How to Use Social Media Safely?
Cybercriminals and scammers are lurking, waiting to steal your data and compromise your sensitive account details available on social media platforms. They use different tools and tactics to infiltrate your accounts and steal data such as business data, personal details, and financial information to defraud you and do all types of bad things in your name. Thus, you have to use social media safely and follow all the safety measures to fortify yourself against lurking danger. Here are some proven safety tips that enhance your social media safety while you are active online:
Use Strong & Unique Passwords
Strong and unique passwords provide the first line of defense for your social media accounts and prevent unauthorized access to your accounts. So, you should use a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols to create unique and strong passwords to protect access control of your account. Also, do not use single passwords for protecting multiple accounts at the same time. It is highly recommended that you use a unique password for each account without any repetition.
Enable Two-Factor Authentication
The second most important thing that enhances your online security is the use of two-factor authentication. It involves a confirmation call, OTP, or email on your registered email address and phone number. The 2FA doubles down your online security by adding an extra layer of security to your critical accounts. If by chance your user ID and password are compromised the two-factor authentication will always remain there as a backup plan to protect the account from unauthorized access. Even if someone gets your password, they won’t be able to access your account. Hence, always enable two-factor authentication to enhance the security of your social media accounts.
Keep Your Accounts Private
Configure your settings so you can see your posts and personal information on your profile. Using this setting you can allow trusted and known people to see what you share online. Unknown people who are not on your friend list cannot access any information on your account. You should regularly review and update account settings and private information. It prevents random people from tracing your digital footprints and gathering any information from your online profiles.
Be Cautious with Friend Requests & Messages
Do not accept friend requests from unknown and suspicious accounts. Cybercriminals create fake social media accounts to send requests and messages to people. When you accept requests and add them to your friend list they use this opportunity to learn about you at a personal level. After learning everything about you they exploit this information to launch social engineering attacks and manipulate you to get involved in malicious activities. So, beware of fake profiles impersonating real people on social media platforms.
Think Before You Click
Scammers send phishing emails attached with unsafe URLs, malicious links, and harmful attachments. When you click them it leads you to malicious sites planted with malware and fake login forms that are designed to steal your sensitive details. Hence, it is highly important that you think twice before clicking any unknown link attached to the email or attachment.
Limit Personal Information Sharing
Sharing everything on social media accounts is not a good habit. It expands your digital footprint and allows cybercriminals to learn more about you. It is highly important that you share your phone number, address, or financial information on your profile. Scammers can harness this data to defraud you and steal your identity.
Log Out & Lock Your Device
Always log out of your accounts when you are not using them. Staying logged in puts your account at various types of security risks. Anyone can access it and misuse it for malicious activities. Your photos, messages, and private details become exposed to everyone. Hence, always remember to log out of your account when you are not using it. It will prevent other special scammers from accessing your private details and checking your online activities.
Monitor Your Digital Footprint
Minimize your digital footprint and easily available information about you. If there are unnecessary posts, or reels that reveal something personal about you make sure to remove them. To do so you need to regularly check what information is publicly available about you. Remove all the sensitive data and information from your social media profiles that let others know about you at a personal level. It will help you maintain online privacy and data security. Malicious actors won’t be able to exploit this information against you in any way.
Keep Your Device Up-to-Date
Download security updates for your device system and apps as soon as they are made available. It will fix the vulnerabilities in your device and apps and fortify them against malware attacks. Cybercriminals use malware to exploit security vulnerabilities in your devices and apps to infiltrate and steal your data. They can log your credentials and access your social media accounts to do all types of malicious activities. This makes it highly essential that you keep your device up-to-date by downloading new updates and security patches.
Recognize & Report Suspicious Activity
If you see any suspicious activities, fake giveaways, urgent money requests, and changes in the profiles do not sit idle. Change your passwords and report the issue to the concerned social media platform. Along with this, if you have experienced any online harassment or inappropriate comments or content on your social media profile make sure to report it. Your reporting can lead to taking strict action on the involved entities and prevent potential dangers down the line.
Turn Off Your Geolocation
Do not allow your social media platform to access your location. Whenever you post on your account the location appears on the top. People automatically know about your whereabouts. Scammers can use this opportunity in social engineering attacks to manipulate your near and dear ones to get money. They make up fake stories in your name by describing those who are stuck in a situation and need urgent help to get out of it. They exploit the trust of our loved ones and steal money from them. In the worst-case scenario, they can persuade them to do illegal activities that will land them in trouble. Hence, make sure to hide your Geolocation and limit others to access your physical locations.
Avoid Public WiFi Connection
Make sure you use a private internet connection when you are browsing online and doing important work. The same goes for social media platforms. Public WiFi is not a secure connection to connect and log in to your online accounts. Hackers can easily manipulate these connections and steal your sensitive credentials. Even if you have to use a freely available internet connection make sure to use a VPN on your device. It will hide your IP address and create a private network to connect with a server overriding the gateways and networks sitting in between to scan and know about the device traffic.
Do not Use Third-Party Apps
Always download and install your apps and programs from trusted and official sites. Do not use third-party apps and programs on your device. Scammers sometimes use third-party platforms to lure innocent users and provide free downloads of apps and programs. With no authority looking over them, they often become a victim of malware attacks. A trusted online site provides secure downloads and malware-free apps. Thus make sure you use only official sites and platforms to get your apps and software.
What Hackers Can Do If They Hack Your Social Media Account?
If hackers are able to hack your social media account then they can use it to execute various malicious activities. They can damage your reputation and spread misinformation in your name. Here are some common examples of how hackers exploit a hacked account for their benefit:
- Hackers can access private messages, emails, phone numbers, and personal photos and use this data to steal your identity and blackmail you.
- They can create fake online IDs and impersonate you. Using this fake account they will approach your near and dear ones and commit frauds with them.
- Hackers can use your account to send malicious links to your friends or followers to infiltrate malware in their devices and steal their sensitive data and account credentials.
- They can change the passwords and recovery numbers in your account and lock you out of your account. You won't be able to access your account anymore.
- With high following accounts hackers sell them to cybercriminals for spam and fraud campaigns.
- If your account is linked to other critical accounts then cybercriminals can get access to them using your hacked account.
- If your account has any private messages, photos, or documents stored in your account hackers will leak them or ask for a ransom to keep them hidden.
What to do if Your Social Media Account is Hacked?
If your social media account is hacked then here are some quick steps that help you minimize the risks:
1. Change Your Password
- If you still have access, change your password to a strong, unique one.
- If you can’t log in, reset your password using the "Forgot Password" option.
2. Log Out from All Devices
- Most platforms allow you to log out from all devices remotely in the settings.
- This will disconnect the hacker if they are still logged in.
3. Check and Remove Suspicious Activity
- Look for unusual posts, messages, or friend requests sent from your account.
- Delete any spam content and notify friends to ignore suspicious messages.
4. Report the Hack to the Platform
- Social media platforms have support pages to report hacked accounts.
- Follow their steps to recover your account.
5. Scan for Malware on Your Devices
- Run a security scan to check for viruses or keyloggers that may have stolen your credentials
- Update your antivirus software and remove any threats.
6. Review Account Recovery & Email Security
- Check if your recovery email or phone number was changed—if so, update them.
- Change your email password as well, as hackers may have accessed it.
7. Alert Friends & Followers
- Inform them that your account was hacked to prevent them from falling for scams.
- Warn them not to click on any suspicious links sent from your account.
8. Check Connected Apps & Permissions
- Review third-party apps linked to your account and remove unknown or suspicious ones.
- Some apps may have been used to access your data.
