Assessing People-centered Cyber Threats Based on Social Media and the Consequences

Social Media are a new platform of human life at the disposal of the enemies of the Islamic Revolution to achieve their goals, such as the events of 2009, Dec. 2017 and Nov. 2019. In this study, the researcher seeks to develop the threats of this technology and the consequences of these threats with a realistic view devoid of the clamor by means of scientific and library resources and the opinion of elites, experts and senior officials in charge of social and defense networks to be used in the Iranian macro-planning. This research with the independent variable of “social media”, and the dependent variable of “people-centered cyber threats” seeks to use the method of exploratory factor analysis based on a qualitative approach of the exploratory type in the period from 2015 to 2019 and based on findings from scientific sources and in-depth interviews with 6 elites and experts in the field of social, cultural and defense media and officials of the 1st or 2nd categories of concerned organizations, and answer two main questions to achieve the two main objectives of the research. The findings of the study indicate that social media threats in the clandestine layers of governance and culture, along with its apparent layer - social movements and current issues of social media threats - and in 9 types, the most important of which is the enemy’s intelligence dominance on society, mobilizing and guiding public opinion, non-government actors, creating and intensifying crises, and changing norms and values. The consequences of these threats include the challenge of governance, cultural aggression and security implications, as well as economic implications.