Introduction
Social media provides a wealth of options for sharing content and staying in touch with friends and family. What you may not realize is that oversharing on these platforms can put you at risk of identity theft, and even threaten your physical safety.
Although it should be obvious that publishing images of one's debit card online is not advisable, did you know that simply posting a video on TikTok or Instagram with your location activated could pose a significant security risk?
This article provides several points to consider when sharing on social media platforms, such as spear-phishing, privacy settings, and geotagging.
Risks of oversharing on social media
If you expose your location, a criminal could find out where you live, study and work. They could then target you with spear-phishing emails designed to steal your sensitive information. By sharing your location when you are away from home, you indicate to criminals that your property and valuables are unattended.
You may also fall victim to identity theft if you allow a criminal to gather enough personal information to impersonate you. Just sharing your date of birth or where you grew up carries risk: A criminal could use this information to infiltrate your accounts and reset your passwords if any of this information is used in your personal identification questions.
Oversharing can result in potential financial, professional, and academic consequences. A criminal who gains access to your online accounts can potentially inflict untold damage on all aspects of your life.
How you can stay safe online
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Do not use your McGill password for any other accounts. When you use the same password for multiple accounts, once one of them is compromised, they all are.
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On social media apps:
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Protect your profile with a strong, unique password.
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Apply two factor authentication (2FA) on all accounts.
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Review your privacy settings on the apps you use to limit the visibility of what you share. Revisit these periodically, as the available options for managing your privacy are constantly changing.
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Keep your location private:
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Avoid sharing news about your vacation plans or big purchases, as this can reveal when your home and belongings are unattended.
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Geotagging (the feature that stores location information with your photos) on smartphones and digital cameras can reveal exactly where you took a photo. Although some social media platforms remove this information from posts, it still may be stored and used for other purposes.
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