Threats To Your Security When Using Social Media

 Social networking has changed the way we interact with friends and associates. While social networks, like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, FourSquare, and Google+, play a significant role in our lives, they are also a high risk for security threats. With hundreds of millions of users online, these tools not only attract friends and family wanting to stay in touch, but they also attract people wanting to know about you for the wrong reasons. Be aware of the top five security threats currently out there to help you stay safe online. Identity thieves gather personal information from social media sites. Even if you have your account social media marketing resume on the highest security settings, there are still ways for an identity thief to get your information. Most social network sites have information that is required, such as email address or birthday. It’s common for an identity thief to hack an email account by using social information. For example, a common technique to get personal information is by clicking on “forgot password” and trying to recover the information through email. Once the thief has access to your email account, they then have access to all information on your social networking sites. Hackers love social networking, going right to the source to interject malicious code. The codes hackers use can steal your identity, inject viruses to your computer, and obstruct bank account information, to name a few. Shortened URLs, such as those created on bit.ly, are especially susceptible to hackers. Shortened URLs can trick users into visiting harmful sites where personal information can be compromised because the full URL is not seen. When you use social networking sites, you are posting personal information. Once information is posted online, it’s no longer private and can fall into the wrong hands. The more you post, the more vulnerable you become to those who may wish to harm you. Even with the highest security settings, friends, associates, effective social media marketing and even the brands you “like” on your networking sites, can inadvertently leak information about you. The websites you subscribe to, the apps you download, and the games you play on social networking sites all contain personal information about you. Every time you browse a website, companies can put invisible markers on your computer called cookies. In theory, no two cookies are alike. When you are online, these cookies track your activity as you move from site to site.

The Privacy and Security Repercussions

More and more people are using social media sites to get the latest news and connect with others. The more comfortable we become with these sites, the more apt we are to share personal details about ourselves and let our guard down as we interact with others. Are we sharing too much private information? Is what we share -- both deliberately and inadvertently -- and what we click putting our privacy and security at risk? The values at the core of networking sites – openess, connecting, and sharing with others – unfortunately are the very aspects which allow cyber criminals to use these sites as a vector social media marketing campaigns for for various kinds of bad online behavior. In fact, reports of malware and spam rose an astounding 70 percent on social networks in 2009, according to an industry report from security firm Sophos. "Social networking sites are meant to get as many users in one place as possible on one platform, and for attackers there's a lot of return-on-investment in going after them," said security analyst Shawn Moyer, aptly describing the climate as a perfect storm of social engineering and bad programming. The notoriety of Facebook and Twitter make these social media sites a focal point for privacy discussions and a prime target for malicious activity. Let's take a more in-depth look at recent leading privacy and security issues. In this case, you were referred to that page by Google. If the booby-trapped page is designed to activate when you arrive at the page via a Google search, it will release its payload. However, if you typed the URL directly into your browser, there would be no referrer and the malicious page's payload wouldn't activate. Lately, referrer headers have been making headlines for an entirely different reason: leaking private information on social media sites. The Wall Street Journal, citing an AT&T Labs and Worcester Polytechnic Institute paper, reported that a "privacy loophole" found on social networking sites, social media as a marketing tool including Facebook and MySpace, allowed for data to be shared with advertisers through referrer headers sent by browser software -- data that could potentially be used to identify users in spite of promises from the companies that user information isn't shared without specific consent. "Merely clicking an advertiser's ad reveals to the advertiser the user's Facebook username or user ID," explained security researcher Ben Edelman. "With default privacy settings, the advertiser can then see almost all of a user's activity on Facebook, including name, photos, friends, and more." This information was leaked to the advertisers because Facebook embeds usernames and user IDs in URLs which are transmitted to advertisers through HTTP referrer headers. Facebook responded with a message on "Protecting Privacy with Referrers," saying it quickly fixed the issue, which it called a "potential" problem.

Be diligent about privacy when merging social media websites

In 2014, it is likely that many of the smaller and up-and-coming social media websites will merge together so that they are better able to compete with the industry giants. Although websites such as Facebook and LinkedIn are currently the heavy hitters in the social media world, there are also many smaller websites out there. Additionally, it is likely that social media websites will continue the trend of acquiring start-up companies social media marketing pricing in order to use their cutting-edge new technology. By doing so, social media websites will continue to be able to add plug-ins and applications that will in turn draw even more users. As social media websites rush to add even more features and functionality to their websites, they could potentially overlook key privacy considerations. After all, when one company merges with another or when they add new technological features, there always seem to be a few “growing pains” along the way. Therefore, one of the top privacy concerns for 2014 will be that social media websites are diligent about privacy and security even during rapid growth periods. Single access sign-on is another social media trend that is likely to continue into 2014. Using single access sign-on technology, users can log in once and then use multiple websites without the need to sign in again. Although the convenience of this feature tends to make it popular with users, it brings with it a whole social media marketing blog other host of security and privacy concerns. As the use of single access sign-on becomes more common, it is likely that websites will also start to share information. This kind of access will make it easier for a single social media website to show your actions and activities on other websites. Social media websites will have to take care to ensure user privacy; otherwise this highly convenient feature could become a liability.