Pattern of security threats in cyberspace with emphasis on messengers

Security threats in cyberspace are an undeniable fact for the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is an issue that is now acknowledged by most people in the society and is not only stated by domestic analysts, but also by foreign designers and executives, who openly announce it and spend a lot of money and programs to implement it. The purpose of this study is to provide a model of security threats in cyberspace with emphasis on messengers in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In this research, a qualitative approach and a theoretical background method for research operations and data analysis have been used. Therefore, in terms of method, the present study is a combination (qualitative-quantitative) in which in-depth interviews were conducted with 35 members of the expert group, including cyberspace experts in NAJA specialized police and university professors who were selected by a purposeful method.

Based on this, different dimensions were obtained, the main parts of which are: causal conditions, contextual conditions, intervening conditions, strategies and results; Also, the central phenomenon is the evolution of security in messengers, which is located in the middle of the pattern around which activities and process flows are formed.

After open, coded and selective coding, the four main fields are presented as a model. The main areas are: the dichotomy of virtual profit and loss, cultural-identity change, the issue of government interventions in cyberspace, the dependence of the access-law debate, which is presented in the form of a model including strategic conditions and results.