Ohio University

Top 5 tricks to protect your social media profiles

Friday, March 8, 2013
courtesy of securingthehuman.org  

Try these five simple tricks to make it harder for cyber creeps to grab your personal profile info off sites like Facebook and Twitter (from the March 2013 issue of OUCH!):

1. Secure your login: Use a strong password, do not share it, and do not reuse passwords between sites. If a site supports two-step verification, enable it.
2. Use encryption: If a site allows you to use HTTPS for your connection, do it.
3. Don't trust email: Be suspicious of emails claiming to come from a social networking site. Don't reply to or click directly on links in an email. Instead, log into the website directly and check your notifications there.
4. Malicious links & scams: Just because a link was posted or liked by a friend doesn't mean it is from them. Their account could have been "clickjacked." If a message seems odd, contact your friend by a method outside of their online profile - call, text, etc.
5. Disable unused apps: Most social network site apps have little quality control. Only install apps that you need, that are from well-known trusted sites, and remove them when you no longer need them.