Social networking sites are now one of the main means of staying in touch with friends and family. Personal and other pictures, locations, relationships and even job information is shared, which makes these websites a prime target for cyber criminals.
Risks:
- The personal information you share online could give cyber criminals enough to piece together your email address and password.
- Cyber criminals could gain access to any account that has a password recovery service and use any saved information to make purchases.
- Links in messages from cyber criminals posing as someone you know could be a part of a phishing attack trying to trick you into sharing personal information or contain malware that infects your computer.
- When you update your status with your whereabouts on a regular basis, you could tip someone off to your routine, and invite real-life threats like robberies, break-ins or stalking.
- If you add “friends” you don’t know, you could become the victim of a scam.
- Apps deleted from your account may not be fully deleted – the creator may still have access to your information.
- If you don’t have a strong password, others could gain access to your profile and pose as you – and potentially send out spam or fake posts that are damaging to you.
- Potential employers could search social networking sites to get a sense of your character. If you’ve uploaded damaging or embarrassing photos or posts to your social network account, you could hurt your reputation and your chances of employment.
Protect Yourself
- Choose a strong password.
- Set your privacy controls, take note of what the public can see.
- Carefully consider any information that you choose to share online.
- Ensure your computers and devices have the most current security software, web browser, and operating systems.