Project Proposal Form

Information Management and Security

Title of Project
Description of your artefact

Security Awareness in the use of Passwords by

Social Media End Users
Wide-ranging research about the security
awareness of social media users has been
conducted. These studies have explored topics
such as information sharing behaviour by
individuals and second parties, scams/attacks using
various methods including phishing, and the use of
third-party applications, among others.
While the proposed research builds on previous
research, it focuses on the use of passwords among
users. The study aims to find out the level of
security awareness social media users have
regarding their passwords and the implications of
their knowledge on security on these platforms.
The artefact of this project will involve the creation
of platforms where social media users will be
engaged to provide information that will be used to
study their password usage behaviour and security
awareness. Accordingly, the main features of the
artefact will be online tools that will be used to
obtain information from users.
This project proposal will help identify how
password usage among social media users makes
them vulnerable to attacks and therefore, provide
recommendations to help address these issues. In
addition, through the proposal, the ways in which
social media firms can use to enhance the security
of users will be highlighted.
The intellectual challenge involved in this project
is in the development of the artefact, developing
the survey questions, and analysing data
objectively. As will be discussed in the
methodology discussion below, the research uses
both quantitative data collection techniques.

What
methodology
(structured process) will you
be following to realise your
artefact?

The methodology will be divided into two main

phases that include primary research and
secondary research. As part of primary research,
an online survey will be conducted to determine
the facts and figures that will further help
determine the level of security awareness among
social media users. In addition, through primary
research, the use of passwords among these users,
number of alternative passwords, complexity
(special character usage), upper and lower case
combinations, changing frequencies, and password
tracking software usage, among others.
Quantitative data will be used as part of primary
research, and statistical methods will be used to
describe the results of this part of research.
As part of secondary research, qualitative data will
be used to investigate the information security
threats that users face on social media platform
and their awareness about it. In addition, through
secondary data, various password protections
mechanisms that users should employ to
strengthen their social media accounts security
will be determined and compared against the
results collected through primary research.
From these studies, the research will point out
whether, in the usage of passwords, social media
users exhibit any form of security awareness and
what they should change to enhance their security
on social media.

How does your project relate

to your degree course and
build
upon
the
units/knowledge you have
studied/acquired

Resources

This research is directly relevant to the major

subject of my degree (MSc. Information
Management and Security). The degrees focus is
how, through computer science techniques,
information can be managed and secured.
Accordingly, by studying how users handle
authentication data (passwords), the research will
help recommend ways of enhancing security on
social media. The units from my course had huge
impact on this choice of project research, and the
knowledge gained from these units will help me
fulfil the requirements of this proposed research.

Access to digital library resources

including IEEE, Google Scholar, and
Science Direct
Online survey development platform
Quantitative and qualitative data analysis

tools
Quantitative data presentation tool, for
instance, MS Excel

Note: this form must be accompanied by Ethics Form