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FBI
Cyber Tip:
Social Media and the Use of Personal Information
National Cyber Security Awareness Month
National Cyber Security Awareness Month GraphicThe myriad of social
networking websites currently available have hundreds of millions of
registered users. But just like any kind of cyberspace communication,
using social media can involve some risk.
Once a user posts information to a social networking site, that
information can no longer be considered private and can be used for
criminal purposes. Even if you use the highest security settings on
your account, others may—intentionally or not—leak your information.
And once in the hands of criminals, this personal information can be
used to conduct all kinds of cyber attacks against you or your family
members, friends, or business associates in an effort to obtain
additional and even more sensitive personal information.
For example, cyber criminals often craft very convincing spear phishing
campaigns leveraging information found on social media to obtain more
sensitive personal information. Spear phishers target select groups of
people with something in common—i.e., they work at the same company,
bank at the same financial institution, attend the same college, or
order merchandise from the same website. Authentic-looking e-mails are
sent to potential victims—ostensibly from organizations or individuals
they would normally get e-mails from—asking the recipients to click on
embedded links in the e-mail. These links lead to official-looking
websites, where victims are asked, for a variety of urgent and
legitimate-sounding reasons, to input personal information like
passwords, account numbers, user IDs, and PINs. The result? Criminals
can get hold of your banking credentials and credit cards numbers,
download malware onto your computer, gain access to sensitive company
data, and/or hijack your computer for other nefarious purposes.
Criminals who troll social networking sites looking for information or
people to target for exploitation run the gamut—from sexual predators,
hackers, and financial fraudsters to business competitors and foreign
state actors.
There are several ways you can minimize the risks associated with
posting information on social networking sites and the subsequent theft
of more sensitive data, from using two-factor authentication and
monitoring your children’s use of the Internet to never clicking on a
link embedded in a social media message or e-mail.
View additional tips and information here.
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