So you’ve got your business up and running and you’re now onto creating an online presence. Your website fits with your brand message and theme, you’ve set up an email address and your shop is stacked with amazing products to sell. But what about social media?
It’s not just about posting aesthetically pleasing pictures or promoting sales. There’s a lot to bear in mind when it comes to keeping yourself, your data and your business safe online. Here are some of the things you need to remember when it comes to online security.
Usernames
A good portion of the population will have at least 1 or 2 personal social media accounts. And your username on these profiles can be literally anything (so long as no one else already has it, of course).
When choosing a username for your business profiles, it’s probably easiest to go with your business name, or some variation. But if you use a similar username for your personal profile, you’re opening yourself up to all sorts of cybersecurity risks.
The chances are you don’t want your customers to know everything about you, see pictures of your kids or find out where you went on holiday. That’s personal, private information. But if you use similar usernames for both your business and personal accounts, you run the risk of someone not only finding those profiles, but hacking into your private accounts and gaining information.
Passwords
The same can be said with passwords. We all get those pop-ups when first setting up an account – ‘choose a secure password’, ‘use a secure password’, ‘include special characters’. And of course, we’ve all got so many accounts on so many different sites, that keeping up with passwords and variations can become overwhelming.
But, if you’re using the same password, or a variation of the same, across multiple platforms, you’re more likely to be hacked. This means a person not only accessing your personal data, but also being able to post on your behalf. This kind of thing can ruin a business’s reputation.
There have been several instances of influential people/celebrities who have had their social accounts hacked and had posts made on their behalf. This has included promotional content for the hackers business, offensive comments and political opinions. Once that kind of content is out there, it’s hard to come back from, even though it wasn’t you.
Personal information
Even if you aren’t hacked,including your date of birth, name or hometown in your username or profile bio can be a gateway to allowing anyone to find you on all your social platforms, including on your business account. TikTok user @notkahnjunior makes videos showing how easy it is to find information out about someone based only on their TikTok username. For example, she used TikTok, Google, Facebook and LinkedIn to find this woman’s hometown, date of birth, full name and family information.
Hackers are getting more and more sneaky with their attacks and if you aren’t careful, you’re essentially handing them your information, without them having to do any hacking whatsoever.
Cyber Protect
With Cyber Protect, your data will be safe from attacks, malware and ransomware, with antimalware and antivirus protection. Plus, you’ll get protection for all of your devices, and storage for your passwords to keep them safe from hackers.
If you’ve got any questions or have security concerns, please get in touch with our Support Team. They’re available 24/7 to help with whatever you need. Give us a call on 0333 0142 700 or message us via live chat.
