Is Your Private Information Safe on Social Media?

 

More than 12 million Americans were victims of identity fraud in the past year, according to a recent study. Twelve million. I was one of them. Against my better judgment, I curiously clicked on a questionable direct message from a friend, and like that, my Twitter account was phished. Luckily, I changed my passwords and implemented damage control before things got out of hand.

What I learned from that experience, and the growing cybersecurity problems gobbling up news headlines, is whether you're a multinational company or a middle school teacher, we all need to do a better job of protecting our private information. And often, social media is the tool used to compromise our data.

 

With social media as the battleground, it's up to us to protect a valuable commodity: our personal information. To help in the effort is an infographic, below, from NextAdvisor detailing which states have the most identity fraud complaints, the most popular strategies used by thieves, and some simple ways to protect yourself.
 

Image courtesy of Flickr, Horia Varlan