Journal # 7 - Social Networks and Security Issues

I've been doing a lot of research lately about youth and social networks for my classes.  One of the issues that's come up in our class group discussions and in some of the research is the issue of security.  Social networking security and privacy issues are a tricky thing.  On the one hand you want to share all your information with your friends and family.  On the other, you don't want to open yourself up as an easy target for identity thieves and hackers. 

So what's a person to do? Cancel their account? Not likely with 590 million users worldwide as of February 2011 according to Google.  According to Blue Coat's 2011 Security Report, social networking sites are becoming a prime hunting ground for malware to obtain access to a user's credentials which (because we use the same passwords and info on multiple accounts) are then used to access our online banking and other online accounts.  Facebook is now the 4th is one of the top 10 targets of phishing according to Blue Coat.  And the information they're going for is different then you might think and disguised as our friends.  Just check out Kristof's article (3/18/2011) on Biggest Facebook Security Threats, she lists some prime examples any of us could (or have) fallen for at the bottom.  

Blue Coat's Security Report states that the rise in social networking use is leading to a rise in security treats found on social networks.  Livingstone's (2008) article about teenagers' use of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy and self-expression states that teens are aware of their need for privacy measures, yet are lacking the the technological knowledge to select the appropriate settings on social networks such as Facebook and MySpace.  It seems to me that libraries are in a prime position to help educate teens and adults about Internet security measures, Facebook settings and design, and social networking usage tips. 

Journal Reference
Livingstone, S. (2008). Taking risky opportunities in youthful content creation: Teenagers' use of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy and self-expression. New Media & Society, 10(3), 393-411.