Secure Your Online Presence

May 5th was World Password Day. It’s an excellent reminder of how dangerous the online world can be.

The security of accounts is something we take seriously at Spearhead. In fact, earlier this week, we had a seminar at SABIS International School in Adma about Parenting in the Digital World. During that seminar we presented the safe ways to use the Internet and the Digital World in general as well as some tips for parental control and for being on top of things with kids these days. You can download the brochure here.

Your ‘baby’ - aka your business - needs some securing of its own. We don’t tend to think about these things, but a lot of those “hacking” incidents we hear about actually happen because of the lack of strong passwords or the lack of digital security education. It’s a very big topic with many layers and with time we’ll be addressing it in more detail. However, to get started, follow these tips:

Educate yourself & staff

If you’re managing your online channels, learn about these channels: about their settings, their proper usage, the good and the bad. It takes time and effort, but it’s very crucial.

Also, work on educating your employees. Phishing is the attempt to acquire sensitive information by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. If you or your staff are not careful, you might be giving the wrong people the login credentials to your accounts.

Secure your accounts

1. Know who has access

   If a number of people access your brand’s Facebook accounts, use Business Manager to control that access. If not, simply check the “Roles” tab in the page’s settings to see who has access. For Instagram or other channels, keep track of who you’re giving access to.

   If someone leaves your organization, your first call of action should be to change all passwords and remove all access.

2. Use strong passwords

   Make sure your password is not too simple (like “password1”!!). If your password is complex but your community manager’s password is weak, that won’t work either. Your business’ security is as strong as the weakest password.

   Better still, change your password frequently. Don’t wait for May 5th!

3. Use Two-Factor Authentication

   With two-step verification, services like Facebook and Twitter will send a verification code to your mobile phone as a text message or display the code within the app itself. So you’ll need to put that after your password as a second line of defense. However, when multiple people are using a single account, this might not be very practical.

4. Grab your usernames

   Usernames are like your channels’ IDs in the Digital World. Are you on Facebook but not on Instagram? Grab the Instagram username and keep it inactive, parked. This way you avoid anyone impersonating your brand.

   The same goes for claiming your business on platforms where others sign your business up (whether you like it or not): Foursquare, TripAdvisor, Zomato…

Cybercrime is increasing by the day as we move further and further into the Digital World. Give it the attention it needs and don’t take it lightly.

If you are interested in learning more about this topic, connect with us.