Social media and Internet Memory

Social networks (and/or social media) are popular and have large numbers of subscribers. Their main purposes include linking up people with shared interests, those who lost contact with old friends, etc., and allow them to express and discuss views, opinions, reviews and feelings.

 

Why is this an issue?

From and information security perspective, the main issues are:

 

• Social networks operate on the assumption that everyone can be trusted.
• There are no guarantees that any Third Party Applications or links posted in these networks are free of malware or are genuine websites
• A hacker could take control of your account and use it to spread disinformation, malware and scams – and you will be blamed
• As stated before, everything posted becomes the property of the Operator and it is hard or impossible to remove such postings – he Internet Memory seems to last forever.

 

What you should do about it

Virtually all of the things discussed in this book should be considered and, ideally, applied. In particular:

 

• Ensure you have the latest updates for your security software, web browser, and operating system
• If there are any privacy and security settings on your social network websites use them to define your comfort level for sharing informatio Less is always better than more
• Use strong passwords and have a different one for each social network you use
• Don’t hesitate to delete, un-friend or whatever action is required to keep your network free of people you don’t actually know or wish to network with
• Don’t follow links in email, tweets, posts, and online advertising