Securing Social Media Accounts
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“Why do I need to keep my Tik Tok and Instagram accounts secure, no one else uses it but me? It takes too long to add more steps just to post my videos, I just wanna open it and go!”
As of early 2024, there were over 5.1 billion people around the world using social media. That is over half of the world’s population! Facebook is the leader with over 3 billion users, with YouTube and Instagram at second and third place, at 2.5 and 2 billion users respectively, with the recent very-much talked about app Tik-Tok, coming in at fourth place with over 1 billion users.
With so many people worldwide who can see what others post across social media, it’s crucial for you to have your information secured. Your personally identifiable information (PII) that you freely share can be a gateway for bad actors to exploit you. So, what are the malicious ways your information can be used?
- Hacking
- Phishing
- Malware
- Identity Theft
- Data Breaches
- and the spread of misinformation
If bad actors get your information, they can cause financial or reputation problems for you, or worse. Don’t help them by giving out clues they can use against you!
You might not think it’s a big deal to show your hometown on your profile page of Facebook, your school, where you are currently visiting somewhere in the world, or a partial layout of your home in the background of the images and videos you post. Shared quizzes, surveys, and themed groups or pages sometimes have posts asking “What was your first?” or “Where did you go to school?” How about this, “What was your childhood phone number?” People answer these because of the nostalgia they bring, but unwittingly give out more clues. Many of those questions and answers are also used for applications for bank accounts, credit cards, home loans, etc. When this information is available online, bad guys can more easily impersonate you and
Maybe you’ve been careful and have limited your social media exposure but your family and friends may have shared sensitive information about you on their own accounts. This too puts you at risk. Make sure your loved ones are aware of the risks involved in sharing details that can be used against you.
Additionally consider the impact of posting your vacation and travel photos and videos in real-time while you’re away. This can tell bad guys that your house is empty. It presents an easy target of opportunity to exploit by breaking into your home. If they’ve seen your pictures of the inside of your home, they may know where valuable are making it even easier for them. So it’s best to wait until you are back home before you post your vacation on social media.
There are steps you can take to strengthen the security of your social media accounts. You can use Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) also known as Two-Factor Authentication (2FA). Implementing MFA proves you are who you say you are. When you sign into an account secured with MFA, you’ll be prompted to enter a code sent to your phone by a voice call, text message, email, or on an authentication app on your phone. Without access to that code, any sign-in attempt will fail thereby preventing an unauthorized user or attacker from getting in. See my previous post for more about MFA here.
Another step you can take is using complex passwords or passphrases. You don’t want to make it easy for someone to crack your passwords. The longer your password, the harder it will be to crack. The Cybersecurity company, Hive Systems, analyzed password cracking times shown in the chart below. Here you can see how length and complexity impacts the time it takes for an attacker to crack your password.
This Hive Systems chart and a deep-dive on password strength can be downloaded here.
Use a mix of uppercase and lowercase characters, numbers, and special characters. Use at least 12 characters, more is better of course. Mix them up so they don’t form a dictionary word. Keep it complicated, like some relationships. The longer it takes to crack your password, the more likely a malicious actor will give up and move on to try someone who may not be as security minded as you. While it’s best to use complex passwords/passphrases that are unique to each account, it can be hard to keep track of them all. To make it easier, you can securely store your passwords using a password manager, such as NordPass, LastPass or Bitwarden.
Those trying to get your information are counting on your carelessness not keeping your login credentials secure. You can’t stop bad actors from attacking, but you can stop them from exploiting you. Make yourself a “hard target” by using these tips and they’ll move on to easier targets.
You can check the strength of your current password and generate a new strong password on our site right here.
We Know Cyber, Inc
Sources
https://prioridata.com/data/social-media-usage/
https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-security-for-business/
https://privacypursuits.com/internet-security/key-characteristics-of-a-secure-password/
https://buffer.com/resources/social-media-security/
https://privacysavvy.com/security/social/social-media-security-tips/
https://tech.co/password-managers/how-long-hacker-crack-password
https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/NCSAM_SocialMediaCybersecurity_2020.pdf
https://www.hivesystems.com/blog/are-your-passwords-in-the-green (requires some information to download this content)
Password Managers