Precautions to take when using social media sites

Avoid adding people who are unknown to you into your social media accounts. Most of these profiles are fake accounts.

Be cautious when you send friend requests to famous or popular individuals. Most of the time, these accounts are fake.

Never accept a friend request if the person is unknown to you. Sometimes the person may have a lot of mutual friends, but it may be worthwhile finding out how this individual is related to you before you add them.

Be proactive in protecting your pri

vacy. Never send your personal details (name, address, telephone number, NIC number, driving licence, passport number or family member details) to individuals you do not know personally.

Make maximum use of privacy settings provided by social media websites. When uploading or publishing pictures or personal information on social media, make sure that such information can only be seen by friends and people you trust.

If anyone tries to violate your privacy or to destroy your online reputation, never hesitate to report such instances to the relevant authori- ties or block or deactivate such accounts if they belong to you.

Never expose your password to

anyone.

Don’t overshare personal information, especially on social media sites.

Always tell a trusted party (family, parents, elders, teachers) if you are ever faced with an issue of personal privacy or security violation online. Depending on the severity of the situation, you could also consult organisations such as the Police or cyber- security incident handling institutions such as CERT

Source - CERT