Recording the happenings in your life on social media comes at a price. The more you put out into the online domain, the larger the risk of spilling information that may put you in harms way. You’ve heard the horror stories of people being siphoned of all their funds or stalked in real time after sharing social media posts – don’t be the next victim.
We are a social generation, the era of sharing and being shared is here and now. Various, ever-changing and expanding social media networks have opened up so many new ways of parting with all kinds of information.
Social media appeals directly to our inherent human urge to share and connect. Sharing isn’t the culprit but rather what we are sharing and with who. Information from Statista.com from April 2018 shows the global number of users on Facebook are currently over 2,234-million, WhatsApp has over 1,5-million and Instagram has over 800-million.
Despite this huge overflow of users out there, many are unaware of the risks which may expose them simply by sharing personal, seemingly harmless, information on social media platforms. On top of this, many users do not apply restrictions on who can see their info or activities on these various networking sites. Users who have multiple accounts on different platforms are more at risk, as assailants can create more detailed profiles of users, using the various details combined from these separate accounts.
Social media has created whole new hunting grounds for modern day con artists who target people in new ways that they are not prepared for. Some include messages which entice users to visit phony websites to steal credentials and money or they manipulate unsuspecting victims to open malware-laced attachments which can hack into your computer. These techniques are highly tailored due to keen insight into targets obtained through social media.
With all of these new dangers arising for the ever advancing online world, here are some tips to prepare and defend your information.
- Make use of all of your privacy settings and review what information is being featured on all of your social media accounts
- Limit information that you post and upload, especially the kind that would make you easier prey for scams
- Be suspicious of links, messages and emails that seem too good to be true
- Only accept online friend requests of people you have met in real life
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