How Social Media Impacts Your Cybersecurity

Social media platforms are a cost-effective way to help enhance brand awareness and facilitate engagement with customers for a stronger experience.

While these platforms can help you reach your intended audience, they may also make your business more vulnerable to a hack. This is why social media cybersecurity should be a top priority as part of a comprehensive cybersecurity plan for your business.

The dangers of social media for businesses

The entire premise of social media is based on sharing information and connecting with others through words, pictures and videos. However, too much sharing on a publicly displayed platform can enable attackers to silently collect data that could compromise business security.

Even a seemingly innocent office photo posted to a social media site can be exploited by cybercriminals, who can zoom in on images of computers, whiteboards and employee badges. A video might give a hacker insight into a building's layout or floor plan, security and entry procedures, and any sensitive company information visible in the background. Criminals may also use employees' social media posts to gather personal information that allows them to guess passwords and gain access to business email accounts.

The potential threats lurking within social media sites may lead to reputational damage and a loss of trust in addition to compromised data and regulatory violations, depending on your industry.

Common social media cybersecurity threats

To protect your business from these threats, it’s important to first define and understand them. While attackers are continually creative in their hacking efforts, most attacks fall under a few common categories.

Phishing attacks

A phishing attack is the most common type of cybersecurity threat today. It happens when a cybercriminal uses information collected via social media or other methods to send phishing emails to trick users—including your customers and employees—into clicking malicious links or sending personal data. An attack like this can ultimately compromise your brand's reputation.

Social engineering tactics

Similar to phishing attacks, social engineering involves cybercriminals reaching out to employees or customers via phone, text or email to trick them into sending personal information, providing credentials or even sending money. In this case, social media posts give them the insightful information they need to be believable.

Account takeover strategies

An account takeover is when a cybercriminal hijacks your company's social media, potentially through a phishing or social engineering attack. They can then post offensive or inappropriate messages from your official account or trick customers into divulging personal information, thereby compromising your brand.

Cybercriminals may also create fake social media accounts to impersonate your employees or gain enough access to impersonate you online. With this information, they could then lock you out of your own accounts or make purchases using your name and information.

Keeping business social accounts secure

Knowledge is the first step to stopping social media cybersecurity threats. Using your cybersecurity plan as a guide, train and educate employees on detecting and preventing social engineering and phishing attacks, as well as implementing strong mobile security strategies. Talk about the dangers of disclosing too much information on their social media platforms, and make them aware of red flags like spelling errors and urgent requests for information.

Take these additional steps to keep your business as safe as possible from these social media cybersecurity threats.

• Minimize the number of employees with access to your social media login credentials.
• Use password best practices like changing them frequently and not sharing them, even within the same department or division.
• Monitor social media platforms frequently for suspicious activity, and report fraudulent or fake social media pages immediately to platform administrators.
• Invest in third-party cybersecurity tools, and make sure all devices have the most up-to-date firewall and antivirus software.

The bottom line

Securing your social media channels from these vulnerabilities is an important component of your cybersecurity efforts. By creating a cybersecurity plan to prevent these threats and keeping employees informed on best practices, you can help safeguard your business.