As a social media manager, you have a million things to think about every day. Creating campaigns, organixing graphics, responding to fans and of course posting, tweeting and uploading.
Unfortunately, when it comes to social media hacking and account security, you will probably only think about it when it’s too late.
A hacked account can cause massive embarrassment to your brand, lose you followers, get you banned from networks, and even land you in legal trouble. That’s because you are responsible for the information you put out from your channel.
Before you say, “it won’t happen to me”, keep in mind that the last few years have seen cyberattacks rise and target well known figures and brands.
Three Recent Cases of Social Media Hacking
1. Game of Thrones
The popular TV series Game of Thrones on HBO has nearly 7 million followers on Twitter — making it ripe for the picking where hackers are concerned. In August of 2017, a group called OurMine appeared to take control of the main HBO accounts, including the Game of Thrones feed.
OurMine has a reputation for hacking high profile Twitter accounts. In fact, it recently hacked Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, Netflix, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai and Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales.
2. Amnesty International
When it comes to social media hacking, there are many reasons someone may take over your corporate account. Some hackers are motivated for monetary gain, others as a personal vendetta or mischief — or some for political reasons, as in the case with Amnesty International.
Recently, several high-profile Twitter accounts were hacked by an anonymous group. Accounts such as The European Parliament, Forbes and Amnesty International fell victim. Amnesty International and Unicef USA saw their social media accounts tweet a message in Turkish that read:
“#NaziGermany #NaziNetherlands, a little #OTTOMAN SLAP for you, see you on #April16th.”
3. United Stated Central Command
If there’s one account you don’t expect to fall victim to social media hacking, it’s The United States Central Command!
The US Military Central Command were hacked by CyberCaliphate, a group supporting ISIS. The hack consisted of two videos which were uploaded to the official YouTube channel entitled “Flames of War Isis Video.” And “O Soldiers of truth go forth.”
On an even more serious note, documents were also released via the Twitter account which, although deemed “non-classified,” still had the potential to damage national security. Whilst the account was eventually recovered, it was still an embarrassing slap in the face for the Pentagon.
If social media hacking can happen to them, it can happen to you.
So, let’s take a look at how you can prevent social media hacking on your own brand account.
Steps to Take to Protect Your Social Media Accounts
1. Get Alerted About Suspicious Activity
As a social media manager, you need to have eyes in the back of your head and not just for fan comments and media monitoring.
You need to keep tabs on suspicious logins and get an early detection on anything suspicious. Consider installing intrusion detection apps on your phone….
