How is social media affecting your security?

Creating a digital presence online is a significant part of a business’ identity. A large part of this is built from social media – an ever-growing phenomenon that continues to dominate our online communications.

We are social determined in 2018 the number of social media users across the world had reached 3.196bn – up 7%, year on year. With this continuous growth, comes huge opportunity to continue to connect with people, across the globe in new ways.

For businesses, social media offer a platform to connect and engage with your target audience, increasing your profile and visibility.

These new, digital opportunities, bring new threats to the security of your business network.

The risks

• One of the primary threats of the prevalence of social media is a lack of understanding. Many businesses are unaware of exactly how they should be using each platform and what they should and shouldn’t be saying.

With the introduction of GDPR in May 2018, businesses must be more careful now when sharing information than ever before.

Social media platforms are extremely valuable to business growth but they should be treated with a sense of awareness as what is said online is permanent – even once deleted.

• There are also a number of ‘bad’ links posted frequently across social media platforms – which can trigger malware downloads and network attacks. As social media use has increased, scammers have become more adept at disguising harmful links, making them difficult to identify.

As a business, you hold important data within your systems. This makes it more important that you and your team hold a certain level of vigilance when it comes to external links across social media platforms.

• Protecting passwords and login details for social media is paramount – social media accounts can potentially provide a route into your network systems if placed in the wrong hands.

Protecting your business

As social media continues to grow and new platforms continue to be developed, it is clear that social media is going to be around for a long time to come. Therefore, it is important to educate both yourself and your team about the threats social media present as well as the value they add.

In order to ensure that your network remains secure as you scale up your use of social media for business purposes, you may want to ensure you have a well-connected and robust IT network in place that accounts for where and how data is stored and shared.

Implementing the most up-to-date security measures ensures your network is as safe and secure as possible, 24/7.

Once the foundations of your IT network are in place, your focus can turn specifically to social media and internet use.

Robust security systems are paramount to protect your business infrastructure from any malware, adware, phishing or other malicious attacks stored in links across social media.

Web content filters and time-based browsing rules will avoid access to certain websites, limiting your security risks.

Securing your network

At Shesh Tech, we help you embrace IT so it aligns with your business strategy. Providing pragmatic advice, tailored to your specific needs, we will nourish your business with IT and innovation.

If you’re concerned about your business’ network security – get in touch, we’d love to see how we can help your business flourish.