Social media has made our lives easier and a lot effective in reaching out to friends, followers and more. On the other hand, these platforms are also a fertile stomping ground for cybercriminals — especially in light of how widely much of our lives are documented on Facebook. This post details how avenues such as social media are now targeted by cybercrime and what you can do to defend your privacy.
Methods Implemented by Hackers on Social Media
Phishing Attacks
What It Is: Many cyber criminals will create fake messages or profiles to solicit personally identifying information (PII — ex. a user name and password) or financial information (credit card numbers).
Example: A message comes from a hacked friend’s account asking you to go to a strange link This link takes you to a fake login and steals your password
Social Engineering
What It Is: Hackers exploit trust or emotions to con people into giving up their information.
Similar to the example given at beginning of this answer: The hacker pretends your loved ones are in a position that requires you to send them money.
Identity Theft
What It Is: Cybercriminals find personal information on social media and use it for identity theft or other cyber fraud.
Illustration: A cybercriminal who takes the information obtained from your social media research (full name, birth date, and address) and leverages it to open new credit cards in your name or apply for a loan on your behalf.
Malware Distribution
What It Means: Hackers are using social media to inject malware into unsuspecting users victims who click malicious links shared in posts or messages, or instantly appear through ads.
For example, if you click on a shared post with an exaggerated headliner, it may contain malware that will get loaded to your device and help hackers access the contents of your files or private data.
Catfishing and Impersonation
How It Works: Cybercriminals steal images to create fake profiles and cheat users with fraud. ~ Built In
Springtail click scam, the insider ….looks similar to springtail… uses details of some1 u know/stranger tries to Xfer private or cashAmt builds trust over time
Cyberbullying and Harassment
What It Really Is: People go on a social media platform to harass people (almost like bullying) or maybe stalking someone.
Threatening messages Writing remarks that are meant to be harmful or untrue about someone, Raising rumors OR feedbacks which may decreases a the mental health of a person, Also writing something designed only for public shaming and embarrassment.
Data Mining and Profiling
What It Is: Hackers or malicious organizations compile a data profile of users on social media platforms to use for targeting attack campaigns and/or they sell the lists to others.
Illustrative Example: a cheery sociopath merges in knowledge from your social media behaviour as a part of element x, so when you wanted to try and scam or phish him/her for the t+1 “run.”. → OP_RETURN>>>eventName :activity_omics_factory(JSONObject).→”a hacker visited… “.
What You Can Be Doing to Guard Your Privacy- Fixing Settings
Get: Review and set your privacy settings on social media platforms to lock down who can see your posts, personal info, and friend list.
Pro: The less information is available for public consumption, the more difficult it will be middle- and top-level adversaries to collect personal details that can be used in social engineering schemes or identify theft.
Beware of Personal Information
Action: Do not share personal information such as your name, nationality, address, phone number, credit card or financial data on social media.
This is classy: not sharing every aspect of your personal life also translates to a lesser chance of becoming a victim of identity theft.
Use Strong, Unique Passwords
Plan: Make sure every account you have on social media uses a complex, unique password with letters, lowercase/uppercase numbers and special characters
Pros: Hard for attackers to breach the accounts with brute force due to robust passwords.
Use Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
Resolution: Enable two-factor authentication for all social accounts (easier than it sounds: 2FA is a small price to pay for additional security).
Pros: If a person has managed to crack your password, they still require the second token of authentication (called 2nd factor, so think about it as two keys that are each required), for example a code sent to your phone.
Beware of Links and Messages
Action: Do not click on links that are sent to you in the direct messages, comments, or posts — even from friends.
Pros: It defends your privacy and helps to avoid phishing attacks offers some protection from getting infected with malware.
How to Report and Block Profiles
What You Should Do : If you witness fake accounts, harassment or any suspicious activity on the social media platform— report them. Avoid and block users who use the app in poor faith.
Pros: This can reduce the likelihood of scammers and hackers spamming you and others.
Keep an Eye on Your Account Regularly
Action to take: Regularly review your social media accounts to catch any unsolicited activity, such as posts that you did not publish, messages that you never sent or attempts made by unknown users to log in.
Pros: If you detect any suspicious activity as soon as it happens, you can lock your account before more damage is done.
Use Caution with 3rd Party Apps
Action | Use only third-party applications that have been approved by the social media platform. The apps that you do not use should have permissions removed.
Pros: It has encryption features and good to prevent apps from reading your personal data.
Conclusion
Social media: This is a powerful channel for communication, but comes with an array of cybercrimes due to the data collected by these channels. You can protect yourself from most common cyber threats by taking simple steps such as improving privacy settings, coming up with a strong password and by being careful what you share online. Keeping a sharp eye out will help keep you safe in the world of bits and bytes.
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