Safe Social Networking

A good place to start is to think about which social media sites you use most. Internet Matters has all of the largest platforms’ Social Media privacy setting guides on one page. Where possible, you should be using the privacy settings to minimise contact from strangers and ensure your content is only visible to known friends.

Be careful when communicating online – are you sure of who you are talking to on social media, messaging apps and dating apps? If you are unsure about the messages you are receiving from a friend’s account, try speaking to them through a different method to check if it is them.

Scammers will make fake accounts or hack real accounts to use them to commit a range of fraudulent activities. Many sites have a process to verify accounts, such as verified badges for Instagram and Facebook. This can help to identify real accounts against fake accounts pretending to be a well-known person. Other things to look out for include:

• where an account has a date indicating when it was set up
• nonsensical names (appears to be random letters and numbers)
• the number of followers (although note that followers can be bought)

When talking with a stranger or a new online friend, be aware of oversharing information about yourself and your family, as this could be costly in the wrong hands. Be wary also if a new acquaintance wishes to move the conversation to a different platform such as an unmonitored, encrypted messaging platform.

Digital Footprint

Less obviously, you should think about your digital footprint, which is a term used to describe the entirety of information that you post online, including photos and status updates. This can damage your reputation with friends and employers, and criminals can use this publicly available information to steal your identity, or use it to make phishing messages more convincing. You should:

• Think about what you're posting, and who has access to it. Have you configured the privacy options so that it's only accessible to the people you want to see it? Are you sure that your friends list contains trusted individuals? Have you configured your settings so that you can preview anything your friends tag you in?
• Consider what your followers and friends need to know, and what detail is unnecessary (but could be useful for criminals).
• Consider that once something is posted, it is very difficult to remove it entirely from the internet. Screenshots and copies can be taken by anyone.
• Consider what your comments and the content that you engage with suggests about you. Your words online or the groups/channels you are part of could have consequences for your employment.
• Think about the opinions that others will have of you based on what you post or share online.

It’s a good idea to have a “spring clean” of your accounts. Check that the things you have posted recently and in the past still reflect positively about you. Remember that it is difficult to completely remove all trace of previous posts that you have made or been tagged in.