Yes, oversharing on social media is making you less safe. Whether it's a location-based status update, pictures of your possessions (cough guns cough), or even comments on hot-button posts. We're guilty of it too. Today we're going to look at some safety considerations when sharing on social media to enhance your situational awareness and preparedness. It seems harmless and likely is, but there are bad actors out there who might take advantage of your negligence.
We're not telling you to stop using social media and we're not saying be paranoid, but we are advising you think twice about your activity and connections. The list of crimes that are possible or have occurred through social media info spans from very basic stalking to robbery, assault, or worse.
Know the Risks
It's easier than you think for bad guys to access your info, despite your privacy settings. As an experiment, we did a quick search of 5 random names on Facebook and Instagram, and 4 out of the 5 were public pages or showed some info publically - pics, posts, or even just the friends list.
Not only that, we saw that it was easy to add a person you didn't know. Some people are happy to accept connections from people they arent familiar with, if there is some sort of commonality. DON'T DO THIS! It's easy to trust someone if you have mutual friends in common, live in the same area, work at the same company, or frequent the same establishment. That info is easy to fake. Trust your gut and know that you don't need to add someone just because you might have met them in the past. You can't know which of your legit connections have fallen for this either.
Location Updates and Posts
It's hard not to share your fun experiences or what you're doing throughout the day. But posts showing that you just checked into a restaurant, or a photo of you at a resort, or even just attending a picnic nearby, are easy ways of telling someone you are not home. Even if you aren't posting but a friend or family member does, and even if you aren't tagged directly, someone who recognizes your face or knows who you hang out with can see that you are away.
We know most home break-ins occur during the day from 10a-3pm, specifically because criminals know most people are away (at work). A bad actor who sees you enjoying a cocktail on the beach now knows your home is empty and likely won't wait until the cover of darkness to act, when there are extra eyeballs around your dwelling.
Picture Meta Data
Piggybacking on the location posts, your pictures often have meta data attached to them. This data is added automatically by your phone or some social apps, and includes things like date, time, location, and even device info.
Someone with bad intent can download photos you've uploaded and see this data easily by looking at the "about" info of the photo. Social apps have location tracking capabilities and this tags your media as well. It's one more way to see where you are, or habits throughout the week or month.
Fortunately, you can often turn off this data on most devices or apps. Follow these steps if you have an iPhone, or these steps for Facebook. A quick search will give you instructions for the other devices and apps you use.
Bragging About High Value Items
Get a new boat, inherit a priceless watch, or do some blasting with a new rifle? These are a few examples of highly coveted items, or signals that you are well-off and probably have other expensive things laying around.
It's not hard to see this stuff online, even if your profile is private. Like we said, the risk increases when others take photos or write posts also. Someone who notices your things and decides they want it, might attempt to steal it when the time is right, even if months down the road.
We're not just talking about the random criminals either. Suppose society collapses, or we see a worse version of the Covid pandemic. There could be a lot of desperate people out there, including your own friends and neighbors. Normal people do crazy things when they are desperate and it only takes as little as 72 hours of not having essentials before that breakdown begins. Letting the world know you have firearms, food stores, or money identifies you as a potential target.
Inciting Rage
Unfortunately, we live in a period of intense civil discourse. Social media posts cause people to say all sorts of things. Overlooking the fact that you don't have to comment on everything and it's often better to keep your opinions to yourself, making a comment could incite rage from someone else, who takes it to another level for revenge or vigilante justice.
Seemingly harmless comments or group associations are often met by rage from those with opposing viewpoints. We know most of this just comes from harmles keyboard warriors hiding behind the internet's anonymity, but just like road rage, someone might just snap. Your comment doesnt have to be a threat, pointed accusation, or even a passive aggressive joke for someone to take it the wrong way.
If you piss someone off, your profile, network, and info is one click away. Your name is searchable, and suddenly, they know how to get to you.
We think it's a better idea to avoid commenting on hot button topics at all, instead of even offering intelligent or peaceful insight. Keep a low profile, as they say.
What Can You Do To Protect Yourself?
It's darn near impossible for most of us to quit social media. We should scale back our usage to limit private details about our lives, and enable as many privacy settings as possible, but we can also increase safety by adding extra layers of physical security.
The most obvious is to always keep things locked up, especially our valuables. Utilize a safe, locked room, or even a good hiding spot. Don't forget about your garage contents either. Consider removing things from plain sight. It's not hard to break into most homes, so adding additional layers inside to delay or deny further criminal activity and pain on your part should be prioritized.
Consider adding a security system like Ring, or adding cameras that can ping your phone if motion is detected. These are cheap and we advise getting the real thing, not fake cameras to "scare" away bad guys. Put these by entry points or in rooms/areas that particularly store more valuables. An added benefit is increased likelihood of catching a bad guy or recovering your stuff when sharing footage with police.
Lastly, always utilize your trusted neighbors and friends. If you're going out of town, or even if you work every day away from home, let them know. Have a conversation with them about watching your street or each other's properties when you're away. An extra set of eyes is a great precaution and these days, plenty of people work from home and can easily see what's going on.
Stay safe out there, and choose to remain in the background when you can. Part of being situationally aware means not making yourself a target on social media! If you have questions, or would like a security assessment, don't hesitate to reach out to us.
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