Privacy and security issues in social networks: an evaluation of Facebook

Abstract

Social networking websites have grown rapidly in recent years. Many people are involved in several virtual networking websites. However, many users are not aware of the potential risk that may occur as a result of improper actions when using social networking websites. Although a lot of benefits can be received by using virtual communities, privacy and security problems may occur. The aim of this paper is to enhance the protection of users' personal and sensitive information that exist in social networking websites. In particular, this paper discusses privacy settings, security questions, and third party applications involved in using Facebook website. The results of this paper highlights the need for a regular review of privacy settings as well as a clear policy to control the interaction between users and applications.