Examining the concepts of privacy and information security in Emirati society: A survey

Abstract

Privacy is the right of an individual to control their personal information and how it is used, whereas information security is the protection of data from unauthorized access, modification, or destruction. The aim of this paper is to highlight the issues of privacy and information security among the Emirati public who use social media. A questionnaire was administered to convenience sample of 218 participants. The results showed that Instagram was the most used, and Facebook was the least used among the sample members. In addition, the Emirati society enjoys a high level of understanding regarding the concepts of privacy and information security. The findings reveal that they surround themselves with ‘thick boundaries’ regarding sharing their personal information on their accounts on social media platforms. The results reveal that 68% of the study sample did not accept friend requests from people they that did not know, and two-thirds did not use their real names in those accounts or share any information about their workplaces. The findings show no statistically significant difference between males and females in their perceptions of the concept of privacy on social media platforms.