Social media has rapidly become the way that we all keep in contact with friends, family, cyber friends, work colleagues and more. There’s millions of us hopping on social media daily, so it comes as no surprise that hackers have begun tapping into it and started making their fortune.
Social media itself isn’t designed to trap users and steal their data, however, hackers work round existing codes to infiltrate their own malicious coding. Many big names like Facebook use Javascript to build extensions on to the mainstream content, of which hackers have the ability to insert their own masterpiece to cause inconvenience to thousands, even millions, of users.
Extra protection with VPNs
VPNs, or virtual private networks, are a popular way of boosting online security with very little effort. Simply signing on to the Internet browsing session through a remote device attached to the VPN network makes it almost impossible for hackers to break through.
Diadiktiokaiasfalia explains hacker coding is already implanted on to social media websites, but if there’s an attempt to access the user’s data or online session, the connection is immediately terminated by the server.
This kind of protection is always a great direction to take and on many occasions there are free options to get you started.
Staying vigilant
The art of phishing is a common practice from hackers and is highly effective. Using simple methods which are sometimes blindingly obvious, the win rates for hackers using phishing are shockingly high.
So what is phishing? Much like the usual type of fishing in lakes or ponds, phishing uses bait to attract unknowing victims to surrender their personal data. Techniques used under the phishing umbrella include sending SMS text messages and emails. Each of these would usually contain a link, enticing the user to click on it. This is the catch.
Industry professionals advise to never click a link on a text or email that has a suspicious source. Just by clicking the embedded link you could potentially lose your entire life savings in a matter of moments.
The same applies from surfing around the Internet. Hackers are also skilled in building fake websites with the same end result. On many occasions you won’t know you’re on a fake website until it is too late. If your gut tells you to steer clear, there’s probably something dodgy about it.
Many reports have been made in regards to deliberately installed malware in to social media extensions, however this may not be enough to prevent the damage being done. Big names in computing like Microsoft and Google have been made aware of the more and more frequent tampering of extension coding but staying safe online needs work at home too.
Change passwords on a regular basis and make sure it is completely random. Don’t use the same password on too many sites and also remember to clear the cache every few weeks or sooner. Removing cookies can help minimise the risk.
