Opinion: How often do we stop to think about how vulnerable
we get by sharing so much?
Daily social media
activities can expose us to another more displeasing world of stalkers,
burglars and other nefarious people. To stay safe, we’ll need to be more
vigilant about what we share and how we share it.
From ideas, thoughts,
inspirational messages and photos, right to the short pieces that we caption
“#NoteToSelf,” we like to share everything on social media. And it’s funny
because the more we seem to be sharing on social media, the less we seem to do
so in real life.
But how often do we stop to
think about how vulnerable we get by sharing so much?
The policies governing
social networks make the very nature of social media a vulnerability on the
side of the user. Maintaining your privacy becomes a difficult thing to achieve
with every sign-up and every “allow” button you click. What’s more is that we
remain oblivious—dare I say unconcerned—about the dangers we face.
Cyber-stalking is on the rise and predators are stepping up their game.
However, we can remain safe
amid all that. We can be pragmatic about what we let slip through to online
spaces to ensure that malicious people don’t have enough information to get to
us.
We’ll share three tips that
will help ensure that your social media life doesn’t compromise your other,
more important, life: your home.
Avoid publishing personally identifiable information
Content shared on social
media is one of the biggest avenues for cyber-criminals to get to you. If
someone can see your posts and those in which you’re tagged, they can tell
where you are any time you share.
Most social media channels
have the geotagging feature. As such, you’ll find that it’s kind of a trend to
include location data in status updates. While this offers some degree of
personalization to your posts, it could also put your home in danger.
Author: David
Cohen
No comments:
Post a Comment