Social media users are firmly an integral part of Australia’s society, with approximately 18 million active users, an increase in 4 million users since 2017 depicted in the graph below.
There is no doubt that social media is at the forefront of marketing, not to mention everyday life. Considering how much information and trust people place into these social media platforms, it begs the question, are our accounts secure? And if not, how do we secure them?
For example, Facebook for one has been known to experience breaches in mass numbers. Back in 2018, 50 million account users experienced various bugs, enabling the attackers access to the victim’s profile and private information.
Here are two tips to safety tips to maximise the security on your socials.
- Two-factor authentication
=Two-factor authentication is in essence, a dual factor authentication process. Here, users’ access depends on methods providing a password as well as a second factor, usually either a security token or a biometric factor like a fingerprint or facial scan.
Two-factor authentication adds an additional layer of security to the authentication process by making it harder for attackers to gain access to a person’s devices or online accounts, because knowing the victim’s password alone is not enough to pass the authentication check.
2. Stay away from phishing attacks and scams
Phishing scams use social media to trick people into handing over personal information, including banking details, passwords, or business information.
A recent social media scam involved false reports that the actor Rowan Atkinson had died.
What looked like a video link actually directed users to a page that said their computer had been locked, with a phone number to call for support. The phone line connected to scammers looking for credit card numbers and personal information. Worse, the support software offered was a virus.
