A costly tweet: Protect yourself on social media

Data breaches are no longer a matter of if anymore, but rather when. As consumers of digital communication, we need to be cautious and thoughtful of how we utilize social media because we are often the weakest link in the security chain. Our means of digital media now include e-mail, instant messaging, texting, video and audio messaging, and social media channels, and often blur the line between personal and professional life. As we continue to grow comfortable with and trust social media platforms (as much as security professionals can trust such things), many people do not consider the consequences of posting too much information.

Here are a few situations in which social media has been costly to individuals:

• A student athlete was being heavily recruited to play for a school in 2014. After tweets surfaced on the student’s Twitter account that did not represent the University’s views, the school chose to stop the recruiting process and took away the scholarship.

• A family from California posted photos and a Facebook status saying they had arrived in Las Vegas for their week-long vacation. The next morning they received a call from the police saying they had stopped a burglary attempt in their home. Friends of the family’s daughter had seen the post on social media and attempted to remove the family’s possessions in a U-Haul truck.

• An American soldier abroad in Iraq realized his bank account was repeatedly being accessed online and drained. A security expert easily replicated the access process by simply using the soldier’s name, e-mail and Facebook profile.

Preventing identity theft and fraud on social media

A combination of factors can lead to social media hacks and identity theft, including lack of consumer knowledge regarding secure online identities, growing trust in social media platforms and a lack of standards and policing on these channels. The good news is that you do not necessarily need to go delete your social media accounts; instead, users should consider the precautions below to enjoy the benefits of social media and online communications without becoming a target for attackers (share these with your friends and family to keep them safe, too):

• Never give out social security, driver’s license or bank card numbers
• Use unique usernames and passwords that vary from channel to channel
• Passwords should be different on each platform and changed regularly
• Never give out your username and password to third parties
• Minimize personal information on social media profiles that can be used for password identification or identity scams (i.e. date of birth, hometown, home address, graduation years and primary phone and e-mail address)
• Only invite friends and people you have met to connect
• Watch what you post and say – “check yourself before you wreck yourself”
• Google yourself to see what information or accounts are publicly available

Through education and proper use, social media and online communications are handy tools to connect and network. Social networks and the individuals using them need to understand the impact of privacy policies and security issues that can arise on these platforms. By following the safety practices highlighted above, the chances of personal accounts being hacked are lowered and individuals can safely enjoy the benefits of online communications.