America has become a culture of “oversharing.” Many of us enjoy posting photos and videos on our many social platforms to show family and friends all of the fun things we are up to. However, some people post information that threatens their privacy and safety without even knowing it. Social media can be a fun and rewarding way to share your life with friends, but it’s important to practice safe social media policy to protect you, your family and your company.
Americans acknowledge that security is an issue on social platforms, as
seen in the below infographic:
Therefore, we need to better educate ourselves to avoid falling victim to
identity hacks that could endanger us.
Social media security is about how you manage and protect your personal
social sites, like adjusting privacy settings, using secure passwords,
eliminating geolocators and limiting the amount of personal information you
share.
Most companies have a social media policy that applies for all employees
and explains guidelines for personal and corporate social media use. Policies
are also set by social networking sites to establish ownership of all posted
content so they can edit or remove any posts that violate the established
policy.
THE SOCIAL MEDIA SECURITY CHECKLIST
The following checklist serves as a guideline for posting on social media
to ensure a safe, private environment to protect you and your network of
followers.
·
Be
careful who you friend – As a general rule of thumb, you should not accept
friend requests from anyone you do not personally know. Even if this person
knows someone in your network, they could be using this relationship to get
access to your personal information.
·
Adjust
privacy settings – It’s important to adjust your privacy settings so
only your friends can view content on your social platforms. You should also monitor what photos, videos
and status updates you are tagged in by others that might expose your personal
information to people outside of your social network.
·
Monitor
and eliminate geotagging – It’s important eliminate as much geotagging on social
media as possible. By giving information about your location, you might be
subjecting your home to break-ins.
·
Protect
your passwords – Do not use a password that could be guessed
easily, like the name of a family member or pet. Hackers can find this
information from your social profile and easily access your account if the
password is easy to predict.
WIRED reporter Mat Honan participates in a video
discussion titled “Avoiding An Online Nightmare: Protecting Identity With
Two-Factor Authentication” during which he explains how easily answers to
security questions on accounts can be discovered, and offers tips for protecting
your identity and accounts online:
Barry Herrin’s “National Labor Relations Board Posts Template Social Media Policy” explains the importance of protecting personal information
online and ensuring that postings are consistent with policies outlined by your
company (2012).
I’m certainly someone who likes to share events and
activities on my social platforms, but after reading more about social media
policy and security I will think twice before I post moving forward.
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References
Department of Defense. (n.d.). Social Networking V1.0. United States of
America Department of Defense. Retrieved February 25, 2014 from http://iase.disa.mil/eta/sns_v1/sn/launchPage.htm.
Herrin, Barry (2012, June). National
Labor Relations Board Posts Template Social Media Policy. Legal
HIMformation. Retrieved February 25, 2014 from https://ilearn.marist.edu/access/content/attachment/7b6afcbb-f4aa-4003-8245-7ffb76fca959/Forums/920d8500-225a-4e8a-a57a-72031ec872ed/NLRB%20Social%20Media%20Policy%20Template.pdf
NBC News (2013, March 24). 3 Tips to Protect Your Online Identity And
Accounts Inside Dateline. Retrieved February 25, 2014 from http://insidedateline.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/24/17402115-3-tips-to-protect-your-online-identity-and-accounts?lite
