As technology advances at an increasingly rapid rate, we certainly become more vulnerable to malicious attacks and hacking. Of course, there are plenty of experts that work to identify these vulnerabilities and patch up the holes; some people have careers based on that concept. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with the pace of technological advancement when it comes to addressing these vulnerabilities.
One of the major threats to privacy, cyber-safety, and even national security is social media. Social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, and many more are open platforms for people to share things and connect with each other whether they are next door neighbors or across the globe from each other. It is a common occurrence for social media accounts to be hacked and used for spam, but sometimes these hacks are more malicious in nature. The United States government has even found that social media accounts have been hacked or completely separate social media accounts have been set up to aid terrorists in planning attacks (Theohary, 2015).
Another vulnerable technology is wireless mice and keyboards. The fact that these devices are wireless lends them to hacking, and especially if these devices are left powered on and unattended they can be hacked and used to type commands of a malicious nature (Melendez, 2016). Many people have grown accustomed to and mitigated the threats of internet hacking, but the hacking of devices such as wireless mice and keyboards shows that new and emerging technology will likely always be vulnerable and it all needs to assessed for risk level and security issues need to be addressed.
Currently, I see social media as being the biggest threat regarding hacking. Social media is used for many different industries, arguably most industries, and when the social media accounts of these businesses get hacked it can cause a lot of problems including the compromise of confidential information and looking bad to their customers and their market.
- Melendez, S. (2016). Report: Billions of Wireless Mice and Keyboards are Vulnerable to Hacking. Fast Company. Retrieved from: http://www.fastcompany.com/3057074/report-billions-of-wireless-mice-and-keyboards-are-vulnerable-to-hacking
- Theohary, C. A. (2015). Information Warfare: The Role of Social Media in Conflict. CRS Insights. Retrieved from: https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/IN10240.pdf
