Hey everyone! I am Secure Robbie and I wanted to thank you for checking out my first blog! Today I wanted to talk about an important topic that I think many people around the world have overlooked…and you guessed it “Social Media”. So my goal with my blog post is to simplify this big content into a few categories, So I want to talk about privacy settings, Strong password practices, Two two-factor authentication, Phishing scams, and finally Social Media Platform policies! So If you are ready to learn more, let’s dive in!
Privacy settings….Are we secure?
So when we all joined different platforms when they first came out like Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace (I am old) Many people were not too worried about privacy, Because during these times in the mid-2000s, there wasn’t a lot of publicly known information about different types of scams on the internet. We just felt happy we could connect with long-lost relatives or how many people we could add to our Facebook account. But fast forward about 10 years and now we are starting to see some dramatic differences in security especially concerning social media posts. Facebook is a common example of this. When we post on Facebook, We have an option of “Who can see this post”. But have we really put much thought into actually using some of the tools we have been given by these platforms? Probably not. But we can definitely take a look at it now and make sure we are utilizing some tools that can benefit us from people seeing our content.
Now You are probably thinking “Robbie, you are being paranoid” and that’s understandable considering we have always been taught to say things “Loud and Proud” But nowadays more and more Social media scams and attacks are happening because we are not securing our information the way we should. Believe it or not but lot of the information we post on social can be used to determine a lot of information about us like, Where are we from, How old we are, Who are friends are, ETC. When a potential scammer is looking up our information they are using a technique called Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), which allows people to create social engineering attacks against you based on what you have online, right? Yes…But we can do something about it. Let’s Cover a few things.
- Update our privacy settings on all our social media
- Filter Who can view our information.
- Go through your friends list to see if you know everyone on that list.
- Delete your data from the respective social media platform
Now I won’t go too deep into these topics, if you want a guide on how to do this let me know. But Do some research about your platform’s privacy policy and update what you want to protect your data. There is a big emphasis on securing your data and yes a lot of social media platforms have public information about it. But if you’re not aware of it, How do we know? So I am just bringing some ideas to light, So you can choose whats best for you. But we really should move along to our next topic. Strong Passwords!
Is My Password Strong?
So when we first got our computer, we were really worried about forgetting our password, right? So we created some easy passwords that we would remember, like our birthdate, our pet name, etc. Well, Hackers have become aware of these common trends and have built a list of common passwords. Now it’s not just like a few 100, Think a couple of MILLION, That’s right millions and this kind of frightening when you think about all the combinations we can come up with right like ‘Password123’ ‘P@55W0Rd’ etc etc. So now we should really put some emphasis on creating strong passwords, But how? Well, there is a few options that I think would be suitable for you.
- Using a Password Manager
- Using a Password Generator
I think a lot of people who are involved in Cybersecurity will say a Password Manager is really beneficial because not only does it store your password securely but most Password Managers come with a Password Generator. We are killing two birds with one stone! Now I know what you saying “Robbie storing my password on the computer is not secure” In Fact, you are right. But neither is trying to remember a few passwords or putting sticky notes in nondiscrete places. No matter what there isn’t a perfect way to do this. But Password Managers, do receive regular audits but different governing bodies to make sure they are following data compliance and privacy compliance, so it’s a little more secure than your sticky note inside your book, I promise.
But we should talk about what makes a password secure right? Nowadays it’s common to have passwords that are 12-14 characters long using different numbers, special symbols, and a combination of Uppercase and Lowercase…Ugh sounds like a headache. But nowadays this method is very good for protecting your data from hackers and scammers, and now you can even monitor if these passwords have ever been compromised, so there is a lot of data out there to stay ahead of the game! So I would highly suggest looking into a Password Manager…So do your research it will pay off.
Multi-Factor Authentication….What is that?
We have some technology that isn’t new but maybe not talked about much Which is Multi-Factor Authentication! This technology allows us to have an extra layer of security by using an application to create a time-sensitive code to enter after we log in. This layer of security is designed to make sure that only you can access your information. It’s kind of like a check-point and they want to make sure it’s you. That’s a relief, right? Absolutely! But many of us don’t want to deal with the hassle of fiddling with an app to find a password, So we eventually get tired of it because we want our information NOW. I would still highly encourage looking into multi-factor authentication applications, a really good and common one is “Google Authentication”. Now I will go deeper into this topic in a separate post but I hope I am sparking some curiosity for you to do some research! But let’s talk about Phishing scams briefly.
Keep on Phishing…. Keep on Phishing, Phishing, Phishing
So remember when we were talking about who is on our friends list and our privacy settings? Well, let’s talk about that for a second and talk about Phishing scams. These types of scams can be sent to us in many ways, email, chat, text, etc. But on social media, we see a few ways where scammers can get us to click on links. For instance, have you ever seen this message?
This is clearly a scam message, But it’s from someone we know, whose account got compromised, So we think “Well my buddy wouldn’t send me weird stuff right?” Well, you are partially correct but your buddy had no control over what they sent you because they clicked on this similar link as well. So what scammers do is they disguise themselves as people you know make a good online presence as a social media influencer or become friends with you online and now build your trust. So when these link we think we might see something funny or silly. But really it’s a way to be redirected to a site that may steal information, perform some code because you clicked the link, and BOOM! Now your account has been compromised. So this is why we need to create a strong password, have two-factor authentication, and know who we are communicating with…..Is it starting to make sense? The information we are talking about in this blog builds upon each because scammers are aware of how easy people can trust and they hope you can trust them too! So always practice caution before clicking on any links, no matter who it’s from. So we have looked at some very important topics but now I would like to talk about one more thing. Social Media Policy, so let’s get after it!
What Does Social Media Policy mean to me?
So sometimes when we create social media accounts, we don’t often think about the type of control these platforms have over our privacy and data. So why not invest some time to learn more about them? Now I don’t want to get too deep into the legal spectrum or things that companies do with social media to collect data but I want to talk about what privacy policies are in place and what you can do to be more in control of your data!
Now I want you to take a moment to google your favorite social media by taking “(Name of platform) Social Media Policy” And see what type of information the company gives you. You would be surprised how easy it is to find the policy. But you may ask “Well why?” Now many policies are coming into place to protect people’s data and privacy, based on a few factors, Age, Nationality, and Country. In the past 20 years, more policies have come into place to protect your data. For example, we can look at Europe, We can see they have a law called GDPR which is short for General Data Protection Regulation. This states that you have the right to control who sees your data, and what data you want others to be seen. This sounds really good, right? Absolutely! So if you are a European Citizen you have a lot of control over your data, a lot of social media companies have to comply with these types of regulations because if something were to happen to a European citizen data, then the company would be fined a lot of money. These laws started to carry over and be useful for many people, So now people have more control over their data than they used to! So take the time and see what laws cover data and privacy in your country, You might feel relieved, worried, or at the very least more knowledgeable.
So that is it! This is my first blog and I hope it was very informative for people. My Goal as a Cybersecurity professional is to provide some straightforward information relating to Cybersecurity and help to stay knowledgeable and maybe develop more positive security habits! This blog was not exactly designed to go into huge detail about Social Media but a simple overview of some topics related to social media, So if you another Security Professional I want to thank you for reading but you may not gain any deep insight into this topic, As I wanted to do a brief overview.
Thank you again for reading my blog and stay tuned to the next post!