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Social Media Quizzes Make You The Villain And The Victim
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Social Media Quizzes Make You The Villain And The Victim

October 25, 2024

If you want your product to get any type of attention, you can bet that social media is a place to put it. You know that game Wordle that’s all the rage? You likely hadn’t heard about it until your friends started sharing their results on social media. And when you see one of those cute little quizzes that compares you to a Disney Villain, you might be giving up more than your latest Wordle score, should you decide to play that game.

That particular Disney quiz is making another round on social media. Truth is, it never disappeared, but was merely hanging around in the background waiting to strike. You see, the problem isn’t with participating in the quizzes themselves, but with the information all of those social media quizzes collect. It might all seem harmless, but some of them get quite detailed and ask you to name which of your siblings is the nicest, what was your first car, or who’s your most adventurous uncle, for example. All of this information connects you to another person—especially if you tag them—or provides valuable information to a would-be hacker. Think about it. That uncle question just may give up your mother’s maiden name. Other valuable answers could be your favorites: colors, cars, foods, etc. All of that information is useful to an attacker, especially when they are spearphishing.

Remember that word? Spearphishing: Using specific details about the target to try to lure them into believing a link, attachment, or social engineering attempt is legitimate. Well, all of that information that you answer in those quizzes can be collected and used against you.

The best way to avoid this is not to answer the quizzes at all. If you just cannot resist, don’t share the answers on your feed, which really takes the fun out of the quizzes, but it’s really the best way to avoid having your information used against you or someone you know.

Financial institutions are particularly not fond of these types of quizzes. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has warned of them stating that some of the answers are “common security questions for insurance, banking and credit card accounts. Social media data and quiz answers can be used to steal your identity or enable a scammer to impersonate you.” No one wants that...except the attackers, of course.

There are more tips from the BBB:

  • Always be skeptical. Just because something looks like fun, doesn’t mean you should participate. There may be significant risk.
  • Limit what information you share on social media. The less that is posted for all the world to see, the better.
  • Secure your accounts. Choose the strongest security settings you can and enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) when it’s available.
  • Be wary of friend requests. If you get a friend request from someone you don’t know, don’t accept it. These could be scammers. If you get multiple requests from someone you’re already friends with, send them a note first to make sure their account wasn’t duplicated by someone else. This happens often.
  • Keep your security question answers safe. If you choose to take one of those quizzes and you’re asked something that is a security question answer, don’t answer it truthfully. Don’t give away your sensitive data.

When Sharing Isn't Always A Good Thing: TikTok Shares Your PII

Mobile Security

When Sharing Isn't Always A Good Thing: TikTok Shares Your PII

Growing up, our elders taught us to share with others. Of course, we know they weren’t talking about sharing personal information online. If anything, the latest TikTok hack should be a lesson to us all to be extremely careful about the PII (personally identifiable information) we share online, especially on social media sites. TikTok’s “Find Friends” option was exploited by hackers who used it to steal PII from the account holder and their contacts. READ FULL STORY

Online Security Tips From The BBB

Your Security

Online Security Tips From The BBB

Champions of consumers that they are, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) posted a warning reminder on their website about some of the risky online scenario’s consumers face every day. Keeping cyber safety in the forefront of our online activities isn’t always easy, but it’s always possible to do. The BBB knows this and wants consumers to be aware of some of the latest cyber scams and just how truly slippery they can be. It’s well-worth heeding what the BBB has to say about cybercrime and how to avoid the pitfalls that every hacker hopes we fall into. READ FULL STORY

Facebook, Instagram Shopping Scams Run Wild And Rake In Millions

Scams & Phishing

Facebook, Instagram Shopping Scams Run Wild And Rake In Millions

Data recently released by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shows that the number of complaints about social media shopping scams more than tripled over the last year. Consumers reported losing more than $117 million to this type of scam in just the first six months of 2020 compared to $134 million for all of 2019, according to the FTC’s latest Consumer Protection Data Spotlight. The social media sites overwhelmingly involved in these scams are Facebook and Instagram, with consumer scam reports totaling 94% of all rip-offs involving a specific platform. READ FULL STORY

Social Media Brings Out The Worst Scammers

Scams & Phishing

Social Media Brings Out The Worst Scammers

Social media attacks are a favorite of those pesky cybercriminals. One might wonder why. Well, it’s because it’s easy pickin's going for those accounts. Researchers at Arkose Labs found that of 1.2 billion social media interactions, 53% of the logins were fraudulent and 25% of new accounts were phony. Millions of people use one form of social media or another, whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, or something else. That leaves a barrel full of phish used for targets for hackers and scammers. READ FULL STORY

TikTok Collects User Biometric Data, Risking Face And Voice Print Abuse

Mobile Security

TikTok Collects User Biometric Data, Risking Face And Voice Print Abuse

Like most electronic data, biometric data is permanent, and in this case it’s your unique voice and facial recognition prints being collected. Security experts are concerned about TikTok’s latest user data grab. The company recently announced they’re collecting new data on users from their video and audio files. Face and voice prints are now being collected from TikTok’s 689 million active global active users, currently without permission. READ FULL STORY








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