Those Who Share Too Much on Social Media Attention!

Cyber ​​fraudsters can use information that is shared publicly on social media and seems harmless at first glance to access sensitive data such as account passwords and banking information of users.

According to Bitdefender Antivirus telemetry, 60% of internet users share more than 12 public information on online platforms. Bitdefender Turkey Operations Director Flame Akkoyunlu, "How much you make in social media sharing, so you become a good target for cyber-crooks." he warns internet users.

With more than half of the world using social media and internet traffic increasing by 30%, new digital behaviors adopted during the Coronavirus pandemic continue to shape the digital environment. With more than 346 million people creating new digital identities last year, consumers around the world have turned to online services more than ever. However, the increase in internet usage creates new opportunities for cyber fraudsters. Internet users of account passwords and banking information, such as sensitive in social media to reach data is shared publicly and at first glance, using the information that appears harmless cyber stimulus Bitdefender against fraudsters Turkey Operations Director Flame Akkoyunlu, "If you do share much how social media, so that cyber crooks you become a good target. " says.

60% of the users share more than 12 personal data publicly

According to Bitdefender's Digital Identity Protection Service, 40% of users have between 2 and 11 public data records on online platforms, and around 60% have more than 12 personal data records. Our digital IDs consist of a series of data you leave behind, such as the websites you visit, accounts and profiles, posts and comments on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, while accessing the internet. Our digital identity has become one of the most valuable assets in the cyber world, and every piece of personal data is potentially monetized.

Hacker markets on the Dark Web have created a sizable economy with personal information stolen from data breaches. However, mostly cybercriminals and fraudsters try to collect information from social media platforms to access personal data that can be used in an attack.

The personal data that anyone can easily access is as follows:

• Home Address: 19,79%
• Gender: 17,05%
• Names: 13,30%
• URLs: 11,85%
• Worked Place: 9,21%
• Usernames: 7,32%
• Birth Dates: 6,53%
• Email Addresses: 5,45%
• Education Information: 5,44%
• Phone Numbers: 2,24%

Hackers Target More Social Media Shares

Excessive sharing of information such as your home address, phone number, and place of work through social media can have serious consequences. While the information you share may seem harmless at first glance, cybercriminals try to collect as much about you as possible during the discovery phase of an attack. Their main goal is to trick you into clicking a malicious link or sharing sensitive information such as credit card and social security numbers. Cyber ​​crooks can also choose you as a potential victim depending on how your digital profile looks. The more you post online, the better your target will be.

Collecting publicly available personal information can be time consuming for cyber fraudsters. Bitdefender's telemetry has also caught a disturbing trend regarding the extent to which users are exposed to data breaches. In-depth analysis of the Digital Identity Protection Community reveals that more than half of all users have experienced 2010 to 1 data breaches since 5. Additionally, 26 percent of users fell victim to between 6 and 10 data breaches, while 21 percent experienced more than 10 data breaches in the past decade.

Akkoyunlu: Do Not Use Your Public Information In Your Passwords!

Stating that users can be exposed to cyber fraud more easily with the information they share publicly, Alev Akkoyunlu makes 4 suggestions.

1. Do not use easily accessible information such as dates, school information, the names of your teams and children in your passwords.
2. Regularly replace your passwords with alpha-numeric, upper and lower case passwords periodically and use two-factor authentication.
3. Visit the e-government regularly and check if there are any companies, GSM lines or fines opened on you.
4. Be careful not to share information that you do not know 100% accurate on the internet. Unfortunately, a lot of dirty information about Covid-19 and similar socio-political issues is spreading in the digital world and misinformation tends to spread faster than correct information.

Pandemic Reveals Cyber ​​Security Lack

Hackers are actively using the global crisis to commit cyber fraud and identity theft. Cybersecurity and privacy concerns have increased for companies and individuals as working from home has become the new normal in many industries. This revealed the lack of consumer awareness, employee training and safety measures. According to an FTC report, Americans lost more than $ 19 million in cyber fraud this year with the COVID-77 process. Additionally, the attacks cost UK consumers £ 2020 million in the first six months of 58. “As we often freely disclose our personal information on social media platforms, it may be time to start making more privacy-oriented decisions for our future digital endeavors.” "Being completely offline is not a viable option, but you can take steps to minimize your digital footprint and limit your exposure to another identity theft," said Alev Akkoyunlu. is in the statements.