Be Careful What You Share on Social Media

            People are focused on posting their daily lives on the various social media sites. This may include vacation photos and updates, birthday parties, sporting events, business trips, dinner parties, and virtually any other activity. The users do this without any reservation or concerns.

            The persons don’t appreciate the reach of the internet into their data. Unfortunately too many people don’t secure their social media accounts. Without this in place, other people, especially those who have no relevant business with the target, have access to the person’s private life. This includes the details of when they went on vacation, who they went with, where they stayed, activities while there, etc. With the proper level of security applied, the issues associated with this would be mitigated.

One issue with this involves identity theft. There are clear risks with sharing too much personal information with the public and friends. This data, which may be readily available, is able to be used by attackers to gain leverage on the person/target. As an example, with the prior noted information, the attacker could work towards impersonating the user with various vendors that work with the person/target, such as the local bank. The attacker would start small and build on this in creating the background and gather private, confidential data for the person. As the attacker exfiltrates more information regarding the user, the basis of information grows and allows for a greater potential for the attacker to contact more organizations of greater value the user is in contact with to exfiltrate more data and assets. For example, there are certain organizations or departments that don’t allow a person access unless the full, thorough authentication process is in place and used. At some point in time, the attacker, when enough target data is secured, may take over the identity completely and move assets (retirement funds, cash, etc.) from the user.

A little information tends to be dangerous for the person securing this, while a great amount of information may be devastating for the target. Users need to think about what data and information they are actively putting on the internet in the social media sites, as this could prove to be a disaster for them for the future.