Information that is publicly visible on your social media profiles is information that criminals can use against you — to impersonate you, to tailor a scam, or to answer your security questions.
Full name, birthday, phone number, home town, workplace, and family members' names — all of these are useful to a scammer. The business email compromise at the Bristol agency succeeded partly because the director's travel plans were visible on his public LinkedIn and Instagram.
Review your settings on each platform:
- Facebook: Settings → Privacy → Check your privacy settings, review your public profile
- Instagram: Settings → Privacy → set account to Private if you're an individual (not a business)
- LinkedIn: Settings → Visibility → Profile viewing options
- TikTok: Settings → Privacy → set account to Private
For business accounts where visibility is important, consider what information is genuinely necessary to display publicly. Your business phone number and location are useful. Your director's personal travel diary is not.
This takes about 15 minutes and should be done annually as platforms change their defaults.
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