Social media can be an extremely effective marketing tool for small businesses, allowing you to quickly communicate updates to your customer base while engaging with them directly. But be wary: what you post on popular platforms such as Facebook and Instagram could put your business at risk of cyber attacks.
Your goal should be to keep your audience up-to-date with news about products, events, employees and services offered by your business. However, cybercriminals could gain invaluable insight by sharing certain details on social media which cybercriminals could then exploit to gain entry to vulnerable spots within your system - which could cost your company much more in future due to careless posts made online.
Carefully Consider What You Share about Your Systems
It is wise not to publicly reveal an outage of critical systems such as online payment processing or point of sale systems, especially as such announcements could potentially encourage fraudulent activities and spur additional expense claims from customers.
When credit card processing goes offline, many small business owners will collect payments manually and submit them once the issue has been addressed - providing criminals with an opportunity to profit.
Fraudsters may use stolen or cancelled credit cards to purchase goods, knowing that funds won't be verified until after they've left with unpaid merchandise. By the time a business owner discovers about fraudulent payment, it may already be too late - the fraudster has likely long since fled with their goods.
Information disclosed about software and technology can provide attackers with vital knowledge for targeting systems exposed in public channels. They could research issues, exploit vulnerabilities and launch targeted attacks against your exposed system. Therefore, avoid divulging sensitive details publicly.
Social Engineering Targets New Employees
By inviting new team members onto social media, you could unknowingly paint an easy target on them. Social engineering tactics may prove particularly effective against employees without experience dealing with cyberthreats.
Criminals looking to gain entry to your network may attempt to lure new employees in by making false support calls or impersonating colleagues they don't know well. Therefore, consider postponing any announcement of personnel changes until all staff have received security awareness training.
Background details may reveal valuable information
Unwitting clues could be lurking in photos you share to promote your company; post-it notes with passwords or prototypes should remain under wraps when being shared publicly; cybercriminals have proven adept at exploiting visual hints for information gathering; to keep yourself safe be sure to inspect any photos carefully before uploading and pay close attention to any incidental details that may reveal themselves in them.
Keep engaged but be cyber-aware
Social media can be a powerful marketing tool for small businesses when used strategically. Oversharing sensitive data could open the door for hackers in the future.
Be active online but cautious of what you post. Social media platforms can be powerful tools for driving business and engaging customers while mitigating risks by taking extra consideration into account when posting.
Call us now to discover how we can assess your digital footprint, identifying any security flaws or overly exposed data that might exist within it. Call us on 📞 (404) 932-5940 or 📩info@nuwaveitc.com
