Social networks and their influence on your security

This Blog is the first entry in our upcoming series on various interesting InfoSec topics from the IT Information Security team at Multitude.

Social networks and personal security 

Social networks have been around for quite some time but lately there has been a huge shift in what they are. A niche communication and entertainment tool for youth became a widespread phenomenon that is used throughout many cultures and nationalities. Regular public posting has become common for most people. This tendency has changed the way that scammers and hackers work drastically and majorly decreased the personal security of an average person. This is because, in a way, we help the scammers to scam us better with our own actions. By writing this article, we aim to explain how social networks sabotage your security and how to decrease the risks that they create.

Oversharing is worse than you think

One problem that has gained in scope and severity since the inception of social networks compared to now, is oversharing. Nowadays people are more careful about what they post for the world to see, but not always careful enough. The safest solution is of course to have a private profile that only people you know well can see. If a public profile is a need, it’s better to post as little personal information on it as possible. The data that can be useful for your potential attackers includes your address, phone number, email address, full legal name, or any future events you plan to attend. Even photos of yourself you post on a public profile can be dangerous to be publicize, but to a lesser extent. It is always about finding a compromise between your level of comfort and security.

Every person should find their own middle ground in regard to social network usage habits. Even when you don’t share your information with strangers (e.g. by having a private profile) but have it in the system, it can backfire. Tech giants such as Meta can sometimes suffer data leaks, resulting in your personal information being exposed and sold over the internet. Having some information about yourself public is an essential part of using social networks. The problem is that some social networks encourage you to fill in a more extensive amount of info. In these cases, there’s one good principle: only share as much as you’re comfortable with telling an unknown person on the street.

Beware of spear phishing

Since there are so many people out there oversharing, scammers can make more convincing attacks based on their knowledge about the person they’re attacking. This is called spear phishing. We’re all familiar with phishing. These cyber-attacks have been around for a long time and are quite recognizable. They are built on the quantity-over-quality principle. The phishing email or SMS may look suspicious but since those are sent to hundreds or thousands of people, some are tricked into falling for them. Spear phishing on the other hand, is aimed at a specific person or group of people and prioritizes quality and custom preparation. As you can guess, social networks are of much help to the attacker in these cases. Getting more information about a certain individual helps to create a tailor-made attack that can be extremely persuasive.

Changing our social network usage habits, we can make scammers’ life harder while making ourselves a less attractive target. In time, it may be common practice to share less, but making this change happen is on us. Hope that this blog has inspired and helped you to revise your own social network usage habits. Stay safe!

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Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is intended for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to be, and should not be taken as, professional or financial advice.