Social Media in Today’s World

We live in a world where documenting and sharing everything, from simple and mundane moments to monumental life events, on social media are a way of life. It’s become the new norm to share snippets of our daily lives, from an image of our go-to drink from our favorite coffee shop to videos of more intimate moments like our graduation or wedding. This behavior is mainly rooted in our desire to freeze and remember special moments, as well as a need to update our family and friends on what’s happening in our lives.

Social Media Hacks

Sharing on social media can be fun and addicting, but it’s important to always remain careful and vigilant with what we share as hackers are prevalent and skilful in hacking our personal accounts. Once compromised, hackers can use these accounts to collect personal information and use one’s identity for criminal gain, notably by asking money from family and friends, or applying loans on credit cards and government benefits.

How to Protect Your Account? 

Here are some ways by which you can protect your social media accounts:

Create a strong and unique password.

Securing your social media starts by creating strong passwords that you can easily remember but cannot be guessed by anyone else. Avoid using your name, birthday, common passwords, or anything that can be easily associated with you. Typically, a strong password includes more than 10 characters in length with a lower case character, upper case character, numbers and special characters.

Never share your login details.

This should already be a given: You should never share your login credentials to anyone, not even to your most trusted relative or friend. Doing so compromises the security of your account, and is the first step for hackers to steal your identity. Hackers have also become so adept that they can create similar or almost exactly the same social media that you use. Always remember that admins of these social media platforms will never ask passwords from their users.  It helps to deliberately check the website’s URL before entering your log-in details, too.

Change your password regularly.

Maintaining a strong password does not guarantee that your social media accounts will not be hacked. Changing passwords at least once in 3 months is strongly advised. This can ensure that public devices or any devices that you have used in the previous months can no longer open your account.  You should also avoid using the same passwords across all your accounts because if one is compromised, the other accounts will be affected.

Think before you click.

When a suspicious link is sent to you from friends or organizations that you know, never click it. This is the easiest and simplest way for hackers to steal information from social media users through phishing. This link, once clicked, can install malware to your devices that can steal private information.

Update your software.

Using out-of-date operating systems or applications makes you vulnerable to hacking, which is why updating your software can also be a good defense against cyberattacks. The latest version of your software should also have increased security features or have corrected any security issues that the previous version had.

Use a multifactor security key.

If you feel that you need more security for your social media accounts, you should consider using multi-factor authentication. This provides an extra layer of security by requesting a security code once you log in. This code is sent to a trusted device that only you have access to, thus not giving away any opening for hackers to get into your account.

Multi-factor authentication comes in many ways but the most common is through a verification code sent to your phone. For full-security, make sure to use a hardware security key when setting up multi factor authentication. With a physical security key, hackers cannot steal nor trigger the software.  One prominent product that can offer this security is Yubikey.

What Is Yubikey?

Manufactured by Yubico, Yubikey is a hardware authentication device that can protect access to your computers, online services and social media by supporting public-key cryptography, two-factor authentications, and others.

Yubikey is the best option in terms of security.

Due to the native support on social media’s desktop, mobile, and browser apps, users can safeguard their account by using Yubikey security key across platforms and devices that include iOS and Android.  Furthermore, social networking sites like Facebook allows its users to set up multiple Yubikeys with a single account for primary and back-up keys for strong security.

Yubikey also delivers strong defense through hardware-backed cryptographic proof that only users could access, reducing the chances of phishing and other digital crimes.

Yubikey Products suited for Social Media Accounts

Social media works with a variety of web services.

The Yubikey 5 series is compatible with such web services and features upgraded security keys that prevent account takeovers and offer one-tap logins. The series includes YubiKey 5C NFC, YubiKey 5 Nano, YubiKey 5 NFC and YubiKey 5Ci.

Yubikey Bio – To strengthen its defense when it comes to digital hackers, Yubikey also offers the Yubikey Bio, which is a hallmark security key that features passwordless biometric authentication.

Yubico U2F Security Key

By supporting U2F, which is a type of physical authentication device that uses encryption and private keys to protect and unlock supported accounts, Yubikey users can use the same key for any supported social media accounts. These accounts are safe because the key does not retain any records of where it is used.

Take away

It is one of our human proclivities to secure memories and moments by capturing them through photography or recording a video. With the advent of social media comes a new avenue for us to share these moments with a wide audience that have reactions, comments, shares, re-story and views as different forms of incentives.

As many people log on to various social media platforms, doing so also invites individuals like hackers and digital assailants with not-so-good intentions. That is why Yubikey with its numerous products like Yubico Security Key NFC is tailored to protect these social media accounts with its advanced protection features.