About Social Network Safety
Many people forget that with social networking, revealing too much information about oneself could still lead to dangerous situations such as social engineering attacks (even though they are not meeting with people face-to-face). It’s important to protect yourself from sharing too much information on social media. Practice good password and computer security, restrict public access to your accounts, avoid oversharing, and be aware of common scams and avoid them.
Objective:
- Discover how to safeguard personal and professional information while using social media
Setting the Stage (Professional)
After graduating from college, Vanessa just got a new job at Health and Human Services. She is excited to start her new career in Human Resources. She has shared this information on LinkedIn, Snapchat, Facebook, TikTok, and other social media applications. Being part of Generation Z, Vanessa considers herself an expert social media user.
Although she is excellent at keeping her friends and family up to date, she is unaware of the dangers a new job presents when amplified online. She posts information about her title, start date, and even a selfie showing the business, her employer's street number, and a hashtag (#NewJob).
Vanessa gets a phone call from the Human Resources department, as noted on her caller ID. The caller states there is an issue with her new hire payroll entry that needs to be resolved before she begins her job on Monday. To ease Vanessa's concern about sharing information, the caller (a hacker) lists Personal Identifiable Information. The Personal Identifiable Information shared includes her date of birth, start date, position title, and facility address. Then they asked for her Social Security number and to confirm her bank routing account, saying the payroll system rejected it. Thinking nothing of it, Vanessa gives the caller the information willingly.
That night, Vanessa's identification is sold on the dark web.
