Why you should NEVER post jewellery snaps on Facebook...
And always turn off location tracking on your phone. Follow our guide to the dos and don’ts of social media
TEENAGERS today post every aspect of their lives on social media. From a selfie on a night out with friends to the ups and downs of their relationship status, there is nothing they won’t share.
This obsession with social media might seem harmless, if a little irritating, but there is a darker side to sharing your life online.
Experts say posting personal information on platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn can potentially compromise your security, leave you vulnerable to fraudsters, damage your job prospects, and even get you in trouble with the law.
‘It’s so important to be selective about what you post on social media,’ advises Christian Mancier, a partner at Gorvins solicitors and a specialist in data protection.
‘For example, posting that it’s your 21st birthday today could allow people to work out your date of birth — a frequent security question — which someone may use to bypass security while trying to impersonate you.’
This, he says, could let crooks do anything, from using your personal details to apply for credit to impersonating you on a dating website.
Jodie Gilbert, head of digital safety at Barclays bank, agrees. ‘Through social media, it has never been easier for fraudsters to gather the key pieces of information required to steal someone’s identity,’ she says.
‘So it is vital to think before you post, and to carry out regular check-ups of your social media accounts to prevent that information from falling into the wrong hands.’
Here, with the help of leading experts, we reveal the vital steps your children and grandchildren should be taking to protect themselves — tips you’d be wise to follow as well.
FRIENDS SHOULD MEAN FRIENDS
DO scale down your ‘friends’ list just to real friends, says Dr Kevin Curran, professor of cyber security at Ulster University.
‘And be careful about which applications you grant permission to extract information from your profile,’ he warns.
DON’T approve a friend whom you don’t know, adds Dr Curran: ‘If unsure, send them a message to clarify how it is you know them. Always check how long they have been on the site. Scam profiles are generally created in the recent past.’
DO make sure you check your privacy and security settings periodically. Social media companies have a tendency to put your settings back to default — which can be much less secure — when they carry out updates or redesigns of their websites or apps.
DO think carefully about who could read what you write — before you post. Is it appropriate for public or friends only?
DO stay alert to what is being posted about you, and how farreaching these posts can be, says Nick Shaw, a manager at cyber security firm Norton.
React quickly if one of your contacts posts personal information about you — even if they mean well — and ask that they take it down. Keeping tabs on what friends and family post is often the forgotten ‘weak link’.
Jodie Gilbert at Barclays, says: ‘ Speak to friends or family if they’re posting content about you that you’re not happy with.’
Simple things such as wishing a happy birthday will reveal to fraudsters your date and month of birth, and they could use external search tools to find out the year.
DO ensure that your social media connections are who they say they are. You may receive a request to link up from someone you know, but it could be a fraudster posing as them. Try to confirm their identity offline, if you can.
SORT OUT YOUR SETTINGS
DO set the privacy and security settings so you can control who sees what you post. Often the default social media settings won’t provide anywhere as much protection as customised options.
‘ This will help manage information shared by others, such as when tagged in a potentially embarrassing picture, before it reaches your contacts,’ says Nick Shaw at Norton.
DO check if the social network you’re using has encrypted chat and, if so, use it, advises John Mason, cyber security expert at TheBestVPN.
‘ End- to- end encrypted chat means anyone intercepting your communication can’t read what it says,’ he says.
DO remember to log out before you turn off the computer when accessing social media away from home, such as in a hotel. Merely closing the window you’re using won’t automatically log you out.
DON’T log into your banking app or
other websites containing person information wi-fi. You never when know using what pub owner of that wi-fi is recording. DO be careful what you participa in online. A friend may messa you to take part in a survey quiz, but you could be inadve ently sharing your details. ‘These can be used by othe to gain access to yo information,’ sa John Mason. DO vary your pas words. A quarter people have shar a password with partner, so update them regularly and keep them safe. ‘Use a strong pas word which is a mix upper and lower- ca letters, numbers an special characters such !@%*,’ says Christian Manci at Gorvins. ‘The longer the pas word the more secure it will be.’ It’s also best to use different passwords for different soci media sites.
NEVER INSULT YOUR BOSS
DO be aware of the dangers posting flashy photos on soc media of a lifestyle that contradicts
what you are saying on your tax return. HMRC probes social media accounts to look for anomalies. Quite a few people have been caught out that way.
DO be aware that future employers could trawl through your social media accounts.
A recent survey from reed.co.uk found that 43 pc of recruiters check digital profiles often.
‘ In psychology, the online disinhibition effect refers to the way people behave on the internet with less restraint than in realworld situations,’ says Dr Kevin Curran at Ulster University.
‘People tend to say and do things in cyberspace that they would not in a face-to-face world.’
So pictures of you passed out on a pavement after a heavy night’s drinking may not inspire confidence with a current or future employer.
DON’T say anything negative about a current or former employer on your social media pages. Employers will reasonably assume that if you treat your current or former boss this way, you will do the same to them in the future.
DO remember that once something has been uploaded to the internet, it is nigh- on impossible to erase fully, says Mollie Powles, marketing manager for Browser Media, a digital marketing agency based in Essex. As a result, it’s usually the negative activity or Twitter blunders that spread like wildfire, with catastrophic effects for yourself or your company.
DO make sure are using the correct privacy settings on social media websites before applying for a job. A quick check will ensure that any private material is only available to view by friends or connections.
DO some cleaning up, too. Is there anything on social media you would not want reading back to you in an interview?
KEEP HOLIDAY SNAPS PRIVATE
DON’T give away your location online, says Peter Turner, consumer security expert at Avast Software.
‘Turn off location services on your devices and browsers when you aren’t using them,’ he adds.
‘The simple act of sharing a photo on a social network profile could inadvertently give away your location or that of a family member.’
The same risk applies to checking in with various apps and using some public wi- fi hotspots. Burglars can easily search Facebook or Twitter for targeted keywords, or see who has checked into airport lounges on apps such as Foursquare.
DO check the settings for each app on your phone to ensure that location tracking is turned off for every individual one.
This includes the camera on your smartphone, so that your images aren’t tagged with your whereabouts.
DON’T post messages showing you are on holiday or away from home.
‘Aside from the risk of burglary, this may actually invalidate your home insurance as you are alerting people to the fact your home is unoccupied,’ says data protection lawyer Christian Mancier.
DO be careful how you use activity monitoring apps such as Strava, which are popular with cyclists and runners so they can keep track of their performance.
Enable the privacy setting that hides your start and end location so people can’t locate your house, says Christian Mancier.
‘Very expensive bikes have been stolen by thieves working out where cyclists live from their public Strava profile, which shows the route they have just cycled right from their front door,’ he adds.
DON’T post pictures of expensive new jewellery, computers or any new purchases. It is tantamount to advertising that you have something to steal.
DO check to see if any types of information can be viewed by anyone with access to a particular site. For example, Facebook typically shows details including your name, profile picture, cover photo and gender to anyone who views your page. You may want to leave these fields blank if you can.
DON’T use usernames that include your full name, date of birth or any personal information. The same applies when you create a password — it’s just too easy for criminals to guess.
DON’T BE TRICKED BY DATING SCAMS
DON’T share personal information such as your full name, date of birth and home address with a stranger as you may not know what they’ll do with it.
Be extremely careful sharing personal details online, even with people you know — you may end up sending information to a fraudster pretending to be them.
DON’T use personal information when selecting usernames on dating sites — ‘ Janice from Birmingham’ risks revealing too much publicly.
DO use trusted dating websites and resist being lured away from communicating with your potential date via social media rather than through the website.
DON’T be tricked into handing over money to someone you meet online. Some crooks devote months to grooming their victims and making them believe that they are in a genuine relationship.
Often they say they are based abroad so that the victim never gets to meet the person face-toface. Behind the fake online profile of the person the victim believes they are talking to, there’s often a gang of criminals working behind the scenes.
In 2017, 3,557 romance scams were reported to Action Fraud, the crime monitoring body — an average of ten reports a day.
This amount equates to £11,500 per victim. Those who fall victim to these frauds are almost twice as likely to be women — 63 pc of them — than men (37 pc).