SECURITY THREAT AND DATA CONSUMPTION AS MOJOR NUISANCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON WI-FI NETWORK

Abstract

This research is about the nuisances of social media applications on a Wi-Fi network at a university campus in Ghana. The aim was to access the security risk on the network, the speed of the network, and the data consumption of those platforms on the network. Network Mapper (Nmap Zenmap) Graphical User Interface 7.80 application was used to scan the various social media platforms to identify the protocols, ports, services, etc. to enable in accessing the vulnerability of the network. Data consumption of users’ mobile devices was collected and analyzed. Device Accounting (DA) based on the various social media applications was used. The results of the analysis revealed that the network is prone to attacks due to the nature of the protocols, ports, and services on social media applications. The numerous users with average monthly data consumption per user of 4 gigabytes, 300 megabytes on social media alone are a clear indication of high traffic as well as the cost of maintaining the network. A URL filtering of the social media websites was proposed on Rockus Outdoor AP to help curb the nuisance.