Keeping your social accounts secure is a critical component of your social media strategy. Here, we\u2019ll walk you through the latest social media security risks. Then we\u2019ll explore how you can protect yourself, your brand, and your team.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Bonus: Get a free, customizable social media policy template<\/span><\/strong> to quickly and easily create guidelines for your company and employees.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Social media security refers to the practices taken to protect your social media account, information and privacy. These measures provide security from threats like:<\/p>\n Nowadays, platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn are relied upon for communication, marketing, and customer service. Therefore, social media security awareness is important for both business and personal accounts<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Social media accounts contain a wealth of data. They\u2019re linked to personal information, customer connections, credit card details, and so much more. Without social media security protocols in place, all that information is at unnecessary risk.<\/p>\n Phishing scams are some of the most common social media cyber security risks. The goal of a phishing scam is to get you or your employees to hand over passwords, banking details, or other sensitive information.<\/p>\n Fake giveaways are one common type of phishing scam. Fraudsters impersonate companies like Best Buy or Bed Bath and Beyond to offer a significant coupon or prize. Of course, you have to provide personal information to access the non-existent reward.<\/p>\n In another variation, someone claims to be a lottery winner who wants to share their winnings.<\/p>\n Online shopping and investment scams are also significant problems on social media. Losses reported to the FTC that started on social media jumped from $237 million in 2020 to $1.4 billion<\/a> in 2023.<\/p>\n Social media is the most common contact method for scammers targeting Americans aged 20 to 69. In fact, 2023 was the first year social media became the primary contact method for those in their 40s through 60s. <\/p>\n Warn your parents and grandparents (and your C-suite)!<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>Federal Trade Commission<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s relatively easy for an imposter to create a social media account that looks like it belongs to your company. This is one reason why getting verified<\/strong><\/a> on social networks is so valuable<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Impostor accounts can target your customers, employees, or prospective hires. Your connections may be tricked into handing over confidential information. In turn, your reputation suffers. Imposter accounts may also try to con employees into handing over login credentials for corporate systems.<\/p>\n LinkedIn\u2019s latest Community report<\/a> notes that they took action on more than 63 million fake accounts in just the last six months of 2023. Most of those accounts (90.5%) were blocked automatically at registration. However, 232,400 fake accounts were only addressed once members reported them.<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>LinkedIn<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Meanwhile, Facebook took action on 631 million fake accounts<\/a> between January and March 2024. The social media platform estimates that 4% of monthly active users are fake accounts.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a lot of information about your business \u2013 and your employees \u2013\u00a0on social media. That\u2019s not new. What is new is the ability to gather crumbs of information from multiple sources and use it to train an AI tool to produce content.<\/p>\n That makes it easier for bad actors to create convincing, fraudulent social media posts and direct messages.<\/p>\n In fact, 20% of Gen X say it\u2019s hard to tell what\u2019s real or fake regarding social content generated by AI<\/a>. Younger generations find it only slightly easier: 15% of Millenials and 14% of Gen Z also struggle here.<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>Hootsuite Social Media Consumer 2024 Survey<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Fraudsters can also use information gathered from social media to train an AI tool. They are then well-equipped to contact your employees through other means. AI social media and search tools can also support scammers by seeming to verify false information.<\/p>\n Case and point: A Canadian man was recently scammed<\/a> by a fraudulent Facebook customer support line. He felt comfortable giving his information to the scammer because a chat with Meta AI told him the phone number he found online was legitimate. (It was not.)<\/p>\n In one of the more embarrassing recent social media cyber security incidents, the X (formerly Twitter) U.S. Security and Exchange Commission account was hacked in January<\/a>.<\/p>\n The @SECGov<\/a> X account was compromised, and an unauthorized post was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products.<\/p>\n \u2014 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) January 9, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n If hackers gain access to your social media accounts, they can cause enormous brand reputation damage. <\/p>\n A newer threat to social media business accounts<\/a> is hijacking a social media ad account with attached payment methods. They can then run fraudulent ads that appear to come from a legitimate source (you!) but actually direct the user to malware or scams (bad!).<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>W\/Labs<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Locking down your own social accounts is great. But hackers may still be able to gain access through vulnerabilities in connected third-party apps<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Instagram specifically warns<\/a> about third-party apps that claim to provide likes or followers:<\/p>\n \u201cIf you give these apps your login information \u2026 they can gain complete access to your account. They can see your personal messages, find information about your friends, and potentially post spam or other harmful content on your profile. This puts your security, and the security of your friends, at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n Those social media quizzes asking about your first car or elf name might seem like harmless fun. But they\u2019re a common method for gathering password information. Or to learn personal details that are often used as forgotten password clues.<\/p>\n By completing them, employees can compromise their cyber security on social media.<\/p>\n Employees can also unwittingly provide clues to their forgotten password hints. This info may appear in posts about life events. Think: graduations, weddings, and birthdays. It\u2019s always best to limit personal information shared online, especially on public profiles.<\/p>\n People seem to be well aware of the potential privacy risks of using social media. Those concerns, of course, don\u2019t stop people from using their favorite social channels. The number of active social media users grew to 5.07 billion<\/a> as of April 2024.<\/p>\n Make sure you \u2013 and your team \u2013 understand privacy policies and settings<\/strong>. This applies to both your personal and business accounts. Provide privacy guidelines for employees who use their personal social accounts at work, or to talk about work.<\/p>\n Surprisingly, 16% <\/a>of Americans never use phone locking features such as a passcode, fingerprint, or face recognition. Their social accounts and other data are completely accessible to anyone who gets their hands on their mobile device.<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>Pew Research Center<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Failing to update phone software also exposes users to unnecessary risk. Only 42%<\/a> of American smartphone users have their software set to update automatically, and 3% never update their smartphone software at all.<\/p>\n Now that you know the risks, here are some ways to mitigate them<\/a>.<\/p>\n A social media policy<\/a> is a set of guidelines that outline how your business and your employees should use social media responsibly.<\/p>\n At a minimum, the security section of your social media policy should include:<\/p>\n Limiting the number of people who can access and post on your social accounts is an important defensive strategy.<\/p>\n You might focus on threats coming from outside your organization. However, employees are a significant source of accidental data breaches.<\/p>\n You may have whole teams of people working on social media messaging, post creation, or customer service. But not everyone needs to know the passwords to your social accounts \u2013 or have the ability to post.<\/p>\nWhat is social media security?<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Why is social media security awareness so important?<\/span><\/h2>\n
Common social media security risks<\/span><\/h2>\n
Phishing and scams<\/h3>\n
![\"graph](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/social-media-security-2-620x803.png?resize=620%2C803&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nImposter accounts<\/h3>\n
![\"LinkedIn](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/social-media-security-3-620x408.png?resize=620%2C408&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nAI information gathering<\/h3>\n
![\"social](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/social-media-security-5-620x473.png?resize=620%2C473&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nMalware attacks and hacks<\/h3>\n
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![\"graph](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/social-media-security-4-620x353.png?resize=620%2C353&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nVulnerable third-party apps<\/h3>\n
Password theft<\/h3>\n
Privacy settings and data security<\/h3>\n
Unsecured mobile phones<\/h3>\n
![\"16%](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/social-media-security-6.png?resize=620%2C820&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nSocial media security best practices for 2024<\/span><\/h2>\n
Implement a detailed social media policy<\/h3>\n
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Set up an approval process<\/h3>\n