Safeguards for social media

Marking the ninth official celebration of the Social Media Day on June 30, Daniel Markuson, digital privacy expert at NordVPN, provided the following tips to stay private and secure on social media:

Use strong passwords

Avoid using the most popular password — ‘password.’ Change your passwords regularly, preferably every 3 months, and use a combination of capital letters, numerals, letters, and punctuation.

Authentication

Enabling two-factor authentication or at least login verification adds an extra security layer by requiring one more authentication step after entering your password. It helps when logging in from an unknown device.

Beware of phishing

You receive a message saying that your account has been hacked, and you need to click the link to restore your account. You click on it, enter your login details, and voila, you’ve been hacked! That was a fake email and a fake site, and you wouldn’t know until your information gets stolen. The key rule — don’t click on any links shared by people you don’t know.

Third-party apps

During your social media life, you have probably used some third-party apps for photo editing, gaming, etc. Check whether you are still using all of the apps that you have permitted access to view your account. Revoking access to applications that are no longer in use, as well as any suspicious apps is recommended.

Social media accounts

Check your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram privacy settings, as well as all other social media platforms you use. In most cases, there are a few ways to manage who can see your status updates, photos, check-ins or if your profile is visible to search engines outside of those platforms. Finally, it is always a good idea to share without oversharing. Consider an option not to use geotags — not necessarily all of your followers need to know the location of your house.

Use a VPN

If you log in to your social media accounts on a public WiFi hotspot, keep in mind that you are putting your account security at risk. If you must do that, use a VPN service which will encrypt your internet data and protect your identity and personal information from hackers or identity thieves.