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How Oversharing on Social Media Affects Your Privacy
In today’s society, social media has become a prevalent method of communication and sharing the highlights of our daily lives has become the norm. Unfortunately, there are many risks associated with oversharing in the digital world.
Oversharing can be especially dangerous because of the tendency to expose sensitive information which jeopardizes your privacy and security.
What is Considered Oversharing on Social Media?
Oversharing on social media is based on exposing intimate details about your personal life such as relationships, friendships, family matters or your daily routine. Some examples include:
- Regularly posting who you are with
- Posting intimate details about your relationships, friendships, family members and personal drama
- Enabling the geographic location on every post
- Constantly posting pictures of what you are wearing
- Posting work-related information on your account
Simple details about your routine or geographical location make you vulnerable because it’s gateway information for becoming a victim of crimes both in the digital and real world. More on that later. Work-related information should always stay confidential, both because it’s most companys’ policy and because oversharing can put your company at risk of getting breached.
What are the Risks of Oversharing on Social Media?
There are many risks that come with oversharing your personal life on social media. Falling victim to cybercriminals is one of them.
You can become a victim of oversharing on social media if you often find yourself sharing too much information about your relationship, your children or yourself. For example, your child’s name, age or birthdate are three key pieces of information that can cause you to fall victim to fraud. You might be wondering how that’s possible. Well, people often create passwords based on personal information. These passwords are typically weak and easy to guess.
Oversharing is a risk because you can make it easier for cybercriminals to learn important information that can give them access to your online accounts. Some of the risks are:
- Account Takeover
A cyberattack wherein cybercriminals utilize usernames and passwords that have been stolen to seize control of online accounts.
Social engineering is the psychological manipulation used to get others to do things or reveal private information. This method is often seen through phishing emails.
- Physical security
Protecting people, equipment, software, networks and data from potentially harmful physical acts and events.
- Reputation
Protecting the reputation of who you are in your personal and professional life could be jeopardized if you overshare a bit too much in your accounts.
Threats to Your Social Media Accounts
It is time to start taking social media seriously. Below are three common threats that individuals fall for when it comes to protecting their accounts. Being aware of the following can decrease your chances of becoming a victim.
Public Wi-Fi
Logging into your social media accounts on an unsecured public Wi-Fi network puts you at risk of somebody intercepting your data. One of the most prominent cyberthreats to public Wi-Fi is a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack. This attack relies on network manipulation, or the creation of malicious networks, under the control of cybercriminals that operate as “middlemen” between the sender and the recipient of information, altering the traffic and intercepting data.
Phishing scams
Phishing scams are when a cybercriminal tricks you into giving them your login information by sending you messages, usually through email, that look like they’re from a trustable source asking to confirm your login credentials or provide them with private information. For example, a phishing scam can look like it’s coming from a platform such as Instagram asking you to reset your password using a malicious link.
Clicking on links in emails or messages that are unfamiliar or unexpected, even if they appear to be from a trusted source, should be avoided at all times.
Weak passwords
If you use a weak password for all your accounts, it is much easier for a cybercriminal to guess it based on the personal information that you have overshared such as your dog’s name or birthdate. Always use a strong password in order to protect your privacy.
What Can You Do to Prevent Oversharing on Social Media?
You can prevent oversharing on social media by being more thoughtful and following different security best practices. A good rule of thumb is to consider if something is appropriate as a public post or if it’s better as a private message. It’s also important to differentiate between platforms you want to use privately and professionally, as this allows you to post adequate content without jeopardizing your professional reputation.
We recommend that you switch to private accounts when possible and turn on 2-step verification to further secure your accounts. Make sure that you accept friend requests only if you truly know the individual and determine whether it is appropriate for them to see your content without putting yourself at any risk.
Take the First Step in Protecting Your Social Media Accounts
The best first step you can take to protect your social media accounts is to use strong passwords and store them in an encrypted digital vault. Password managers such as Keeper can help secure your accounts with extra layers of security. Additionally, using a dark web monitoring tool, such as BreachWatch, will notify you if your passwords have been compromised.
Try Keeper for free today and stay one step ahead of cybercriminals.
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