Neoco

What have the CIA, Lady Gaga, Fox News, and Hugh Grant all got in common? They’ve all been hacked of late and we’re pretty sure they’d rather avoid a repeat in the future. Whether it’s unscrupulous newspaper publishers or activist groups, the internet is awash with pesky rogues of the digital generation all ready to pounce, bringing down your brand’s hard-earned reputation.

The amount of destruction caused depends on the hackers’ motivation; “Hacktivists” – unlike serious cyber criminals – are usually low-scale and low funded, seeking to embarrass companies, individuals and even parts of government by exposing humiliating internal emails or contact information in order to make a statement or gain publicity. On the other hand, true cyber criminals hacking for payroll or credit card information, or committing bank fraud are far more serious.

Groups such as the much publicised Lulzsec and Anonplus fall into the former category, taking advantage of coding errors called SQL injections behind the scenes of the website. Whilst LulzSec may have hacked into the CIA, many describe their efforts as “pranksters” putting cyber security in the spotlight as the silver lining of the hacking thunderclouds.

So how exactly can you protect your social media account against these digital fraternities? We’ve rounded up 8 tips on minimising accessibility to hackers:

1. Maximise privacy settings on social networks by enabling Secure Browsing (https) and Login Approvals on Facebook to encrypts and protect your activity to prevent anyone accessing information without your permission.

2. Become familiar with Google’s “Me on the web” tool. With a Gmail account you can remove URLs of not only pages containing confidential information but Blogger, YouTube and Maps content that may breach privacy.

3. Beware of links that look like this: “hAha Is tHIS you in VIDoe? – http://www.infectedlink.ru“. They are worms and once clicked self-replicate to spread and infect networks.

4. Check it out. Zone Alarm’s made an infographic on which social networking sites are most secure.

5. Log out of any mobile devices. If the phone is lost or stolen you’ve already granted immediate access to your Facebook and Twitter accounts.

6. Change passwords regularly. Think outside the box and include capital letters, numbers and punctuation, even incorporating shift and alt key symbols for maximum security.

7. Check third party apps frequently and revoke access of the ones you do not use.

8. Lastly, if you do get hacked, follow Twitter’s advice here and Facebook’s here.

Are you or your company concerned about your security and safety on the WWW? What measures do you have in place to prevent hacks? If you have any further tips or advice to share please let us know!

Tags  Anonplus hack hacker hacking hacktivists Lulzsec social social media social network social networking social networks