Your social media channels are the digital public face of your brand, and if they get hacked then not only is your data at risk, but so is your company’s reputation.
Social media accounts can be relatively easy to hack into because they are usually only protected by a single password, so how can you secure these channels from attack?
How can passwords be obtained?
There are a number of ways that hackers can obtain your social media account details. The most common include:
- Phishing emails sent out to all employees of the organisation;
- Malware installed onto one or more machines within your network;
- Keyloggers installed onto one or more machines within your network.
How to stay secure
We’d recommend as doing as many of these things as possible to ensure your social media accounts stay secure.
Use social media management software
Platforms such as Hootesuite and Sprout Social allow your employees to post on your social media accounts, without allowing them to actually access them directly. This may not be able to stop a malicious tweet, but it will at least prevent the entire account being taken over.
Educate your staff
This sounds like an obvious one, but it’s amazing how few organisations take the time to train their staff on how to stay safe from hackers. Make sure:
- they understand about phishing emails;
- train them in the use of software designed to generate and protect password information (LastPass is a great free tool that can manage all of your online logins, as well as generate unique passwords);
- train them on the importance of regularly changing passwords and never using the same one.
Although some attacks are executed by very skilled and cunning hackers, most security breaches occur because of user carelessness and simple tactics.
Install quality security software
By utilising a strong antivirus and firewall program you can massively reduce the likelihood of your organisation suffering from a security breach.
Modern antivirus software can protect your network against malware, ransomware, keyloggers and other forms of attack that can be used to acquire passwords to your social media profiles.
You might think that perhaps your social media profiles aren’t mission-critical assets, or that anyone is going to be interested in hacking them. However, a social media attack can not only lead to a PR nightmare, but also put other data at risk if you use one password for multiple logins.
To find out more about how ITC Security can keep your organisations digital assets safe, including your social media profiles, give us a call on 020 7517 3900.
