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Social media has influenced and simplified our everyday lives in many ways. It allows us to quickly and easily stay in touch with friends and family, keep up with news and trends, and share our lives online. But using social media also comes with certain risks, especially when it comes to privacy and IT security.

In this blog post, we will explain how you can keep yourself safe and what you should pay special attention to when using social media.

Strong Passwords

Social media is a popular target for cybercriminals who are looking for personal data, as there is plenty of it available there. In the wrong hands, such data can cause great damage and lead to identity theft, fraud or other crimes. Unfortunately, many users still use insecure passwords, which makes it very easy for hackers to gain access to their accounts.

Using extra-secure passwords should not be underestimated when using social media. Another way to increase the security of your social media accounts is to use two-factor authentication. This requires another code in addition to the password, which is sent to your smartphone via SMS or app, for example. This makes it even more difficult for hackers to gain access to an account.

Avoid Social Sign-in

Social sign-in is a login process that allows users to log in to various websites and apps using their social media accounts. The advantage of social sign-in is that you do not have to create a separate password for each individual website or app. However, using such a sign-in method is considered to be less secure.

If a social media account is hacked, attackers can also access all associated websites and apps that use the login via this social media account. The connections to online stores, where certain preferred payment methods may even have been stored, are considered particularly critical. For this reason, it is always important to carefully check which websites and applications are linked to one’s own social media accounts and to ensure that the accounts are thoroughly protected.

Privacy Settings

Social media offers a variety of privacy settings. For example, you can set preferences to restrict the visibility of your profile to certain groups of people, to prevent requests from unknown users, or to disable location and search functions.

In order to ensure the integrity of personal data, it is very important to check these settings carefully. Especially when it comes to the phenomenon of social engineering, setting privacy options too carelessly can pose a high risk. If your content is publicly visible, cybercriminals will also gain access to it. Such information can potentially be used for targeted attacks.

Common Scepticism

As a user of social media, you should always remain critical and maintain a certain degree of scepticism. Like the Internet in general, social media is also full of risks and dangers.

You should always keep your eyes open, especially when it comes to new friend requests and shared links. Accounts can be faked very easily, shared links can hide malware or phishing attacks, and some users are simply up to no good.

Parsimonious Handling of Personal Data

Personal data such as full name, address, date of birth and place of work can easily lead to the unmistakable identification of a particular person. If this data gets into the wrong hands, it can have unpleasant consequences. For example, this information can be misused by cybercriminals to commit identity theft and fraud.

But the dangers are not limited to cyber attacks. Burglary attempts based on posted vacation pictures are also not uncommon. When dealing with social media, it is therefore advisable to be as sparing as possible with your own personal data.

We all appreciate the ability to connect via social media and share our thoughts and experiences with others anytime, anywhere. However, we should always be aware of the dangers we expose ourselves to in the process. The more personal information we share online, the easier we become targets for cybercriminals. So always think carefully about what you disclose on social media, never share sensitive information, and don’t forget to check your privacy settings regularly.

Want more tips on staying safe online? You can find all of our blog posts on this topic at a glance under the IT security tag.

Responsible for the content of this article is Stéphanie Bauens.

Kategorie: Topic
Schlagworte: IT-Security, SafetyFirst, Social Media
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