In a world of doxxing, social media hacks and other forms of social hacking, social media is both a gold mine and wasteland for your data.
The way most people use social media puts too much of their information out there. Even if you are a conservative user, there are ways that you could be identified on social media which you would not have liked.
This has led a lot of users to call it quits with social media accounts. However, that doesn’t mean the only way to stay safe is by deleting your accounts completely. Sometimes, all you have to do for a more secure account is as easy as the steps below.
But then, why should you even care about securing your social media accounts?
#1 Impersonation
Not quite long ago, the Twitter accounts of prominent personalities were hacked to promote a bitcoin scam.
The likes of Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Elon Musk of Tesla, and even former president Barack Obama had their accounts fall to that breach.
If such top personalities can be hacked, you should know that your account is not an exception. The only problem is that you do not know what the hacker could use your account for – and that is scarier than the hack itself.
#2 Extortion
For those who have built a solid presence online or need their account for official purposes, hackers see a chance for extortion.
Almost similar to how ransomware works, these hackers hold the account till the real owner pays a ransom. The frustrating part is that many people do not get their accounts back even after making the payment.
In another vein, hackers can use this account to reach out to the user’s close friends and loved ones to request money/ privileged information. Since those on the other end do not have any idea of the hack, they are trusting enough to honor the request coming from that account.
#3 Privacy Invasion
Even within social media, not everything is posted to the main timeline. A lot is going on in the Direct Messaging (DM) sections too.
Be it confidential discussions, shared explicit images, or such other data, you would prefer to keep them a secret. That might not be possible anymore once a hacker gets their hands on that account.
The worst part of that is how they could keep a copy of the information to continually blackmail the user.
Here’s How to Secure Your Social Media Accounts
We have cleared the air on why you need social media account security. Now, let us get into how you can do that for yourself.
Choose Secure Passwords
Most social media account passwords are treated as an afterthought.
Your password is the first line of defense for your social media account. A strong enough password would be almost un-hackable, making the hacker look elsewhere instead.
We recommend using an online password generator to come up with the ideal password for your accounts. Likewise, get a password manager to save your passwords on.
PS Also ensure your email address has a secure password since it is most likely linked to your social media accounts.
Enable 2FA
The majority of social media platforms allow users to set up two-factor authentication. Where that option is available, don’t hesitate to embrace it.
The beauty of 2FA is that it serves as an extra layer of protection if your password were ever to be breached. Even though the hacker now has access to your password, they still won’t be able to get into your account unless they have your 2FA codes too.
Likewise, 2FA lets you know that someone is trying to access your account. Since you get a code after every attempted login, you are quickly informed to change your login details.
Check Device Access
Sometimes, you might have to log in to your social media accounts from other devices.
Once you are done with the session, you might also forget to sign out of those accounts properly. With services like Facebook, tapping the sign out button alone does not always revoke total access to the account.
This is where checking which device has access comes into the mix.
We would love to see this feature on more social media platforms. Usually available from the settings dashboard, the feature even allows you to log out of all devices except the current one. That way, no one elsewhere has access to your account anywhere else.
Regulate Access
For brand accounts, you might need to share access with more than one person.
This often creates a tricky situation, but not one that cannot be managed.
The first thing to do is to know everyone that has login access to the page. Also, determine how far their access goes. For example, a user with access to both the social media account and connected email address could alter the account’s login information.
That said, change the passwords frequently. Even though everyone with access knows not to share the passwords, one of them might have been sloppy with passwords. Changing the password often will help minimize the risk from such.
Finally, change the account passwords and other required login details when someone leaves the team. That way, they stop having access completely.
Social Account Linking
Technology advancement has made it easier for us to sign-in to/ sign up on websites with our social media credentials.
That one-tap signup is a welcome process, till you think about how it could also expose your social media account and details.
On the one hand, the service that you are signing up for has to be trusted lest they weaponize your social media against you. On the other hand, the fact that they are legitimate does not mean they could not fall to a hack themselves, exposing your social media data in the process.
It is, thus, advisable that you register to new programs and websites in an old-fashioned way – with your email address.
Staying More Private Online
Securing your account is one thing. Staying private online is another line of business entirely.
You could secure your account to the teeth and still be the biggest hole in your security armor. This is often a result of not putting too much thought into how you use your social media accounts or interact with the people you meet.
Not anymore.
Check what you share
You should not share everything happening in your life online.
Social media is a place to connect with old friends, stay in touch with family, and make new connections. That, however, does not mean that there aren’t people out there looking to hurt you with the information that you put out.
We have seen cases of people losing important roles because a picture they posted online years ago was brought back to haunt them. Sometimes, over-sharing has led to the unknowing release of sensitive information (like credit card details, crypto wallet information, home address, etc) which proved detrimental to the user.
Before hitting the publish button on your next post, make sure to have given it a lot of thought.
Check who you share with
If your social media account aims to connect with friends and family alone, you should not accept a friend/ follow request from just anyone. You can make your account private so that anything you share is only available to your inner circle.
Check privacy settings
A simple social media post can say more than you intended.
Twitter, for example, is notorious for indicating which device a tweet was sent from. That might not mean much to you till you consider how that gives a hacker a better understanding of how to breach you.
Looking elsewhere, you could post a picture only to see that your social media account has indicated your location at the time of posting also. Anyone with a deeper understanding of how things work can take that to approximate your current location, map out your routes/ movement or even stalk you around.
Head into the settings dashboard to tweak the privacy settings to taste today.
Avoid public Wi-Fi
Think about being able to stream all the YouTube content you want, watch all the IG reels there are, and see all the new TikTok videos from your faves without having to incur data costs. That is the promise you get from the public and/ free Wi-Fi networks.
If only you took the time to learn about the dangers that they pose to you, maybe you would not even consider them at all.
From the risk of getting malware downloaded onto your units to losing your sensitive data, you are better off on a personal encrypted network any day.
The Big Techs Won’t Do It for You
If you think that the social media company itself will handle your data privacy and protection online, think again.
WhatsApp is already making the news for its new privacy policy which, ironically, does not promote privacy. Twitter has had its fair share of high-profile account hacks as we started this piece. Facebook is even out of the discussion, knowing the sheer number of privacy rows that the company has found itself in recent times.
If there is anyone that cares about your data privacy and security deeply, that has to be you. That is why you should start implementing these tips from today.
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