In an increasingly connected world, the rise of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and social media offers numerous benefits but also significant security risks. Explore key challenges and strategies to safeguard against digital threats and the evolution of the ever-present online environment that connects us all.

Navigating the security risks of ICT and Social Media

The exponential growth of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), ubiquitous connectivity, and the rise of always-on smart devices have profoundly transformed all aspects of our lives. With the internet at our fingertips, we can communicate, share, collaborate, entertain, and access information at an unseen accelerated rate. With nearly five billion social media users—over 60% of the world’s population and 92% of them internet users—our world has truly become a global village.

Thanks to their low cost, accessibility, and convenience, social media platforms have become the preferred choice for businesses and personal connectivity. They act as the primary hub for news consumption and rapid information dissemination worldwide. Nevertheless, internet technologies and social media platforms are a double-edged sword. Along with the many benefits they provide, internet technologies also contain inherent vulnerabilities and security issues that can offset these benefits if not properly addressed. Security issues and challenges include malware proliferation, social engineering and phishing attacks, account takeovers, information overload, unchecked and fake information dissemination, and consumers’ privacy rights. So how can we arm ourselves with the necessary tools to stay protected on the internet? Here are the top three elements to consider.

Information Overload

In this smart device era, internet users are overwhelmed by the tremendous volume of information available that can hinder our ability to process and digest it. According to the data extraction platform, SOAX’s February 2025 report, 402.89 million terabytes of data are created, captured, copied, or consumed daily, with 5,381 data centers in the United States (U.S.) alone. This overwhelming and endless stream of information has been termed by researchers as “information overload” or “infobesity.”

Information overload occurs when the volume and constant streams of relevant and potentially useful information exceed the brain’s capacity to process it. Katie Malatino, a senior communications specialist at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), identifies information overload as a new environmental pollutant, as well as a personal and societal danger. This phenomenon can have severe implications, such as anxiety, confusion, reduced productivity, distortion of people’s perceptions, and difficulty concentrating and making decisions. Here are a few tips that can help to cultivate healthier information consumption habits:

Fake Information Dissemination

The second major challenge we face as internet users is the fast dissemination of unchecked, biased, and fake news. The internet’s open structure and limitless nature allow misinformation and biased content to thrive easily. It is quite easy for anyone to use tools and technologies such as deepfakes, bots, and trolls to launch a misinformation campaign and disseminate an inflammatory story within minutes. Without a fact-checked mechanism, anyone can publish, alter, or manipulate information according to their beliefs and perspectives.

With the proliferation of falsehoods, it is harder for the everyday person to separate the weed from the chaff. Social media algorithms are designed to feed users content that aligns with their beliefs, opinions, and perspectives. However, these algorithms lack the ability to assess the accuracy of the content they recommend. They are not designed to propose balanced views or verified facts. As a result, social media algorithms shape our worldview, create confirmation biases, and foster polarization by reinforcing our existing beliefs and opinions. To break free from echo chambers in social media, you are encouraged to do the following:

Social Media Privacy Issues

Somewhat unavoidable, social media has become an integral part of our daily lives. Popular platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok allow billions of users to connect worldwide. The use of social media now goes beyond the initial goal of connecting with friends and family—government, academic institutions, businesses, and activism groups are leveraging the power and ubiquity of social media to promote their agenda, broaden audience access, conduct targeted advertising, increase brand awareness, and engage with customers. At a personal level, the social media experience inherently involves sharing personal information and intimate details of your life through direct messages, public posts, or app tracking. To create a social media account today, one is required to give up personal information such as full name, date of birth, academic and professional background, and other information that builds your profile. Additionally, most users barely pay attention to the terms and conditions set by these platforms, leading to an increasingly high risk of privacy violations.

Social media algorithms rely heavily on collecting consumers’ data for targeted advertising and other purposes. According to Elea Feit, a senior fellow at Wharton Customer Analytics and a Drexel marketing professor, “Most companies are collecting data these days on all the interactions and all the places that they touch customers in the normal course of doing business.”

Based on the nature of the collected data, social media can then suggest content and advertising based on users’ demographics, geographic location, search history, etc. To worsen the situation, personal data is a commodity that can now be sold to third parties, leading to the emergence of a data broker industry, where the collection and sale of consumers’ data is up for grabs to the highest bidder. Data brokers collect, compile, buy, and sell personally identifiable information about who we are and what we do.

One striking example of the impact of data brokerages is the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where Facebook-derived marketing data was used to influence voter behavior in swing states during the 2016 U.S. election. Pam Dixon, the founder and executive director of the World Privacy Forum, revealed during his testimony to Congress in 2013 that there were about 4,000 data brokers in the U.S. Dixon reported that there were commercially available databases of police officers, home addresses, rape victims, genetic disease patients, and people suffering from addictions for as cheap as 7.9 cents a name. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of consumer data brokers offer a voluntary opt-out, and there are no U.S. laws or regulations that restrain their activities.

The main cause of the inability to address privacy violations on the internet stems from the persistent gap between the speed at which technology advances and the speed at which laws and regulations are developed to address technology. As of now, there is no comprehensive federal social media law. If one exists, federal privacy laws lack specificity and focus more on consumer protection and health insurance. Hence, laws regarding credit bureaus and healthcare providers do not apply to the data brokers industry.

However, without federal laws and regulations to protect consumers’ privacy, we must take our own measures to mitigate privacy risks. Here are some helpful tips to protect your privacy while browsing on social media:

Internet technologies have significantly improved the quality of our lives. Nowadays, it is easy to communicate, share, entertain, and access information and services. While we harvest and enjoy the benefits of these technologies, it is paramount to be mindful of their inherent security risks. As we await the implementation of effective laws and regulations, let us be vigilant in cultivating healthier information consumption habits and adopting best practices to better preserve our privacy.