography
Al-Rawi, Ahmed. 2014. "Cyber warriors in the Middle East: The case of the Syrian Electronic Army." Public Relations Review 40 (3).
Karlinsky, Alex. " How Cybercriminals Monetize Information Obtained From Social Networks." Security Intelligence . 2014. Accessed June 6, 2018. https://securityintelligence.com/how-cybercriminals-monetize-information-obtained-from-social-networks/
Kaspersky. " Top 6 Online Scams: How to Avoid Becoming a Victim." Kaspersky . n.d. Accessed June 6, 2018. https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/threats/top-six-online-scams-how-to-avoid-becoming-a-victim
Techopedia. " Cyber-Warrior." Techopedia . 2018. Accessed June 6, 2018. https://www.techopedia.com/definition/28615/cyber-warrior.
