Social media has evolved how businesses and individuals communicate and although we are constantly being warned about the risks of social media, no one ever thinks a hack will actually happen to them, their family, or their company. Yet, every day it seems that another company’s social network has been hacked. Three recent social media hacks involved the Facebook and Twitter accounts of Newsweek Magazine, Delta Airlines, and one of Twitter’s top executives. These hacks included threats to President Obama and his family, objectionable sexual content, and hundreds of twitter direct messages containing spam links.
Newsweek, Delta and Twitter are only three examples out of the thousands of companies who have had to deal with social media hacks in recent years, and the list of companies being hacked is constantly growing. Once again, you may be thinking that this could never happen to you or your company. Well, last week social media hacks hit very close to home for me. Three of my family members were victims of social media hacks in two separate and unrelated incidents:
- An unscrupulous hacker created a fake Facebook profile for my wife’s aunt which was complete with the same photo and information as her real Facebook profile. The hacker proceeded to connect with her friends and solicit funds under the guise of an elaborate story. It is very alarming to log on to Facebook and see yourself asking your family and friends for money, with no way to control the situation. This hack has caused mistrust and an unsettling feeling not only for my wife’s aunt but also for all of her friends and family.
- Within the same week, my wife’s cousin and uncle were tagged in unsavory video that was made visible to all of their Facebook friends. The videos were quite well done and hard to distinguish from a real post. After further inspection, it was discovered that the video was embedded with malware. Once someone clicked on the initial video frame, malware was immediately downloaded on their computer and the malware post would be further broadcasted on their personal social media networks. This incident caused embarrassment and serious reputational damage to both of my family members.
Facebook estimates that between 5.5 and 11.2 percent (68 to 138 million) of its user accounts are fake. These fake accounts are made up of both personal pages and company pages attempting to mislead others. For example, Southwest Airlines suffered damage from a duplicate Facebook page when a scammer created “South West Airlines” and advertised fake promotions from the airline. Scammer’s use fake profiles and company pages in order to extract personal information from the public. In the case of “South West Airlines”, victims entered their name, address, and other personal information in order to enter into a fake promotion. Other well-known companies, such as Samsung and McDonalds, have found themselves in very similar situations as Southwest Airlines.
Don’t allow you or your company to become a cautionary tale. Having a social media scam affect your personal life is one issue but what if the same thing happened to your company’s pages? What would your customers think if your social media pages were soliciting them asking for money or personal information? Social media is extremely risky and these types of scams and hacks happen all the time to companies within every industry. There are four primary steps that need to be taken in order to avoid similar incidents to the ones experienced by my family and these companies. These steps will help you safeguard your business, its brand, and reputation from social media risks.
- Understand and Access the Risks
Reputational damage, data leaks, privacy breaches, cyber-attacks, and even clueless or malicious employees can wreak havoc on your business. The first step in social media risk management is to be aware of all the vulnerabilities of social media and how to mitigate them. It is only possible to protect yourself and your company if you know what you need to be protected from, so it is important to be properly educated and informed.
Once you are aware of the most prevalent risks for you and your organization, the next step is to familiarize yourself with the growing body of regulatory compliance requirements for your particular industry. For example, if you are in the healthcare and life sciences industry and an employee within your organization were to release any sensitive data or disclose personal information about a patient’s health condition, you could be in direct violation of HIPAA compliance, resulting in financial penalties or legal repercussions.
- Plan
Once social media risks have been identified, it is time to create a cohesive plan that considers each risk and how it should be managed. This step requires you and your company to consider the following questions:
- What risks are prevalent on the various social media sites?
- Who manages or will manage accounts on these sites?
- How will management deal with risks and attacks?
- Who is authorized to speak on the organization’s behalf?
- How will you respond to negative or untrue feedback?
A company needs to be able to review and answer all of these questions as well as iron-out any other issues regarding your social media strategy and risk management process. It is important to have a clear-cut plan that includes damage-control procedures in response to any risks whether they are external or internal in nature.
- Involve the Right People
Social media use within a company cuts across many departments including marketing, IT, corporate communications, internal audit, legal, and compliance. It is essential that every department within an organization is on the same page and has an understanding of how each process is important to making critical decisions. This collaborative effort between each department within your business ensures your company’s social media policy is up to date, while taking into account the company’s unique industry and marketplace risks.
- Effectively Deal with Feedback
Feedback, whether it is good or bad, provides a wealth of valuable information to your company, especially when it comes from current and future customers. However, on social media it is possible that your competitors could be posting negative comments or fake reviews, turning your social media program against you. Negative comments, fake or real, need to be addressed in an appropriate and timely manner or your company can face undeserved reputational damage that could result in profit loss and disappointed customers.
Despite all the risks involved with using social media, is it an extremely effective platform to promote your brand, market your product, and engage with customers which far outweighs the negatives. If you find the risks overwhelming and beyond your realm of control, we are here to help. With our patented technology, we can not only identify risks on social media but also take appropriate action on those risks to keep your business safe.
Whether you need to comply with regulatory bodies, secure your accounts, or stop spam and malware, support is available. I don’t want any of our current or future customers to have to go through what my family went through in the past few weeks. Contact us today and take control of social media risk.
