Way back in October - I say that like it was sooo long ago, I posted an article titled "How to stay safe in a social media world."
It was essentially some helpful tips re: passwords, photos, and what types of information you should not share via social media.
Today I'm taking one step further, or is it farther? I can never remember...
Anyhoo, today I want to share the findings of a report courtesy of Internet security company PandaLabs in its just-released "2010 Annual Security Report.
In its report, PandaLabs referred to social media sites as being "a "perfect working environment" for cybercriminals because Internet users, for now, place more trust in these sites than other online tools, like email.
And they identified Facebook and Twitter as being the most affected by security breaches and shared some of the tricks these cybercriminals use in gaining access to your account such as hijacking Facebook's "Like" button, stealing identities to send out messages from trusted sources, exploiting vulnerabilities in Twitter to run javascript code, distributing fake apps that redirect users to infected sites, and so on.
The report went on to state "In 2011, not only will hackers continue to use these networks, but it is predicted that they will also be used more for distributed attacks."
So, what can you do to protect yourself?
Go back and re-read my article... "How to stay safe in a social media world." and actually do what the experts tell us to do. Hey, I am including myself for sure as I too am guilty of not adhering to all precautions when it comes to in Internet safety.
And above all else, just use common sense. We all have it, yes? C'mon you know you have it. You may not always use it, as I surely don't but...like it or not we all have the common sense gene. It's up to you to use it and use it wisely.
Source: SocialTimes.com & PandaLabs