What you need to know
- Affise, a partnership marketing firm, shared best practices to protect the privacy of your social media accounts.
- These practices include using strong passwords, two-factor authentication, performing regular security audits, and using public Wi-Fi networks with caution.
- The privacy tips come as part of the Data Privacy Day.
Today is Data Privacy Day in many parts of the world, which means it's time to be reminded of the importance of sticking to data protection best practices. Sam O'Brien, chief marketing officer at performance marketing platform Affise, has shared a handful of tips to keep your social media accounts safe.
According to Affise, data breaches "could pose a threatening situation" or even jeopardize income and financial security, especially for social media influencers who rely on their accounts to keep followers invested and share branded content.
"With over 200,000 social media influencers with their personal information (including passwords) exposed for the world to see, it is more crucial than ever to ensure your details are protected," said O'Brien.
However, given the increasing number of threats that do not discriminate against their victims, data protection is just as important even for ordinary social media accounts. We've already seen several instances of data breaches targeting various social networking sites in 2021. For example, a massive Facebook data leak exposed over 500 million accounts earlier last year. A few months later, LinkedIn was hit with a similar attack, exposing 700 million accounts.
O'Brien outlined a number of best practices for safeguarding your details. Picking a strong password that consists of a complicated combination of upper and lower case letters, random numbers, and special characters is at the top of the list.
Another important practice is activating two-factor authentication all the time as an extra security measure. Turning on this feature is not rocket science. You can follow these simple steps to enable 2FA on your Google account. For various social media platforms, click the following links to switch on 2FA: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Telegram.
Additionally, Affise cautions against posting photos that show where you live and logging in to your bank or entering any credit card or personal details while using public Wi-Fi.
The company also emphasized the importance of logging out of your social media accounts when you're finished, as well as reviewing the various devices that are logged into your account to remove any suspicious activity.
Have you listened to this week's Android Central Podcast?
Every week, the Android Central Podcast brings you the latest tech news, analysis and hot takes, with familiar co-hosts and special guests.
