Tuesday, December 29, 2015
The BYOD (bring your own device) trend increasingly blurs the lines between personal and company data.
Employees now regularly access work data and social media accounts on their personal devices, or use work computers to check personal emails and social media accounts. As we change the way we work, social media security is growing in importance.
Why Does Social Media Security Matter?
Spear Phishing
Spear phishing is one of the most effective and damaging types of attack, often designed for the collection and resale of sensitive information.
Spear phishing is a type of highly targeted email scam which gets most of its efficacy from social media accounts, with friend and personal data used to customise and personalise malicious emails. Personalised emails are sent to the employees of an organisation, from an apparently trusted source like your boss, or one of your colleagues. These emails contain malware, or a link to a website harbouring malicious code, in order to extract sensitive information and login credentials.
Improved social media security and awareness will help employees to secure their personal data, and reduce the efficacy of spear phishing.
Connected Accounts :
Professional social media accounts (like LinkedIn) are often used at work, and in some cases company social media accounts are linked to an employee’s personal social media accounts. If that employee’s Facebook account is hacked, your company’s Facebook account will also be compromised.
Additionally, growing numbers of cloud-based apps allow you to log in with your social media account. So if your social account is breached, it’s not just one account that is compromised – it’s every account that’s linked to it.
How to Improve Social Media Security :
1.Don’t link accounts – yes, linking your accounts makes things more convenient because you only need to remember one set of log-in details. But the same is true for the hacker. If they break into one account, they can break into all that are linked and steal sensitive data.
2.Learn how websites use your information – some social media websites sell your data to third parties. The less information they have, the less can be hijacked in the event of a data breach.
3.Use privacy settings – these determine who can see what information about you on social media. Many social media websites change their settings regularly, so be sure to keep up to date to keep your data private.
4.Choose what data you share – you may be mindful about posting your address or phone number on your profile, but think about your status updates. Most people won’t think twice about sharing pet photos, but one in six people use a pet’s name in their password! Status updates, interests and personal information will all help hackers guess your passwords.
5.Roll out a social media security training programme – research shows that 91% of successful data breaches rely on the manipulation of an organisation’s employees and customers.
