Reposted from Walden Security

Picture this. You are driving and pass a billboard. But this time, it’s not advertising the local coffee shop. Instead, it’s your personal information—your name, home address, who you voted for and a family photo. Never going to happen, right? But where else could all that information be found? We all know where this is going. For better or worse, we live in the age of social media. Social media is a powerful tool that thrives on sharing personal information. It connects us like never before but is a tool that can be easily abused. You may think you are safe if your account is private and because you are selective about who you add as friends. But everyone is at risk on social media. Because posting to social media is, in essence, posting your information to a digital billboard. Read these tips to ensure you are protected on social media: Be selective with your content and cautious of oversharing. Social media is a public platform meant for connection, not a digital diary. Your individual posts are puzzle pieces. Together, they can reveal more details about your habits, location and relationships than you may realize. Keep these content tips in mind: • Realize you cannot take it back: Once you publish something online, it is available to other people and to search engines. You can change or delete it, but once something is out there, you cannot guarantee it is ever completely deleted. • Be careful with photos: Photos can reveal more details than intended. If a school logo on a uniform is included, someone could easily Google the school location. Street signs and mailbox numbers could reveal your home address. Take care in analyzing the small details. • Vacation posts: Wait until you are home to post vacation photos and details. There is no need to broadcast your absence to criminals. • Separate professional and personal accounts. Take some time to review the privacy settings of each social media platform, which can be difficult to find and cumbersome to change. The National Cybersecurity Alliance provides links and steps to access privacy settings for various popular services and apps. Remember to configure the privacy settings immediately when you download a new app or sign up for a new account. Using strong passwords is a simple way to increase the safety of your digital footprint. Use complex and unique passwords that are at least 12 characters long and include letters, numbers and symbols. Avoid recognizable words or phrases—or your kids or pet names. And, yes, use a different password for each social media account. For further protection, consider enabling multi-factor authentication—the process of providing two or more proofs of control associated with a specific digital identity. Examples include face scans and onetime login codes. Social media apps collect information about where you are and your hobbies to target ads and other suggestions. However, many apps request location permission, but that permission is not required for the app to function. Check the location settings on all your devices and turn off location sharing when applicable. Do not allow friends to tag you, as they may not be diligent with their settings. Occasionally, search yourself online to see what information is easily accessible. It is critical to know what information can be found by a free, open-source search. By knowing that and applying countermeasures to protect your identity, you can keep yourself—and everyone around you—safer on social media.

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