Social media security/privacy tips — Logical Cybersecurity

Beginner's Guide to Privacy and Security

Best practices and recommendations on how to protect and recover from compromised accounts and computers, use real-world scenarios to detail how scams and phishing emails are used and provide best practices on how to use the internet in a more safe and secure manner to protect yourself, your family, and your clients.

A Beginner's Guide to Privacy and Security

Trying to remain safe online, practicing good security and working to keep your data private is extremely challenging. This is made even more difficult with the speed at which technology changes, vulnerabilities are discovered, and attackers change their tactics. Just when you think you have learned the right techniques to keep your data private and your devices, email, etc., secure, another breach is announced, a new vulnerability is discovered in your operating system or web browser, and/or attackers come up with another scam/trick to gain access to your devices or information...all of which are out of your control. If you aren't tech savvy, it can be even more overwhelming. Since technology and attack methods change so rapidly, there are no simple answers or steps you can take to be 100% protected. This is where we are hoping we can help by recommending steps you can take to increase the security of your accounts and devices, better protect your privacy, and be safer online. Check out our "Security 101" section for a collection of the minimum security procedures everyone should be following.

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It is important to stay safe while using social media sites, because being careless can put you, your friends, your family and your customers at risk.

Here are some basic rules for being safe and secure while using social media or social networking apps and websites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.):

Check your permissions - Think about setting your permissions to where only friends can see your posts and information. When you allow friends of friends to see your information, it could be the equivalent of posting it for the world to see. I would actually urge you to consider that to be the case, because you have no control over who your friends are connecting with. I'm sure we all know quite a few people on Facebook who friend everyone that asks...even if they aren't sure who they are. Some people act like it is a competition to get the most Facebook friends and never think about the ramifications of sharing personal information with the entire world. In this case, you are literally posting personal/private information for strangers to read. In a different light, think about this. If you do not limit who has access to your profile, anyone you submit your resume' to will be able to read all of your posts, see your pictures, etc. Do you want to take the chance your future manager/company will like EVERYTHING you have ever posted on social media? Either of these scenarios are likely to have negative outcomes, so again I urge you to check the permissions on all of your social media/networking accounts.
Limit information - As a rule of thumb, you should limit the personal information you post no matter what your permissions are set to. Think about the information you are asked for when filling out security questions (i.e. pet's name, high school mascot, your favorite sports team, etc.). Answering these questions truthfully could be allowing someone to potentially have answers to these important security questions. In a different situation, think about when you have ever had to verify your identity. When requesting a copy of your credit report or verifying your identity on government websites, you may be asked questions such as what city did you live in 2 years ago or which car did you purchase in 2015 along with the normal information such as what is your birth date or city of birth. Always think about how the information you post could be used against you. I always say a good rule of thumb is to assume the information you post will fall into the hands of a stranger with bad intentions. If you don't want a stranger to have the information, don't post it or reword it to where you are okay with a stranger having the information. I occasionally see people posting they will be on vacation for the upcoming week or they start posting pictures of themselves on vacation far away from their home. It always makes me cringe, because you have just told someone your house will be vacant. People can find your address in various ways, so just assume someone knows where you live or could figure it out if they really wanted to. A better approach would be to post when you have returned from vacation. I suggest everyone consider 2 things when posting information on the internet. 1. Assume once something is posted online, it is there forever and 2. Assume someone with malicious intentions will see the information.
Limit applications - Use caution when allowing third-party applications to access the information on your social media site as you have no control how that third-party application is using the information you are allowing them to have. On the same note, if the application is ever compromised/hacked, it could put your personal information at risk. One example is several famous people had their Twitter accounts "hacked" to the point where defamatory information was being shared with their followers. Their actual Twitter account wasn't compromised, but it was a 3rd party application they had given permission to. That 3rd party application was compromised, which basically resulted in their actual Twitter account being compromised.
Turn off or disable geotagging or geolocation options on your devices (phones, tablets, cameras, etc.). Some of these devices have these options turned on by default, so I would encourage you to check and see. You can search the internet for something like "turn off geotagging on Android". If you are taking pictures while on a trip and want the location tagged, sure, enable it, but remember to disable it when returning home. You may be asking why is this a problem, well if you are posting photos to Instagram or Facebook, someone with bad intentions could analyze the photo and extract your exact location. For example, a "crazed" fan showed up at the home of one of the "Myth Busters" hosts, because he posted a picture of his new vehicle while it was parked in front of his home.

There are plenty of websites, like mine, that discuss how to be safe and secure when using social media sites, but one of my favorites is https://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/protect-your-personal-information/social-networks.

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