Social Media Cybersecurity for Businesses – How to Defend Against and Recover From Account Hackers
When reviewing your business’ cybersecurity measures, don’t underestimate the amount of risk that comes with social media. Those accounts need cyber hygiene too! This requires, among other things, workplace protocols, scheduled maintenance, and staying on alert for signs of threats. There are many aspects of your business’ social media account usage to keep in mind, but one of the most important is defending against hackers and recovering if your account is hacked or duplicated.
Social media cybersecurity begins with creating a strong and unique password, which should be safely stored and frequently updated. Additionally, access to this password should be restricted to only those that need to use it. You should also have policies in place about how your social media accounts can be accessed– ideally, only through a secure WiFi connection and primarily through a desktop computer.
Unfortunately, even with a strong password that is changed frequently, the risk of a cyber incident can’t be ruled out. Passwords can be easy to hack and there are other ways of gaining access to your social media accounts. Hackers may send fraudulent emails that appear to be from social media platforms, message you links that grant them access, or utilize other methods to gain access to your account. Furthermore, and also potentially more harmful, they might simply create a duplicate account to impersonate your business on social media. It’s imperative to keep your eye out for these threats. Hacking may be indicated by posts or messages that you didn’t create yourself. A duplicate account may be traceable through a social media platform’s search feature or through a search engine. Checking for duplicate accounts should be part of your scheduled cybersecurity maintenance.
When your account has been hacked or you find a duplicate account, it’s in your business’ best interest to act on it. While it may be easy for you to tell the difference between what’s coming from your business and what isn’t, this security vulnerability still puts you and your business at risk. By opening an account on social media, you create the obligation to monitor what is happening, keep up this valuable maintenance, and report when something goes wrong. You can’t simply ignore and forget these issues when they arise. Take immediate action by reporting the account and including as thorough a description as you can. You may also want to reach out to the social media platform directly through one of their contact forms or pages to start taking steps to address cybersecurity issues
As potentially harmful as these situations can be for your business, thankfully social media account maintenance can provide you with some options for defense. When a situation arises, however, the most important thing to do is to take immediate action, which might include consulting trusted advisors. Do let me know if I can help.
The information presented here is for general educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.