Securely, Social Media
While
the popularity of social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
have grown exponentially in recent years so too has the intelligence of the “bad
guys” of the internet; such as hackers and people seeking to steal other’s
identities. With that in mind it is important to ensure that the profiles you
create on these networks are secure.
Image from: makeseoeasy.net
In addition,
as a result of the social networking explosion organizations both big and small
have needed to develop social media policies for its employees to abide by.
Although some companies have run into issues of violating section 7* of the
NLRA (National Labor Relations Act) concepts that every social media policy
should have include maintaining company confidentiality of trade secrets and
private for confidential information the need to be respectful and fair to
fellow associates, customers, members, or suppliers and restrictions of using
social networks while at work and on work equipment (Herrin, 2012).
Your Social Media Security Checklist
This
video gives a quick reference of three important things to do to ensure your
security through your use of social media…
To
ensure you are operating securely through your social networks you should…
1. Be sure to have updated antivirus protection software
on your computer (or other smart devices): Hackers can still send viruses to
your computer through your social networking sites; these are often disguised
in messages from your “friends” with shortened hyperlinks that hide the real
web address.
2. This leads me to my second
point which is to second-guess messages
from your “friends”: Just as your profile can be hacked, so can your
friends and once their account is hacked, hackers will use their account to get
to you.
3. Always
check your privacy settings: this
is especially important because social networking sites can change their
privacy settings at any time. It’s also equally important because the
information you post is owned by the social networking site you post it to (DoD
Social Networking training module).
4. Less
is secure:
Don’t give too
much information about yourself and your whereabouts. For instance if you post
that you will be out of town for a week on vacation someone could easily take
that as a tip and break into your home while you are gone (DoD Social
Networking training module).
5. Beware
of GPS: Be
cautious when downloading apps that use GPS to automatically post your location
to your profile. Allowing people to know your exact location makes you vulnerable
to physical harm.
6. Do
Not Post Personal Information:
To maintain truly secure social networking profiles you’ll want to avoid
posting your email address, phone number, birth year, hometown, employer,
educational background, and family members as hackers can use this information
to fill out paperwork with your information (DoD Social Networking training
module).
Making
the Change
Taking
poor security measures on your social media outlets can lead to hackers,
identity theft, property theft, and even physical harm. Consider this: 24% of Americans say they are not at all confident in their
ability to use privacy settings and 15% of Americans have never checked their
social networking privacy and security account settings (internetsafety101.org).
If you are one of those people that have not taken the time to adjust your
privacy settings and review the policies of the social networking sites you use
I urge you to do so now (See below for links to check your current social media
security). You might be surprised at what you find.
Take a look at this video from internet
prankster, Jake Vale; it might seem funny in the video but it really shows how
easily someone can physically find you and information about you through your
social networks.
Security Check
Blogger
(blog): https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/42673?hl=en
Facebook: http://www.yahoo.com/tech/you-better-watch-out-how-to-set-up-your-facebook-70505754667.html
* Section 7 of the NLRA establishes that employees
may confer with one another about their wages and other terms of employment and
may take ”concerted” action in an effort to improve their working conditions (Burke,
2013)
References
Burke, L. (2013, August 13). The
nlrb strikes down employer policies on social media and the confidentiality of
complaint investigations. Retrieved from
http://www.insideprivacy.com/social-media/the-nlrb-strikes-down-employer-policies-on-social-media-and-the-confidentiality-of-complaint-investi/
Cluley, G. (2012). Sophos security
threat report - social networks [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJCDSxQZGYw
Herrin, B. (2012, June). National
labor relations board posts template social media policy. Retrieved from
http://www.legalhimformation.com/articles/pdfs/HIM2012-06.pdf
Social media statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.internetsafety101.org/Socialmediastats.htm
Vale, J. (Performer) (2013). Social
media experiment [Web]. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P_0s1TYpJU
Damaris, thanks for sharing some great suggestions for how we can protect ourselves and our personal brands when using social media. You might want to double check the formatting on your bullets as some of the html came through. The formatting on Blogger can be a little tricky.
ReplyDeleteYou brought up a really important point when you said, “the information you post is owned by the social networking site you post it to.” Unfortunately, many people spend more time deciding on a profile photo than reading through the provider’s terms of service contract (Smith, 2013). These contracts tend to be lengthy, cumbersome, and full of technical jargon. As a result, many people skim through them or scroll straight to the bottom and click agree. They assume that if a billion other people are already using this medium, what harm could there really be? The reality is that for many of these sites the user is maintaining intellectual property rights but they are giving the forum (e.g. Twitter) total control over the image including the right to use, modify, or transmit the photo (Smith, 2013).
I recently read an article about a group of parents who got together and sued Facebook because pictures of their children were being attached to businesses to sell services and goods (Gray, 2013). Facebook agreed to a settlement with the parents. But, rather than agreeing to stop using photos of minors, Facebook decided to “beef up” its privacy settings to require minors to get parental consent when sharing photos. The parents are less than satisfied saying this is something that children can easily manipulate, similar to forging a note to stay home from school or skip gym class (Gray, 2013).
Since this is something you cautioned against in your privacy settings, I’m curious what you think about this issue?
Reference
Gray, J. (2013, September 24). Parents suing Facebok for using children’s photos on ads. Retrieved from http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/some-parents-filing-legal-action-against-facebook-/nZ6GC/
Smith, O. (2013, January 4). Facebook terms and conditions: Why you don’t own your online life. The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/social-media/9780565/Facebook-terms-and-conditions-why-you-dont-own-your-online-life.html
Hi Bobbie Sue,
DeleteI'm not sure what formatting issues you are seeing because I don't see any on my end. Perhaps it's your browser? The topic of Facebook's rights over the images of minors is a tricky one. On one end children should have parental consent before posting pictures. But on the other end considering that Facebook owns anything posted if parents are concerned with this they shouldn't allow their child to post on the site at all. Perhaps Facebook can take an extra step and seek approval from the minors parents directly? This might be difficult and just like you mentioned is similar to children easily "forging" a note for school. I think the only way for parents to ensure the safety of their children and the information they post is to enforce their own set of rules for the use of social networking sites such as Facebook.
Hi Damaris - You were right. The html issue for the bullets was only in Internet Explorer. It looked great once I opened it up in Chrome.
DeleteI agree with you on the issue of minors' rights over materials posted on social media. If parents don't want images being shared, then they should make more of an effort to monitor children's social media usage.
Hi Damaris, you listed some good points. Although I make sure I go thru the privacy and security settings for the social media sites I sign up for, your post made me want to go check these sites again and see if anything has changed. I know Facebook is often changing their privacy settings. However, they seemed to have the most secured social media website because of all options they give for security and privacy.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to know that even if you do all these things, there is still a possibility your social media account can be hacked. Even CNN's Twitter and Facebook accounts were recently hacked. No one is safe in the world of Internet.
Ribeiro, J. (2013, January 24). CNN'S twitter and facebook accounts hacked. Retrieved from http://www.pcworld.com/article/2091120/cnns-twitter-and-facebook-accounts-hacked.html
Hi Andrea,
DeleteI agree. I think Facebook HAS to have a more extensive policy than social networking sites like Twitter because of the many different elements involved with having a Facebook profile. For instance, a Facebook profile can hold information such as your birth date, your email address, phone number, place of work, hometown and even your family members. A Twitter profile on the other hand can only hold what you can fit in 140 characters which often times is not such sensitive information. Ill admit as a result of this week's lesson I went through my settings on Facebook and made some changes. Did you find yourself making changes to any of your settings as well?
I definitely made some changes to my accounts! After reading about the dangers that friends and family could pose by posting personal or inappropriate information to our pages, I edited my settings so that I could approve any posts that I'm tagged in before they show up on my page!
DeleteI also double checked all my existing privacy settings. I thought that I had my Facebook status as private but it turns out that my profile was private but people could see still my most recent post if they searched me. So, edited that setting as well! Good thing this was our lesson this week!
Yes, I made a couple of changes. One, that I will receive a text/email if my profile is logged in from a device it doesn't recognize. Two, like Bobbi Sue the approval of any posts that I'm tagged in before they are posted to my wall.
DeleteHi Damaris –
ReplyDeleteI loved that video you shared! It really put things into perspective. Most of those people “interviewed” didn’t seem to realize they had shared such intimate details about themselves in basically a public setting. So while they were creeped out that Jack Vale knew so much about them, they were the ones who broadcast the information. There was one person who threatened to call the cops on Jack, and while I can understand his concern that maybe he was being spied on or stalked, those details weren’t obtained in an illegal way.
Sometimes I think people are so interested in having a million friends and likes that they end up compromising their privacy and security. I’m sure many equate social media “popularity” to popularity in real life (isn’t social media where the next stars are born?!). As the saying goes, better safe than sorry!
In my opinion, I think people need to be informed early in their social media “lives” about the dangers of using the platform and how to stay secure. These days, even young children are using different forms of social media (is Neopets still a thing? I constantly played that social game when I was younger!) While parents should be responsible for informing their children of the dangers, do you think schools should start implementing classes and lessons on it?
Great post this week!
Lindsey
Lindsey,
DeleteThat is an awesome idea. Social media has become a part of everyone's lives that teaching kids about it in school's is a great way to not only introduce them to social media but really show them the do's and don'ts and how to conduct themselves in an online atmosphere.
Over the last two years many anti-bullying campaigns have sprouted up across the country because the outcomes of bullying have really taken a turn for the worse since the rise of social networks like Youtube. Bullying has always been a part of growing up whether you are the one being bullied, the bullier, the friend of the one being bullied, or the friend of the bullier. No matter what role you play, it affects you. There have been accounts of girls committing suicide (on and off camera) as a result of being cyber bullied. Although, what happened to these girls has been absolutely tragic imagine how their stories could change people's lives if it were shared in a classroom setting.
Hi Damaris,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post this week. I think you chose a great video to share, in order to illustrate how easy it is to get someone's private information. Based on what Jack Vale was able to uncover, he successfully tracked people down through the GPS location of their phones via their tweets. I had never even considered doing something like that, let alone to see in the video how easy it was to do. And I think he brought this to our attention for that very reason; people on the internet that use Social Media and put their profile out there, I don't think realize the importance of the information they share. I think many people have the mentality that they are not someone famous, therefor, why would anyone be interested in stealing their information. I think they fail to realize to what degree their information can be used in order to help orchestrate illegal activity. For example, someone could use their photo to create a Photo ID on a fake passport or drivers license. They could also take credit cards out in that person's name and ruin their credit.
Did you ever see the move "Identity Thief" with Justin Bateman? It was a comedy about how his information was stolen, and his credit was ruined, and he had to track down the person that did this, but even though it was a comedy, the likely hood of something like this happening to someone is great. Things like this happen every day, and more than likely, someone is not going to have the time or resources to track down the person that stole their identity. Now that social media and an online presence is becoming more common place for people, they need to keep in mind that their information is important, and valuable, and there are people out there that will go to great lengths to steal it.
Again, great post, and great video, it really put things into perspective
- Dan
Hey Dan,
DeleteThanks for commenting. I thought the video was a great find because it really encompassed what this week's lesson was all about. I also think that the fact that social media has sort of made regular people 'famous', encourages people to over-share. I mean there are bloggers and Youtube video bloggers that have more followers on Twitter and Instagram than some actual celebrities. People see their success as being more easily obtainable than that of a celebrity so they strive to emulate so that maybe they too could get 864K followers on Instagram like fashion blogger @DulceCandy.
Damaris,
ReplyDeleteI thought you did a great job analyzing important security factors, doing so in an interactive way! Especially after watching the social media experiment video, it makes me realize how much information I'm actually giving away by just making a simple post. Unknowingly, I may be giving away GPS information whenever I post on these sites. The video has made me understand that I can provide complete strangers with my personal posts and information. It's sort of a creepy concept, but you can make sure you protect yourself to the fullest effect by using the security settings from these social media outlets to the fullest effect.