By Danielle Skinner, Marketing Executive at Aspect IT
Social Media is used globally by billions of people. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many other social media platforms are fun to us at all ages.
But have you ever thought about who can see your profiles, your updates and any personal information you publish?
Here are our top five tips to ensure your social media accounts are secure:
1. General security
Most people will access their social media accounts using a mobile phone. You should ensure your phone has a passcode enabled and a suitable timeout is set.
Also, if you ever use public devices, always ensure you have logged out when you have finished.
2. Password
We know it isn’t easy to manage but you should use a different password for each of your social media accounts.
If hackers gain access to one account, they will attempt to access to all your other accounts using the same information. You could lose all your social media accounts!
3. Identify theft
Ensure your profiles are private and that only your family and trusted friends can view them. This is because thieves can use your personal information for identity theft or social engineering.
Hackers and thieves can use information from social media accounts, such as dates of birth, address, interests – to not only hack your social media accounts but try to access other services you may use.
Always think before you post and ensure you don’t post too much personal information.
4. Be careful who you connect with
Connecting with strangers can be dangerous. They could use your information to commit cybercrime, hack your accounts and other malicious activity.
It is advisable to only connect with people you know.
Business accounts are different but you should always be vigilant when accepting or declining requests. If in doubt, don’t accept.
Even better, block the person as social media companies monitor this activity and it could help another person.
5. Messages
Direct messages, just like emails, can contain malicious software and links. Never click on links and always be vigilant.
Also, never give out any personal information via messages.
