No one can deny the many benefits that social media offers businesses. It has made customer engagement and marketing so much easier, more effective, and simpler.
But like that’s connected to the Internet, it does come with some security risks. Companies are well aware of how crucial protection and security is for their business.
But even if some businesses have a team that provides cybersecurity managed services for them, they sometimes overlook social media when it comes to their security protocols, leaving their business vulnerable to malicious individuals.
For example, think of with whom and where your employees are posting and sharing their tweets and blogs. Remember that social media is primarily a very public forum for sharing stuff and your employees are probably active on their accounts.
This means that there’s also a possibility that some of your company data might be made public, and if a malicious individual gets a hold of it, you might end up with many different issues.
In addition, the concept of trust is fairly higher in social media that most people would innocently sign-up for apps and open invitations that would require them to give away their personal details. So how do you safeguard your company and your employees?
1. Ensure everything is always updated.
Update all your applications, including your antivirus software, browsers, social media plug-ins, and so on as soon as updates are available. If you enable employees to bring and use their own devices for work, make sure you have security policies in place, especially for social media use. Make sure to hold employees accountable for lapses in security.
2. Conduct risk monitoring.
Employing a potent risk monitoring solution will help you better keep track of your various channels, which include social media. These solutions are capable of closely monitoring phishing links, fraudulent accounts, and scams. You can easily automate these, and they offer customizable capabilities based on your business’ needs and scale.
3. Make your network extra secure.
You can start by employing solutions specific to your business protocols and operations so you’re assured of multilayer security that will keep you protected from the inside and the outside. You could further fortify your network security through using intrusion prevention systems (IPS) software.
This is capable of identifying and blocking network connections that might be counterproductive to your employees’ tasks, like instant messaging or P2P connections. It can likewise block malicious users in the event that they bypassed your firewall.
4. Train your employees.
Make certain that you train your employees on proper social media use in the office, especially when it comes to security. Your employees will make mistakes, but don’t get tired of providing sufficient training and corrections until social media security is drilled into their heads.
With the sheer amount of data shared and stored online, security, especially on social media, is more critical than ever. While the connections and opportunities social media offers are really beneficial for businesses, they also come with great risks, and it’s basically up to you to fortify your security defenses and use social media responsibly.
