Authors:
Eleonora Calo, Stefano Cirillo, Giuseppe Polese, Monica Maria Lucia Sebillo, Giandomenico Solimando

Addresses:
1,2,3,4,5Department of Computer Science, University of Salerno, Fisciano, Salerno, Italy. e.calo2@studenti.unisa.it1, scirillo@unisa.it2, gpolese@unisa.it3, msebillo@unisa.it4, gsolimando@unisa.it5 

Abstract:

Social networks have assumed significant importance in the contemporary world, and the abundance of sensitive data on these platforms has given rise to new privacy concerns. Several studies have examined and outlined the risks of disclosing personal information on social media platforms, which can lead to targeted attacks on individuals, associations, and companies. Over the years, significant legislative efforts have been made to address and mitigate these risks. Despite the latest research findings and enacted laws, the issue of privacy on social networks remains an ongoing challenge, as these platforms are specifically designed to interconnect individuals by exchanging highly personal information. This work aims to examine the personal data publicly accessible on social media. In addition, we accurately analysed two social media platforms Facebook and LinkedIn to highlight privacy dangers associated with improper data sharing practises by conducting multiple evaluations. With the goal of raising user awareness about the potential disclosure of personal information through social media, this study used two publicly available open-source tools social mapper and profiler to examine potential privacy risks. The study underscores the importance of data sanitization as an essential component of privacy protection in the context of social media platforms, emphasizing the need for users to employ effective data sanitization practices to mitigate privacy risks associated with sharing personal information.

Keywords: Data Wrapping; Social Networks; Data Analysis; Facebook and LinkedIn; Data Reconstruction Tools; Investigating Privacy Threats; Social Mapper Tool; Custom Crawler; Personal Information.

Received on: 15/01/2023, Revised on: 19/03/2023, Accepted on: 22/04/2023, Published on: 25/11/2023

FMDB Transactions on Sustainable Computing Systems, 2023 Vol. 1 No. 2, Pages: 89-97

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