For the majority, social media plays a large part in our daily lives. Whether this be sharing accomplishments with your network, showing off your new look or recent purchases, or even through to sharing thoughts and opinions on recent news events, we all tend to do this through posts on the various social media channels and social networking sites that we have signed up to. However, not everyone understands the dangers that could potentially come from this.
By over-sharing too much information, it is possible that you are passing all these details straight into the hands of a potential hacker. Hackers, or Malicious actors, can perform a Spear Phishing attack, where they build a picture of a potential victim using information they can obtain from open-source techniques, in order to perform a more personal attack. Or, in extreme cases, look to perform a level of identity fraud! You may not realize, however posting about your children, or pets, providing their names, or pictures celebrating their birthdays, this is all information that can be used against you as an emotional trigger.
Therefore, we recommend that when posting on these platforms, just take some time to think how appropriate the information is before sharing with the world. Take some precautions and lock down accounts so only friends can see your posts and try not to share too much personal information.
Keep yourself safe….