Your browser is out of date.

You are currently using Internet Explorer 7/8/9, which is not supported by our site. For the best experience, please use one of the latest browsers.

866.430.2595
Request a Consultation
banner

Taking Control of Social Media Accounts Cerberus Sentinel Blog

Do you ever get that Truman Showfeeling from social media? As if the world portrayed in front of you is only a construct? Maybe you even tried cutting back, logging out, or even cancelling an account. Yet there you find yourself on social media once again, scrolling, clicking, liking and re-Tweeting. What you are experiencing, that sense of falseness, has been observed experientially by many, but lacks research and documentation on the long-term effects. What we can point to, though, are numerous instances where privacy has been invaded, unwanted ads were introduced to feeds, and people found themselves enraged over issues they didn’t even know existed when they crawled out of bed that morning. Yet, people continue to flock to and interact with these outlets, regardless of the warnings of privacy violations, phishing scams, security breaches that can bleed over into the rest of one’s life, and manipulative algorithms. The truth is that if you are at risk online, you also carry that risk to your organization. In this series on Personal Security, our experts have been explaining why and how your own security affects the security of your company, as well. 

In previous installments, TRUE’s Corey Bolger addressed the need to start your company’s Security Awareness Training program on a personal level for employees, Steven Anderson explained the importance of a password manager, and walked through the steps for securing your Google, Microsoft, and Apple accounts, and Jenna Waters explored the implications of the CCPA and coming privacy regulations that demand our special attention. This week Steven Anderson is back with a practical guide for those of us who–not unlike Truman Burbank–want to assert more control over what enters, and is taken from, our lives via social media. Wrapping up the theme of Personal Security, Anderson offers this guide to locking down your Facebook and Twitter accounts in hopes of helping you protect yourself first, and your organization by proxy.

 

How to Lock Down Your Facebook Account

  1. Change your password
    1. Log in to Facebook
    2. Navigate to https://www.facebook.com/settings
    3. On the left pane, click “Security and Login”
    4. Click “Change password”
    5. Use your password manager (1Password, LastPass, KeePass) to generate a random password
      1. Recommended to use numbers, lowercase letters, uppercase letters, and special characters
      2. Recommended to create password with minimum of 12 characters
  2. Turn on 2-factor authentication
    1. Log in to Facebook
    2. Navigate to https://www.facebook.com/settings
    3. On the left pane, click “Security and Login”
    4. Click “Use two-factor authentication”
    5. Follow the appropriate steps to activate an authenticator app (use 1Password or LastPass – If you don’t have either of those apps, Google Authenticator will work as well)
  3. Manage Your Data – You may be surprised what Facebook knows about you
    1. Log in to Facebook
    2. Navigate to https://www.facebook.com/settings
    3. On the left pane, click “Your Facebook Information”
    4. Click on “Managing Your Information”
    5. Exercise your right to control the data they collect and how it is used.
  4. Control who can see your information
    1. Log in to Facebook
    2. Navigate to https://www.facebook.com/settings
    3. On the left pane, click “Privacy”
    4. Adjust settings in How People Find and Contact You
      1. Recommended settings:
        1. Who can send you friend requests? Friends of friends
        2. Who can see your friends list? Friends
        3. Who can look you up using the email address you provided? Friends
        4. Who can look you up using the phone number you provided? Friends
        5. Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile? No
  5. Control who can modify how you are seen by the web
    1. Log in to Facebook
    2. Navigate to https://www.facebook.com/settings
    3. On the left pane, click “Timeline and Tagging”
      1. Recommended settings:
        1. Who can post on your timeline? Friends
        2. Who can see what others post on your timeline? Only me
        3. Allow post sharing to stories? On
        4. Hide comments containing certain words from your timeline
          1. On
          2. Block curse words and derogatory words
        5. Who can see posts you’re tagged in on your timeline? Only me
        6. When you’re tagged in a post, who do you want to add to the audience of the post if they can’t already see it?
          1. Only me
        7. Review posts you’re tagged in before the post appears on your timeline? On
        8. Review tags people add to your posts before the tags appear on Facebook? On
  6. Control facial recognition and automatic photo tagging
    1. Log in to Facebook
    2. Navigate to https://www.facebook.com/settings
    3. On the left pane, click “Face Recognition”
    4. This one is tricky
      1. Why to keep it on:
        1. You want to know if someone is posting photos of you that you are otherwise unaware of
          1. e. stalkers, friends or acquaintances posting pictures of you that you don’t want in the public eye
        2. Coming across pictures of yourself (even in the background) can be fun or even cool to add to your collection
        3. Know if you are being stalked
      2. Why to turn it off:
        1. Avoid accidental association between current you and drunk, 24-year-old you in the process of making stupid decisions.
        2. Avoid getting your Facebook account associated with photos that may be used to discredit you or otherwise harm public opinion of you.

 

How to Lock Down Your Twitter account

  1. Change your password
    1. Log in to Twitter
    2. Navigate to https://twitter.com/settings/account
    3. In the left pane, click on password
    4. Use your password manager (1Password, LastPass, KeePass) to generate a random password
      1. Recommended to use numbers, lowercase letters, uppercase letters, and special characters
      2. Recommended to create password with minimum of 12 characters
  2. Turn on 2-factor authentication
    1. Log in to Twitter
    2. Navigate to https://twitter.com/settings/account
    3. In the left pane, click “Account”
    4. In the center pane, click on “Review your login verification methods” under “Security”
    5. Next to “Mobile security app” click “Set up”
    6. Follow the appropriate steps to activate an authenticator app (use 1Password or LastPass – If you don’t have either of those apps, Google Authenticator will work as well)
  3. Change your recovery email
    1. Log in to Twitter
    2. Navigate to https://twitter.com/settings/account
    3. In the left pane, click “Account”
    4. Change email address in “Email” field
    5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “Save changes”
  4. Manage Your Data
    1. Log in to Twitter
    2. Navigate to https://twitter.com/settings/account
    3. In the left pane, click “Your Twitter data”
    4. Click on “Managing Your Information”
    5. Scroll down to “Interests and ads data” section
    6. Next to “## Interests from Twitter”, click “See all”
    7. Uncheck topics that you do not wish to be associated with
      1. Personally, I uncheck all boxes
    8. If you’d like to prevent these types of topic associations:
      1. Click on “personalization and data settings”
      2. Uncheck “Personalize based on your inferred identity”
        1. Or, more simply, click the “Disable all” button
  5. Control who can see your information
    1. Log in to Twitter
    2. Navigate to https://twitter.com/settings/account
    3. In the left pane, click “Privacy and safety”
      1. Recommended settings:
        1. Photo tagging
          1. Only allow people you follow to tag you in photos
        2. Discoverability
          1. Turn off ability to locate you by email address and phone number
        3. Twitter for teams
          1. Only allow people you follow to add you to their team
        4. Search
          1. Hide sensitive content
          2. Remove blocked and muted accounts

 

Download our free 'How To Lock Down Your Apple ID' guide!

Ask A Question