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 ====== Social Media Security ======
-Decades ago, in the expanding internet social media lands, securing one’s online presence, while keeping yourself safe IRL, was far less complex. Now, times have changed, as many social media gathering places are littered with bad actors and other hostile threats. Almost everyone uses social media daily, WE, the Anonymous collective comprised of individuals, use it daily. This guide will cover how to remain safe using social media, not only for ourselves, but for the collective as a whole, as well as the general public.
+Decades ago, in the expanding internet social media lands, securing one’s online presence, while keeping yourself safe IRL, was far less complex. Now, times have changed, as many social media gathering places are littered with bad actors and other hostile threats. Almost everyone uses social media daily, WE, the Anonymous collective comprised of individuals, use it daily. This guide will cover how to remain safe using social media, not only for ourselves, but for the collective as a whole, as well as the general public. In addition to these strategies, it's also recommended that you look into actual software and hardware security as well. Those will be discussed on a different page, and you should take some time to review those as well. (placeholder for technical page link on soft/hardware for online security).
-Separating your RL identity and securing your personal info from your social media presence, is quickly becoming more crucial. Many people still use a handle which closely resembles their RL identity, and this can be a grave mistake, with harsh lessons being learned from it. Whenever you consider starting up a new social media account, it’s highly advisable that you separate the RL person from the online one. This provides an extra bit of protection against hostiles online, looking to cause harm. It’s a good practice to get into, so let’s all start using it.
+Separating your RL identity and securing your personal info from your social media presence, is quickly becoming more crucial. Many people still use a handle which closely resembles their RL identity, and this can be a grave mistake, with harsh lessons being learned from it. Whenever you consider starting up a new social media account, it’s highly advisable that you separate the RL person from the online one and also any older "personal" accounts with your ACTUAL info, from the newer ones without it. This provides an extra bit of protection against hostiles online, looking to cause harm. It’s a good practice to get into, so let’s all start using it.
-=====
 ===== The Strategy =====
-The first course of action before even starting an account, should be to do up a plan of it’s purpose, what qualities you want to express with the identity, and what information you are or aren’t willing to divulge. While most social media sites ask for a name and other personal info, this doesn’t mean you *have* to provide them with the real info. Plan out a name, birthdate, place of work and other details that you find acceptable to expose, but none of them real and based off yourself, or anyone you know. Use an entirely different email address as well to start each new social media acct. I can’t express enough how important it can be to separate each SM presence as it’s own unique identity. Ideally, this strategy should be used for every social media account you create.
+The first course of action before even starting an account, should be to do up a plan of it’s purpose, what qualities you want to express with the identity, and what information you are or aren’t willing to divulge. While most social media sites ask for a name and other personal info, this doesn’t mean you *have* to provide them with the real info. Plan out a name, birthdate, place of work and other details that you find acceptable to expose, but none of them real and based off yourself, or anyone you know. Use an entirely different email address as well to start each new social media account. I can’t express enough how important it can be to separate each SM presence as it’s own unique identity. Ideally, this strategy should be used for every social media account you create.
+The only exception to this should be if you’re intentionally using the same handle over different platforms. Even if this is your plan, still use different email address, “real” name and DOB etc in setting the accounts up. That way, even if ONE account somehow becomes compromised, it’s not going to have as much impact on the others. If someone manages to gain control of your one account, they’re not going to be able to use that info to access your other accounts, even if the handle is the same. Additionally, with each email and SM account, be sure to make use of any and all additional account security features such as recovery and [[security:2fa|two-factor authentication]].
+All this use of fictional information in your account, might be tricky to remember for some, so you can (and should) create a text file or something for reference. Keep this info secured, preferably on a backup drive or USB stick along with any other password files or account recovery info.
+===== Your Social Media Presence & Actions =====
+Now that you've gotten your intended social media account actually set up, you're going to start posting on it, so the first rule of thumb should be considered: **Never** presume anything that you say or do on social media, is //"private"//. This is probably one of the top mistakes people make because even if your account is fairly locked down to where only specific people can view it's contents, each of those people is still a security risk. They can, and might, just screencap what you're posting and release it into the wilds of the interwebs without your knowledge or consent. One day you might get in a disagreement with an online "friend", next thing you know, all your most personal thoughts and comments are being distributed, with random unknowns commenting and possibly reposting. They can even leak it offline into your RL friends or family if they've managed to find any of them via your account.
-The only exception to this should be if you’re intentionally using the same handle over different platforms. Even if this is your plan, still use different email address, “real” name and DOB etc in setting the accounts up. That way, even if ONE account somehow becomes compromised, it’s not going to have as much impact on the others. If someone manages to gain control of your one account, they’re not going to be able to use that info to access your other accts, even if the handle is the same. Additionally, with each email and SM acct, be sure to make use of any and all additional account security features such as recovery and 2FA. <code>[[security:2fa|2FA]]</code> All this use of fictional information in your account, might be tricky to remember for some, so you can (and should) create a text file or something for reference. Keep this info secured, preferably on a backup drive or USB stick along with any other password files or account recovery info.
+There are many different ways in which you can limit who sees and interacts on your social media spaces. For example, on Facebook and Twitter, you can limit who can see your posts/comments and interact with them. It's a good idea to decide at what level of exposure you want your content to appear at, before making your first post. Explore all the options available on whichever platform you're going to use, as some will even let you switch from an open public audience, to a limited one later on if you choose. However, you also need to be aware that Google and some other services, might index or capture content from social media environments even if your content was only briefly set to public. So if you allow public viewing, then "lock down" to only select people able to view/interact, Google might already have that post indexed and it can still be seen at least in a quick view from a search. There's also caching of web pages such as Wayback Machine, which could potentially have lingering bits of your content that someone can dig up. So, always keep in mind, privacy doesn't truly exist and the interwebs has a better memory than Pepperidge Farms.
-===== Your Social Media Presence and Actions =====
+Choose your content and words wisely with the understanding that nothing really is private and that you might not be able to completely delete all traces of what you do. A good habit is just to avoid discussions regarding details such as where you went to school, current/past jobs, details about RL family or friends and absolutely includes posting personal pictures. Images posted on an account can always be downloaded and reverse image searches can produce quite good results, tracing you to your other social media spaces. So if you've posted an image on a secured account and also on a personal account with your RL name, those two might be connected if someone decides to dig up info on the image. Suddenly, they've found your other account with your real identity, NOT GOOD. Remember: the online folks aren't your RL circle, so keep that shit separate, because the two worlds colliding can result in an epic shitstorm in your life. Nobody needs that.
-Now that you've gotten your intended social media account actually set up, you're going to start posting on it, so the first rule of thumb should be considered: NEVER presume anything that you say or do on social media, is "private". This is probably one of the top mistakes people make because even if your acct is fairly locked down to where only specific people can view it's contents, each of those people is still a security risk. They can, and might, just screencap what you're posting and release it into the wilds of the interwebs without your knowledge or consent. One day you might get in a disagreement with an online "friend", next thing you know, all your most personal thoughts and comments are being distributed, with random unknowns commenting and possibly reposting. They can even leak it offline into your RL friends or family if they've managed to find any of them via your account. Choose your content and words wisely with the understanding that nothing really is private. A good habit is just to avoid discussions regarding where you went to school, past jobs, details about RL family or friends etc. The online folks aren't your RL circle, so keep that shit separate, because the two worlds colliding can result in an epic shitstorm in your life. Nobody needs that.
+{{tag>Tutorials Security}}
-{{tag>Tutorials Security Stubs}}

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