Often when we think about safety online, topics like phishing scams and password strength come to mind, but the truth is that today criminals are using more advanced tactics to target individuals. Our digital footprints can have a significant impact on our real lives. In fact, 84% of U.S. Citizens have experienced social engineering attacks.
1. Sharing your vacation photos on social media
Planning an exciting vacation? It might be tempting to share the details with your friends, family, and followers online, but take caution. You might be sharing more information than you think. Your real-time vacation updates that you share on social media can also let bad actors know when you are not home. One study found that nearly 80% of burglars use social media to plan their next break-in. A recent survey also found that 60% of burglary victims shared that they were posting daily to their social media accounts before the crime occurred. What can you do to prevent becoming a target? If you choose to share your vacation photos online, avoid sharing live updates. It is safer to post them after you return home.
2. Leaving your home images on websites
Another common mistake many people make that can put their safety at risk is leaving images of their homes online after they move. This makes it possible for anyone to look up your address on a real estate website and gain access to the entire layout of your home. Bad actors can use this information to plan a robbery or use the images to look for high-value items. You can protect your privacy and have the photos removed in two different ways. When you purchase a home you can ask the listing agent to remove them. Another option is to go to the websites where they are listed and manually remove them. This can be done by creating an account, claiming your home and following the website’s removal process.
3. Posting photos of high-value items online
Have you ever posted a picture when you purchased a new car? Or shared pictures of a family get-together at your house online? Although sharing these images with your friends and family on social media may seem like harmless fun, they could be putting you at risk. Bad actors browse the social media accounts of potential targets to look for high-value items such as antiques, collector items, fine art or electronics. Even when they are not shared directly, these kinds of items can often be found in the background of images taken at home. You can take action by setting your social media account settings to private and removing images of high-value items.
4. Setting and forgetting your privacy settings
Another vulnerability that is often overlooked is your privacy settings. It is easy to set up your privacy settings when you create new online accounts and never think about them again, but this could be a problem. Social media applications and web browsers change their policies frequently. Although these companies provide notifications about these updates, it is often easier to hit accept than read a lengthy document in the middle of your day. You can avoid accidentally sharing more information than you want by making it a regular practice to review your privacy settings once or twice a year.
5. Letting apps track your location
Many social media applications track your location information and sell it to third parties for commercial and advertisement purposes. However, privacy policies and the amount of information they track can vary depending on the application. For example, Snapchat shows users’ locations on a map that others can see when they create a new snap, but Instagram uses location data to give users the option to tag locations in their posts. Your location can be sensitive information. It can let people know when you are not home and also where they can find you. To prevent unwanted location sharing you can update your preferences in your phone settings.
Managing your digital footprint
As our digital and real lives continue to become increasingly interconnected, the more important it will become to make managing your digital footprint a regular part of your everyday life. Crimes involving social engineering have quickly risen, increasing the need to protect your personal information. Monitoring where information about you can be found and who can find it is already becoming an essential part of maintaining your reputation, your financial security and your physical safety.