Effects of Cyber Crime on Social Media

The issue of cyber Crime has risen rapidly as a result of increased access to computers in the recent years compared to the past. Cyber Crime refers to criminal activities, which are carried out by the use of computers or the internet. Whereas, social media refers to websites and applications that help users to participate in social networking. Cyber Crime takes place through hacking, identity theft, scamming, computer viruses, ransom ware, DDoS attack, botnets, spamming, among other ways. The world has united to fight Cyber Crime, with different countries coming up with strategies to curb this problem. In the year 2019 more than four hundred delegates from seventy countries gathered in Europe so as to come up with solutions to alleviate Cyber Crimes. In America president Obama’s administration pushed for maximum jail terms for Cyber criminals which is ten years. Therefore, this research study will discuss the effects of Cyber Crime on social media.

Identity theft can have long term effects on the social media users. Identity theft is committed through obtaining another person’s information with an aim of assuming that person’s identity to carry out transactions. Scammers commonly use phishing technique, sending false emails claiming to come from financial institutions requesting for personal information, this can allow the criminals to access your accounts, as well as create new accounts and interfere with your credit rating. Therefore, this effect can cause losses to social media users as it is hard to rectify.

Cyber Crimes have increased the maintenance cost of social media, hackers may take over company’s servers to steal important information. As a result companies have to hire extra staff and update software to keep intruders out. According to research, companies spend an average of $ 8.9 million per year on cyber security, with all the firms surveyed reporting at least a case of malware incident in the preceding year and 71% confirming hijacking of their computers by outsiders.

Cyber Crime has brought about immense monetary losses to social media users. A 2012 report by Symantec indicates that more than 1.5 million social media users fall victim of Cyber Crime every day, with an average loss of $ 197 per victim. Cyber Criminals keep developing new techniques involving devices and social network to keep their illegal business alive. Also, Cyber Crime has affected social media privacy, with music and software industries being the most affected, where huge damages are experienced.

There has been emotional impact on social media users as a result of Cyber Crime. A study by Norton indicates that about 65% of social media users in the world and 73% of US servers have fallen victim of Cyber Crimes. Victims feel angry, annoyed, cheated and in most cases they take the blame on themselves for being attacked. Very few people in the world think that Cyber Crime cannot happen to them, the rest are emotionally disturbed that they could be attacked by cyber criminals.

Social media users are faced with delay in services as a result of Cyber Attacks. Where by, if a business person is faced with a Cyber Attack, they normally have to halt their electronic transactions until the criminal is identified and controlled, this could take a long period of time or fail at last, hence leading to possible loss of businesses since you are unable to process orders and to accept payments electronically. For some business, this could lead to bigger losses or even closure.

Cyber Crime in some cases has led to diminished brand reputation. Building a good reputation in the market is quite expensive as it can take years to build, and a lot of costs are involved. A single Cyber Attack can take down this reputation and as a result customers can decide not to trust your business and opt for other service providers. Once your company information is compromised, regaining trust of the customers is a difficult battle. In conclusion, a lot of losses are experienced, as one might be forced to close down, due to lack of customers.

Cyber bullying has made social media users to feel unsecure, cyber criminals can invade their homes using computers at any hour of the day. Cyber bullying has made many to ignore the use of social medial due to the fear of being attacked in the future and their hard earned reputation ruined through social media. Cyber bullying is commonly used by politicians or competing firms, to try and bring each other down. As a result, Cyber Crime has reduced the use of social media by different business people and politicians.

Cyber Crime has led to misleading information on social media. Cyber criminals post a lot of wrong information on social media, which capture the attention of social media users and end up misleading them. Recently, fraudsters have resorted to advertising false job opportunities in social media and end up coning innocent social media users. As a result, social media users are afraid to apply for job opportunities electronically as they are unable to determine the legit opportunities.

In conclusion, Cyber Crime has had direct and indirect effects on social media and its users. Cyber Crime affects more than ninety percent of social media users in different ways, some are robbed, others have their images tarnished, and others get mislead. Cyber Crime effects can have long term effects on social media users, some may end up closing businesses, politicians may lose elections, others may lose control of their information and others may lose huge amounts of money. Generally, the world is affected by Cyber Crime, and all countries are trying hard to have Cyber Crimes regulated, through formulation of laws and educating citizens.