Exploring the Access Control Policies of Web-Based Social Network

Abstract

The usage of the web based social networks is growing day by day. Our daily life has become dependent on the usage of these social networking applications (apps). These apps allow the people of different ages to share their ideas and remain connected to the people they like to connect with through the medium of internet. There are several web based social networking apps such as Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Facebook has experienced the rapid growth in the number of users in last few years. The access control paradigm of Facebook is different from the way it is generally being provided. The access control is mainly defined through: Role based access control, Trust Management System, Discretionary Access Control. Web based social networks offer attractive means for interaction and communication; on the other hand they also raise privacy and security concerns. There are risks related to the privacy of the users attached to the usage of web based social networks as most of the users accept the privacy and access control policies of such apps without understanding the threat associated with the same. We try to explore some of the threats related to the privacy and access control of web based social network that helps the users to keep their profile safe and avoid any type of data breach.