We are continuing the theme of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and talking about how hackers use social media today.
Think Before You Post
It is easy to get caught up in social media and overshare. Generally it’s a good idea to wait until your trip is finished to post pictures to social media. Posting while you are away from home could alert criminals to an empty house, or alert hackers that you may be on a shared network. Even something as ambiguous as “checking in” to your favorite coffee spot every day could give criminals access to your daily schedule and plans.
Social Media at Work
Many of us use social media in our business lives as well. There is a tendency to share more on these platforms to connect with others in our industry and seek out career opportunities. We’ve covered stories this summer of hackers using LinkedIn to tailor phishing attacks to infiltrate business email and data. It’s important to be conscious of the information you make public on all social media accounts. Hackers were using LinkedIn to connect with new employees and pose as in-house IT services. They were asking for username and password information for the internal business network convincing the user they needed to help them set up new employee services. We saw an increase in this tactic with the increase of new hires who were working remotely.
Passwords and Privacy Settings
National Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a great opportunity to double check your security settings and update passwords on social media. These services change security settings often so it’s important to understand which of your social media accounts are open to the public and which are private. Many social media platforms offer two-factor authentication (2FA) or multi-factor authentication (MFA). If these are an option, they should be turned on and used. October is a good time to update passwords and make sure you are not using the same password on multiple platforms. More importantly, never re-use passwords on social media or other platforms that you also use at work.
Additional Reading
Click here to read our blog post on Password Management
Click here to read out blog post on Multi-Factor Authentication
Click here to access the National Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency tip sheet on Cybersecurity and Social Media
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