1 day Ago
The holiday season is a time for sharing, be it presents, food, or arguments. Many of us travel to visit friends and family, and enjoy posting records of this on social media. But sharing personal information on social media could mean recovering your personal identity is top of your New Year resolutions list.
We always talk about how good things like the best VPNs are at protecting your privacy, but there are steps you can take to protect yourself in areas VPNs can't. First steps for all year round protection First off, there are things you should consider implementing across all your social media accounts and platforms – not just for the holiday seasons, but all year round. Before posting anything on social media, you should consider who can see it.
Many social media apps and sites offer various levels of privacy customisation, where you can control who can and can't follow you, and what information can be seen. If you know you're going to be posting information that contains some form of personal identification, consider changing your account to private and/or limiting the number of people who can see the post. For example on Instagram stories, you can hide your story posts from certain followers, or create a "close friends" story only selected followers can view.
Reducing the amount of information about you visible on your social media account is another recommended action. Avoid posting where you work and live, and where and when you were born or went to school. All of this can be used by cybercriminals to build a picture of your life and can be used against you.
Don't post your travel plans Many of our holiday season behaviours are second-nature, and we never think twice about them. However, we may be unknowingly revealing a lot of our personal information and compromising our privacy – but what should you avoid? Firstly, you should avoid publicly posting your travel plans. Posting dates, time, or location of travel indicates when your home is unoccupied and where you're going – and in this day and age, we certainly wouldn't recommend doing a Chris Rea and releasing a song about your exact travel plans.
This is less of a cybersecurity risk, and more of a personal safety one, but criminals of any kind can use this information to potentially break into your house or discover your holiday location. It is good practice to never post any travel arrangements on social media, and only share your plans privately. Secure snaps Photos and videos are one of the biggest parts of the holiday season, and whether it's food, family, or friends, we all love sharing a snap.
It may not often be our first thought, especially when we're immersed in the celebrations, but privacy is a key factor to remember when taking and sharing media. In the age of smartphones, a lot of information can be gathered from a simple photo or video using what is known as metadata. Protecting your photo metadata may sound confusing, but it is actually simpler than you think.
An example of metadata is the date and time the media was taken, as well as the location. If you have location settings enabled in your phone's settings then your location will always be added to a photo or video – unless it's specifically disabled. So turning off location settings and disabling location tagging when taking photos or filming is a good tip.
If you have an iPhone, you can click the small "i" button at the bottom of the photo or video to bring up the metadata. From here, you can actually remove (or add) a location, and edit the date and time the content was taken. If you are sharing online, then apps are also available to remove the metadata.
You should also respect your family or friend's privacy and be wary of background details. Items in the background of photos and videos, including money or gifts, can reveal your lifestyle habits or personal information. These can be an incentive for criminals, and could put you at risk.
Facial recognition and audio tools, often powered by AI technology, are on the rise and people, especially children, may prefer not to be in public facing photos or videos. If you know the media will be shared publicly, you should check everyone featured is happy for it to be shared, and either don't share or blur the faces of anyone who may wish to remain anonymous. Tomas Stamulis, Chief Security Officer at Surfshark , the fastest VPN we've tested, offered an expert view on the role of AI technologies in photo and video sharing.
"With the rise of AI technologies, such as facial recognition, advanced data processing, the photos, videos, and even audio clips you share online today can often become part of the broader internet ecosystem, accessible to programs that analyze, store, and repurpose this data." "For instance, audio recordings could be analyzed to mimic speech patterns, tone, and mannerisms. When combined with phone number spoofing – an easy task for scammers – it’s possible for someone to fake a call from your child’s or relative’s number, using an AI-generated voice that sounds exactly like them.
In such situations, it becomes incredibly difficult not to believe what you see and hear." "Moreover, photos of your family or festive moments could be used by AI tools in ways we can’t yet fully anticipate. It’s important to stay mindful of how your shared content may be repurposed or accessed in the future.
Protecting your privacy today also helps safeguard yourself and your loved ones from potential risks in the years to come." Phishing scams Phishing scams are a 24/7 threat, but cybercriminals thrive on the holiday season, with millions of us shopping online and posting on social media. Phishing scams come in various shapes and sizes, with text message and email being two of the most common.
These often ask you to enter your details or click links, and can claim to be from your bank, online retailers, or even relatives. You always be wary when receiving messages from people you don't know or from companies – never click a link if you're not 100% sure who it's from and you can always contact your bank or online retailer directly to confirm any suspicious activity. Fake shops are another popular scamming tactic used by cybercriminals.
They replicate the sites of popular online retailers and trick you into entering your personal information. Common ways to spot fake shops include, text typos, poor quality images, skewed reviews, and "too good to be true" discounts. As well as this, scammers can hide domain names through shortened URLs or make subtle, but missable, changes to a web address – "Amazon" to "Arnazon" is an example of this.
You can best protect yourself from online scams by purchasing some of the best antivirus software . Some VPN providers include a form of threat protection in their plans, which can block phishing attacks and malware, as well as URL checking. NordVPN 's Threat Protection Pro was recently named as the best VPN malware protection by AV-Test, and should your personal information be compromised in a phishing scam, Nord also offers an identity protection tool known as NordProtect .
Other providers, including IPVanish , and ExpressVPN , offer a form of threat protection. ExpressVPN also offers an identity protection feature known as Identity Defender . Disconnect to reconnect This holiday season, be mindful of all the privacy risks out there, and consider disconnecting to reconnect.
Taking breaks from the internet or social media can not only protect your privacy, but allow you to enjoy more meaningful and memorable holiday experiences..
