While the rise of social media has most definitely made it so that a lot of people can start sharing details about their personal lives with their loved ones a lot more easily than might have been the case otherwise, it has also resulted in a distinct lack of privacy. People need to realize that if they were to get hacked the prognosis would be rather dire for them because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making it so that a lot of very personal information might just end up in the wrong hands.
However, while the personal cost of being hacked is most definitely going to be rather high, it should be noted that any company or institution that you are involved with could end up being compromised in this manner as well. Cybercriminals are well known for being able to paint a pretty accurate picture of your life just from the information that they can obtain from the various forms of social media that you end up taking part in, and this could make them send you some form of communication that you would be likely to interact with.
For example, if you are a music lover and cybercriminals are able to get their hands on this type of information, they might just send you an email that talks about an artist that you love and this would be the type of thing that you would be willing to click on. If the email contains some kind of a link and you click on this link, you can potentially suffer from a pretty serious phishing attack or alternatively you would get malware installed on your system.
If you are the sort of person that doesn’t really post a lot, this doesn’t mean that you are going to be all that safe from these attacks either. Your likes and follows on various platforms as well as the numerous types of interactions you take part in can all be used to form a pretty accurate online profile of you. Remember, cyber criminals don’t need to know everything about you. They just need to know enough to get you to click on some kind of a link that they might just be trying to send your way.
People that have connected their work email to their social media accounts are going to be particularly susceptible to this kind of an attack. If you click on a link that you receive in your work email, this won’t just end up resulting in your own security being compromised. Much on the contrary, the security of the organization that you belong to is going to end up becoming penetrated, thereby making this a really serious security issue that people really need to start thinking about a lot more seriously.
The best solution to this problem is that people should be discouraged from posting so many personal details on theirs online. People tend to share everything from important dates to locations as well as their own preferences regarding various things that they take part in, and this can give any cybercriminal a pretty easy path that they can take if they ever want to gain your trust.
Oversharing on social media is not solely a social issue by any stretch, rather it is something that can put entire companies at risk since cybercriminals are only going to need one weak link if they want to gain access to the whole system. While people shouldn’t have to worry about their social media activity being regulated by an employer, companies should keep this type of cybercriminal strategy in mind and prepare for potential attacks accordingly.
However, while the personal cost of being hacked is most definitely going to be rather high, it should be noted that any company or institution that you are involved with could end up being compromised in this manner as well. Cybercriminals are well known for being able to paint a pretty accurate picture of your life just from the information that they can obtain from the various forms of social media that you end up taking part in, and this could make them send you some form of communication that you would be likely to interact with.
For example, if you are a music lover and cybercriminals are able to get their hands on this type of information, they might just send you an email that talks about an artist that you love and this would be the type of thing that you would be willing to click on. If the email contains some kind of a link and you click on this link, you can potentially suffer from a pretty serious phishing attack or alternatively you would get malware installed on your system.
If you are the sort of person that doesn’t really post a lot, this doesn’t mean that you are going to be all that safe from these attacks either. Your likes and follows on various platforms as well as the numerous types of interactions you take part in can all be used to form a pretty accurate online profile of you. Remember, cyber criminals don’t need to know everything about you. They just need to know enough to get you to click on some kind of a link that they might just be trying to send your way.
People that have connected their work email to their social media accounts are going to be particularly susceptible to this kind of an attack. If you click on a link that you receive in your work email, this won’t just end up resulting in your own security being compromised. Much on the contrary, the security of the organization that you belong to is going to end up becoming penetrated, thereby making this a really serious security issue that people really need to start thinking about a lot more seriously.
The best solution to this problem is that people should be discouraged from posting so many personal details on theirs online. People tend to share everything from important dates to locations as well as their own preferences regarding various things that they take part in, and this can give any cybercriminal a pretty easy path that they can take if they ever want to gain your trust.
Oversharing on social media is not solely a social issue by any stretch, rather it is something that can put entire companies at risk since cybercriminals are only going to need one weak link if they want to gain access to the whole system. While people shouldn’t have to worry about their social media activity being regulated by an employer, companies should keep this type of cybercriminal strategy in mind and prepare for potential attacks accordingly.
Take a look at the infographic below for some handy tips on how to stay safe online, which comes courtesy of CustomWritingORG.
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