Social media has taken the world and is considered one of the disruptive technologies. It has become significantly relevant to any person through your family, friends, or business. Most have suffered from the feeling of missing out, which has triggered or resulted in unnecessary disclosure of personal information by sharing what they are doing where they are and sharing photos including videos on the goal in quest of popularity. In doing so, people forget the potential risk involved in posting, playing, or talking to people that comes with social media or any online platform.
DID YOU KNOW?
Cybercriminals thrive on using valuable data collected on social media to tailor attacks such as phishing emails, spam messages via direct messages, or targeted adverts containing mail or links to dubious websites. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), social media is one of the most common ways to scam people and one in four people reported losing money to fraud in 2021 which started from social media ads, posts, or messages. The report further states that over 95000 people reported about $770 million losses to fraud initiated on social media platforms in 2021.
HOW TO: CYBER HACKS
1. Ensure you know and trust the sender
Beware of fake accounts, pages, apps, ads, and games, not every friend request or connection on social media has good intentions. Don’t be gullible and accept any request on your accounts. Some friend requests are from hacked accounts, checking the sender is one of the steps you should take, and don’t feel bad by ignoring or denying requests from people you have no connection with. The same goes with following and sending requests to other accounts.
2. Keep personal information private
Share with care, not everything is meant to be on public display. Information such as your full date of birth, email address, home address, and mobile number should be kept private. Such information can be used to guess security questions or guess passwords to hack your accounts.
3. Enable two-factor authentication
To ensure your accounts are secure, having two-factor verification creates another layer of security apart from passwords from anyone who might try to access your accounts without your knowledge. If someone successfully guesses your password, that person won’t be able to access your account without a security code.
4. Use a passphrase over a password
Passphrases are easier to remember and difficult to guess or crack. Ass the phrase goes, the longer the better especially when it comes to passwords. Be creative and include special characters and numbers with a mixture of uppercase and lowercase.
5. Be alert and beware of direct messages that contain offers
Always check if the sender is verified and avoid clicking on any links. Cybercriminals use crafted links to attack users. Resist the urge to open and delete any suspicious links or attachments from unknown senders.
FINAL REMARKS
Securing your account keeps you safer online and curbs any cybercriminals’ innovative ways to scam and fraud people. Following some basic steps above and staying alert is the way to go. Most importantly, presume whatever you post is fair game for cybercriminals to exploit.
REFERENCES
https://cisa.gov.ncsam
https://www.govtech.com/security/ftc-report-social-media-scams-are-becoming-more-common
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/data-spotlight/2022/01/social-media-gold-mine-scammers-2021