Top Security Tips to Prevent Social Engineering on Social Networks

Social engineering is a manipulation technique that exploits human psychology to trick individuals into revealing confidential information or taking harmful actions.

Instead of breaking into systems through technical means, attackers use deception to gain access to sensitive data, such as passwords or personal details, often through tactics like phishing, pretexting, or baiting. Understanding these tactics is crucial to protect yourself from online scams and security breaches.

Doing things ahead of time is the only way to avoid falling for social engineering attacks on social networks. Here are some useful tips:

Be Wary Of Requests That You Didn’t Ask For.

Question requests: Always be careful when you get texts or friend requests that you didn’t ask for, especially if they want personal information or something you need to do right away.

Check people’s IDs: If someone contacts you saying they work for a real company, make sure they are who they say they are by using official methods such as checking their data with the company they belong to or checking their LinkedIn profile before giving them any information.

Don’t Share Too Much Personal Information

Change the privacy settings: To keep people from seeing your posts and personal information on social media, make sure that your private settings are set to “friends only” or the highest level.

Pay attention to what you share: Don’t share private information like your address, phone number, or things that could be used as security questions, like your pet’s name or your birthday.

Learn About Common Strategies

Be prepared: Learn about popular methods of social engineering, such as phishing, vishing (voice phishing), and baiting. Knowing how to use these techniques can help you spot possible threats.

Watch out for warning signs: Be careful of messages that use bad grammar, make you feel rushed, or ask you to do something right away. These things are often signs of attempts to trick people.

Unusual friend requests:

If you are constantly receiving friend requests from unknown people and they seem to be from the same country (different than yours) you have to be cautious and suspicious, as in social networks such as Facebook, you can get possibly hacked if you disclose your email address associated to your account, and there are some methods of password recovery that include identifying some friends on your friend list, and hence someone may try to befriend you from different fake accounts to try to hijack your account.

Use Strong Methods Of Authentication

Pair two-factor authentication (2FA): To make your accounts even safer, pair 2FA with them. That’s why you need more than just your password to prove who you are.

Strong, unique passwords should be used for each account so that a single breach doesn’t let hackers into multiple accounts. For enhanced security we recommend checking our article: Tips On How To Manage Passwords Securely

Think Before You Click

Hover on links: Move your mouse over links in messages or posts to see their full URL before you click on them. Make sure it takes you to a real website. If you are not sure you can scan the website in virustotal (it is recommended to do this all the time and with every link)

Don’t download anything sketchy: Do not open files or click on links from people you don’t know, as they might contain malware. Also, you could scan this with your antivirus or also using virustotal.

Report Suspicious Activity

Report suspicious contacts: If you get strange texts or friend requests, report them to the platform and let your contacts know about possible social engineering scams.

Teach others: Tell your family and friends about the danger you’ve seen and learned about to help them stay safe.

Check Your Account Activity Often

Watch over accounts: Check your social media accounts often to see if anyone has been logging in or making changes without your permission.

Sign out when you’re done: Log out of your accounts when you’re done using them, especially on shared devices, to keep other people from getting into them.

You can protect your personal information and digital identity by following these tips, which will make it much less likely that you will fall for social engineering scams on social networks.