5 Tips for Social Media Security and Privacy

Today, social media is increasingly popular; however, such a powerful tool is a platform going in the wrong hands. Recently we have come across events where hackers took control over the Twitter accounts of large corporations and media personalities. 

Our accounts are a tiny thing for hackers, and even if you have a few followers, your information remains valuable to the hackers. Here we discussed few tips that can guide you in staying safe on social media;

Use specific passwords for each social network

Keeping unique passwords for every social network is one hectic task. Still, it is essential to keep a different password for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms. Using the same password for every account makes it very easy for hackers to access all your accounts and this can be extremely dangerous that you lose access to your whole online life.

Therefore make sure that all your accounts have a long, different, and complex password, maybe a combination of letters and numbers with a mixture of lowercase and uppercase characters. Using a password manager can be a great source of help in this regard. Moreover, enable two-factor authentication. Your two-factor authentication should be active as soon as you enter your password in any of your social media accounts.

Don't be too personal in sharing data

Social engineering is defined as attackers accessing all your information available on your public profiles, such as your education, interests, date of birth. This is done in an attempt to access all your accounts on all kinds of services.

For a second, think how quickly anyone can find your first pet's name through your Facebook profile, and not only this they'll consider how many services have this as your security question; it is better to keep your profile private and before posting anything, think twice if you should be doing this.

Avoid posting pictures of your credit cards, plane tickets, identification badges and cards, passports, boarding pass or any item that contains any sensitive information. Each time you plan to post a photo, use the controls available by selecting the audience you want to see the post. Try using a small possible audience and be cautious about anything that you make as public as it would be available for the entire world.

Keep a check on your mailbox

Have you ever thought about how social accounts are hacked? Direct messages received by you do this. By using the similar approach that hackers have used for years, an unknown link is sent to you in an email or a message, and it appears as if it's sent by a friend or a colleague containing 'some' important message. Hackers find out what kind of email you are expecting to receive from your people, and they draft one similar to that.

This social engineering technique has been used on people from government organizations and newspapers so don't deceive yourself that hacking social media accounts for some complicated methods.

Use the block button

If a spammer starts following you and sends you any link, don't think of ignoring it. Always report such activity and account as spam, do this if not for yourself than for others. The social networking service will scrutinize it, and if more like report it, then the account will be removed. This won't stop the hackers or scammers from coming up with new ways or accounts, but it will create obstacles for them.

Lock your phone

It is not only the cyber attackers that you have to protect yourself from. Your phone can be a cause of trouble, too, if it goes into the hands of any stranger. This could give them access to all your social media accounts if you were logged in through your phone. Once they get your phone, they can access your email address, target your colleagues and friends using your name and profile, and can even change your password.

Hence to make it impossible for a hacker, you must enable the passcode lock feature on your phone and set the time out to a few minutes only.

We cannot expect a complete form of privacy on social media platforms. Remember that everything you share on social media is everlasting; you can delete it, but the social media may save it for some years, and you won't even know, and other organizations may store their copies. Therefore follow these tips, and when you make an account, it is better not to provide more info than is required.