Bad Habits in Social Networks for Security and Privacy

Social networks are platforms widely used by users today. We have at our disposal a wide range of possibilities. Some are more oriented in uploading photos or videos, others in giving our opinion and in other cases simply to be in contact with friends and family. In any case, we are facing platforms that have many users around the world. This also makes hackers put their sights here. We are going to talk about habits that should be changed in social networks if we want to preserve our privacy and security.

It is a reality that social networks have changed to some extent the way we communicate. There are many types of platforms that we can find on the network that offer us the possibility of sending messages to friends or family, commenting on photos, videos ... This makes them a very popular medium for both private users and companies.

Social Networks
Social Networks

However, this also causes you to have some risk to our security and privacy. Hackers can set their sights here to carry out their attacks. They can especially take advantage of the bad habits of users when using these platforms.

That is why we wanted to make a compilation of bad habits in social networks and that we must change. Many users make mistakes that put their privacy and security at risk. Small changes can make both factors improve and we have no problems.

Habits to be changed in social networks for privacy and security

We already know that privacy and security are very important factors for users. However, they are not always present. We can be victims of many types of attacks that put these two factors at risk. We may also make mistakes when using social networks and that affect us.

Add any type of contact

A very common error in social networks is to add any type of contact. This can happen on platforms like Facebook. It is possible that what we are adding is a bot, rather than a real user. You have to know how to differentiate them and avoid adding any type of contact that your invitation receives.

Sometimes bots are designed solely to collect user data. This can make our privacy compromised. We need to have a real filter of the contacts we add. It is important that among our friends we have individuals who do not pose a problem for our security and privacy.

Sign in with our social networks anywhere

Another of the negative habits that many users have is to log in through social networks on any site. This is something that is very present and can be very comfortable but it is not the best for privacy.

Surely on many occasions we find the possibility of registering on a page or logging into a platform through Facebook or Twitter. We avoid having to register on that site and complete a long form. The problem is that we are offering personal data to that site through Facebook. This data, this information we share, may be used by third parties for advertising purposes.

Give more information than necessary

It is certainly one of the worst habits that many users have. They introduce a lot of personal data, information that is not really necessary, in social networks. For example, data such as our telephone number, e-mail, information on where we live ... All this affects our advertising and could be used for bad purposes.

Our advice is not to give more information than is really necessary. This way we will improve our privacy on the network and we can even avoid certain security problems.

Share fake news

The problem of fake news is also present today. They can arrive by many means, but without a doubt in the social networks they are more than present. As we know it is fake news that they use as bait and that sometimes can even distribute malware.

It is important to avoid sharing this type of fake news and also access them when we see them on social networks. This will improve our security.

Not protecting our privacy

One last mistake is not protecting privacy correctly. This is for example leaving our profiles open for anyone to enter. We are offering information to anyone who could collect it to create a profile of us and even send targeted advertising or carry out different attacks that affect our security.