Undoubtedly, in recent years, social networking pages and media, or "social media", have become an integral part of everyday life for many of us. At the same time, there is a misconception that these networks are used exclusively by young people, while the truth is that their users belong to a much larger and broader range of ages. Therefore, the various problems that may arise from the use of social media do not only concern "sensitive" or young people, but all users regardless of their date of birth and/or level of computer knowledge.
Unfortunately, social media is a breeding ground for cybercriminals (those who commit crimes against other Internet users), as thousands of news stories are shared every day and it is difficult to distinguish which of these posts are true and therefore safe. As the security of users while browsing social media is at stake, ESET has compiled some key strategies to stay safe.
The importance of these strategies is confirmed by three recent findings: first, according to the security company Sucuri, after scanning approximately 10 million websites, it was found that 26% of them had been compromised and were hosting malicious content (https://blog.sucuri.net/2013/03/2012-web-malware-trend-report-summary.html).
Also, according to the results of a seven-year study “Silent Listeners: The Evolution of Privacy and Disclosure on Facebook” by Carnegie Mellon University, social media users are now revealing more personal data than ever before (https://repository.cmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1098&context=jpc).
Finally, social media is an excellent launching pad for cyberattacks, not only on users but also on companies, as reported in the recently published "Trustwave 2013 Global Security Report" (https://www2.trustwave.com/2013GSR.html).
Social Media Survival Strategies
The user should be careful if a news item appears in their newsfeed suddenly, but only once, even from a friend. An important piece of news usually spreads rapidly through many other media, so a general search on the Internet can prove its validity. Particular attention is required during periods of waiting for an important news item, as is the case, for example, in recent weeks of news coverage, with the missing Malaysia Airlines plane.
Posts that ask for “Likes” in exchange for gifts or with the aim of supporting an effort to reach “1 million Likes” should be treated with caution, as scammers use virtual pages to obtain “Likes” and then sell them to other companies. As “Likes” remain in the “Activity Archive”, it would be useful for the user to see that their preferences for specific pages still exist.
Be careful of various posts that ask the user to share them in order to be able to read them, which usually happens on Twitter, due to the format of tweets (only text in headline form). Copying the topic or URL into the Google search engine can show whether it is real news.
Additionally, a very common way of cheating is through posts referring to diets, which redirect the user to infected pages – something that users should pay special attention to as we have already entered the “preparation period” for summer outings. In the summer of 2013, Instagram experienced its first major spam attack, with a link to a fake BBC page.
Another thing that users should be wary of is gift cards sent by friends – they should be considered suspicious. A recent incident was recorded on Pinterest, where in order to receive the “gift”, the user had to share the post with all their friends (https://www.welivesecurity.com/2012/04/12/pinterest-security-update/). Gifts do not exist as you might imagine and instead, the user ends up revealing personal information or even worse, downloading malware onto their computer (without their knowledge).
Users should remember that social media is not the only way to get information, as there are many valid channels and sources of information on the Internet. Regarding suspicious news, it is recommended to visit a reputable information portal, while if the user has suspicions about a post he has received from a friend, with a phone call, an SMS, or an email he can verify its validity. Especially for fanatic Facebook users, registering on the website “Facecrooks” (https://facecrooks.com/) or creating a relevant alert such as “social media scams” in the Google Alerts service (https://www.google.com/alerts), will ensure that they receive all the latest updates regarding scams. Users who are even more familiar can refer to the detailed guide to identifying malicious scams by Stephen Cobb, Security Evangelist at ESET (https://www.welivesecurity.com/2013/03/18/social-media-makes-scams-and-hoaxes-harder-to-spot/).
ESET also provides tools to help users, such as the “Social Media Scanner” (https://socialmediascanner.eset.com/), which is a quick and free way to check the validity of Facebook and Twitter posts. In addition to protecting users against potentially unwanted content and applications, this tool also helps manage privacy settings and suggests improvements.
Source: zougla.gr
