The majority of the
population, especially that on college campuses use social media. Whether it’s
to keep up with family and friends at home or to connect with those new friends
at college, it’s important to remember to keep yourself safe. Being safe online in general is key but Particularly when using social media since many people forget the possible dangers of social media.
Here are a few quick tips
to stay protected on social media:
Strong passwords
The key step in any security is making sure your account
is locked down with strong and secure password. Always make sure you are the
only one with access to that password, always air of the side of caution. Also,
remember to have distinct passwords for each individual account, that way if
one account is hacked the rest of your accounts are protected. A distinctive password
should be easy to remember but challenging for others to guess. Good examples
of passwords include sentences with a combination of numbers, special
characters, upper-case, and lower-case letters. Each additional detail will
make your password more secure.
Never share personal information
While it should go without saying, sometimes we all need
a reminder to be cautious about what we post to social media. Always protect
your personal information and never give information that can be used to access
any personal accounts. It’s surprising how one bit of information, like an
email address, could be used to access a wide variety of accounts, such as
social media, email accounts, or even bank accounts. Never share your email
address, passwords, account information, or social security number with anyone
and especially not any social media.
Don't over share
We all have exciting events happening in our lives,
whether it’s a new home or trip it’s important to hold back key information. When
it comes to a new home, avoid posting the address and try limiting the pictures
taken outside of your home. While you may want your personal friends or family to
have that information, you shouldn’t give it out to all of the others on your
social media. Taking a vacation is an exciting event but if shared
inappropriately it can put you at risk. Allowing others to know when you won’t
be home can open the door for robberies. Therefore, wait until you are safely
back at home before posting those amazing vacation shots.
Be careful who you accept
The easiest step in protecting your social media accounts
from potential threats is being mindful of who you accept or allow to follow you.
While we all want to have a lot of “friends” on social media, you need to make
sure they are people you actually know and don’t want to do harm. Many times,
hackers will use pictures and information to create a phony account to gather information
from those that accept it. Hackers will even make an identical account to
someone and add all of the friends of that person. They do this so it appears
that you are receiving a request from someone you know and accept without
thought. Therefore, always verify that you know the individual and if the
request is for a duplicate account reach out to the person off of social media
to find out if they really did make a new account.
Be careful about links you click
A major threat in our cyber world today is malware, which is used to collect personal information from unsuspecting individuals. While this is common is email attacks, it is always being found increasingly in social media. Once a malicious link is clicked it will lead to a fake site that may look authentic. Next the victim will be asked to insert their sensitive information, which will be stored and used against them. One way to avoid this happening to you is to always check if the link is from a reputable source and if the destination matches the given IP address for it. In order to check the destination, simply hold your cursor over the address without clicking on it. If there is any indication that the link may be harmful, do not click it!Learn more by visiting hornet.emporia.edu and clicking on the "Information Security" tile. Have a great fall semester!
