Tips for staying safe whilst using social networks

By admin | December 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment

If anyone is in any doubt about the power of social media sites I will relay some of the stats which Tim Bradshaw at the Financial Times was sending out this morning on Twitter from a press event with Facebook….

Facebook has 350 million users globally
Facebook has 23 million users in the UK alone
25 minutes is the average length of time users visit Facebook every day
10 million users become fans of brands on Facebook – A DAY

The numbers are vaste and that’s just one social media channel.

Today’s business are increasingly looking to how they can utilise social media channels, and what level of access they provide their increasingly social media aware staff. However, web-based attacks are now the primary vector for malicious activity over the Internet and many of these are increasingly coming via social networks. By hiding behind the reputation and brand trust built by legitimate social networks, spammers are able to distribute an increasing number of malicious and phishing emails, something that recent research by Symantec shows is only set to grow over time. With employees increasingly accessing social networking sites on their business PCs and laptops, any attack via social networking platforms can place company data directly at risk.

So how to best protect yourself?

1. Don’t click on unknown links: Sharing links social sites is a common act but avoid clicking on blind links where the destination website cannot be seen in the url (as is increasingly common with URL-shortening applications such as bit.ly).

2. Don’t share personal information: Avoid including personally identifiable information when communicating online, such as date of birth, postal address and certainly not bank details.

3. Set strong passwords: Simple acts such as developing strong passwords, which you change at least every 45-60 days, can dramatically improve IT security with minimal intrusion on time.

4. Beware fake friends: A common phishing attack that users are seeing occurs when criminals hi-jack social networking accounts and distribute messages to all the contacts in that individual’s contact book.

5. Invest in security software: Don’t cut corners when it comes to anti-virus software and better still use security software which provides multiple layers of defence.

Dominic Cook

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