Posting, Influencing & Oversharing: Privacy & Cyber-Security in the era of Social Media

The Gateway will examine social media culture, interconnectedness, and the inherent risks associated with displaying personal information for the world to see. The discussion will analyze the institutionalized dichotomy of content creation: as platforms devour our data in exchange for the slow-drip high of emoji interactions, what are we sacrificing to participate in the creator culture? Have we become indebted to omnipresent applications in exchange our personal audience of followers? Are we aware of the true cost associated with using our own being as currency?

To help examine this potent and timely topic, we will be speaking with Arvin Verma and Dr. Tawfiq Alashoor. Arvin Verma, a NIU graduate, brings over a decade of experience in a multitude of cyber facets including information assurance, risk management, and IT innovation. During his vibrant career, Arvin has worked across numerous industries and for several Fortune 500 companies. Currently, Arvin is a Cyber Risk Manager at Abbott while also serving the US Navy Reserves as a direct commission officer as a Cryptologic Warfare officer.

Dr. Tawfiq Alashoor is an Assistant Professor at Copenhagen Business School, Department of Digitalization. Dr. Alashoor’s research focuses on privacy, decision-making, and cybersecurity. Dr. Alashoor conducts behavioral experiments and uses economics and psychology theories to study human privacy decisions. Specifically, he studies why humans share personal information despite their privacy-preserving preferences. Dr. Alashoor research potential and quality resulted in different awards received by prestigious IS organizations and publications.

Both impressive guests bringing unique perspectives on the vast area of privacy and cyber-security that will provide an excellent context for our conversation.