Personal Information Threats and Cybersecurity in Online Social Networking Sites: Measuring Attitude and Perception of Educated Youth in District Dera Ismail Khan

Abstract

Aim of the Study: Social media is an online social networking tool powered by computers that promotes community building and information exchange. Within a well-defined border system, social media users may limit their privacy risks and generate information. The current study aims to gather information about the viewpoints of young individuals with higher education on threats to personal information when they are using different types of social networking sites and the corresponding actions taken in response.

Methodology: A cross-sectional research design entails the collection of data from participants at a certain moment in time. Routine Activity Theory (RAT) was used in this research work as relevancy. The present study used the survey approach to gather data from the Universities in Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A standardized questionnaire was developed to gather data from two distinct institutions in District D.I. Khan. Sample size of the study was consisted on (n=364) respondents studying in the universities.

Findings: A significant proportion of the educated youth in district Dera Ismail Khan, as per the data analyzed that youth have actively engaged with social networking sites and social media applications, an unexpected finding of the study was that majority of the students use social media for business purposes, which indicate the current interest in online earnings and business particularly among the young people.

Conclusion: The present research study concluded that only Facebook users showed significant concerns about their privacy, while users of other social media showed no such concerns. It indicates that for users, Facebook is more vulnerable to cyber threats than other social media platforms.