Through social networks you can communicate with family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances, share your photos and videos and much more. However, you should not underestimate the dangers of social networks - such as identity theft or spying on private information. We have easy-to-implement tips that you can use to easily secure your social life on the Internet.

The top 3 basic tips: Easily secure social media

1. First things first: secure passwords!

Use different and complex passwords to log in to social networks.
The following applies to a secure password: You must be able to remember a password well.

  • The longer the password is, the better. The password should be at least eight characters long.
  • As a rule, all available characters can be used for a password, i.e. upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters.
  • The full password should not appear in the dictionary. Common number sequences or keyboard patterns are also not suitable as a secure password.
  • Adding simple numbers or special characters before or after a normal word is not recommended.
  • A password manager can make it easier to handle different passwords. This is an application that manages and can also generate secure passwords for your online and user accounts. You need a so-called master password to use it. This allows you to access the password manager. It should therefore be a strong password that you can remember. Under no circumstances should you share your password with anyone.

2. Double bottom: Two-factor authentication

two-factor authentication to access your social network accounts . This means that the first factor to be used is, for example, a secure password. The second factor for additional authentication can, for example, be a hardware component that acts as a key. This can be a smartphone, a chip card or a special USB stick. A one-time code sent by the provider is also often used. This provides much better protection for your user account, because criminals who have stolen your password still cannot log in to your account without the second factor.

3. Keep your eyes open: Don't click on links or buttons without thinking!

Online criminals use social networks to lure users with posts or links in chats to prepared websites through which they can obtain access data or infect devices with malware. A careless click can result in malware being installed on your device. Therefore, be particularly suspicious of messages from strangers and do not click on any links. The profiles of known contacts can also be misused if third parties have gained access to them, for example through identity theft.

Other important tips, including device protection and privacy

Be careful when installing apps, add-ons or plug-ins

Many social networks allow you to install third-party applications, such as games. Depending on the network, we are talking about apps, add-ons or plug-ins. What they all have in common is that you can expand your profile with additional functions or adapt it to your personal needs. But online criminals also create or hijack such applications and use them to gain access to your profile. Therefore, check providers and sources for their trustworthiness.

Protect your mobile device

Social networks are often used via mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. Therefore, ensure good basic protection for your software and hardware. The operators or third-party providers provide apps for access. These often access sensitive data stored on the mobile device. This includes, among other things, the address book, photos, videos or location information. In addition, apps usually automatically log you into the social network. If your device is lost, this can be exploited by the finder or thief impersonating you. Therefore, protect access to your mobile device with a lock code, PIN or password entry, fingerprint or facial recognition. Further information about basic protection for mobile devices.

Be selective with contact requests

Identity theft is one of the risks of the digital age. Criminals assume another person's identity to impersonate them, communicate on their behalf, or potentially use them to commit crimes or illegal online transactions. To do this, it is often enough to copy a person's profile picture and name and create a new user account. The perpetrators could also be people you know. If you receive dubious contact requests from acquaintances, investigate the authenticity of these messages outside of social networks.

Only include people in your friends or contacts list who you are sure are authentic user profiles. The age of a profile and previous publications can be an indication of this.

Protect your privacy and don't reveal too much about yourself

Every social network offers numerous settings to protect your privacy. Use this especially if you only want your friends to see your profile and posts. You can also set search engines to ignore your profile. The less personal data you publish, the less attack surface you offer to criminals who, for example, want to take over your digital identity.

Delete your account if you no longer need it

If you want to deactivate an account, back up your data outside the network if necessary and then delete it from the account. Please follow exactly the provider's procedure for deleting the user account. In some cases this also includes not logging in again within a certain period of time.

Data protection and general terms and conditions (GTC)

Social networks are operated by for-profit companies that are mostly financed through advertising. The General Terms and Conditions provide information about how the provider handles your personal data and how it is passed on to the advertising industry. Please familiarize yourself thoroughly with the terms and conditions and the data protection regulations – before you create a profile.

Some social networks grant themselves usage rights to their publications. For example, you transfer the usage rights to your photos and videos to the operator of the social network. In addition, it is quite common for granted usage rights to remain in effect even if you leave the network and delete your profile. Before publishing, consider whether you want to share the rights to your images and texts. Also make sure that you do not violate the rights of third parties by posting images, text or videos.

information about technical settings for the most popular platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Twitter . Additionally, our first aid measures what you can do if you suspect someone has gained unauthorized access to your social media account.

Source: BSI


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )