In 2014, photo sharing service Snapchat ran afoul of hackers after the company stated it had no expertise in any security weaknesses. To prove that such problems existed, attackers lifted the usernames and cell phone numbers of 4.6 million Snapchat users and made them on a public website. Although the site was immediately taken down and snapchat hack app claims to have updated security measures accordingly, the incident raises several important questions about social media marketing privacy – if companies drop the ball, how do families protect themselves?
Snapchat’s premise is easy: Snap a picture, send it to a friend and the image disappears within 10 seconds. The issue? It’s possible to “screenshot” a picture before it vanishes or restore it from an Android device despite deletion. What’s more, Snapchat’s own online privacy policy states it will not provide parents with usage of their children’s messages. To find friends on the app, Snapchat requires users to enter and ensure their phone number; along with user names, this formed the cornerstone for that recent Snapchat hack. Thankfully, you can protect your ID online, even from Snapchat.
If someone inside your family had their number published inside the recent hacker database, call your mobile phone provider and ask for a brand new number. Mentioning the Snapchat hack will more than likely engender goodwill, and you could possibly get a number change for free. Snapchat has also changed its rules, allowing users to turn from the “Find Friends” feature, which requests their cell number. For increased security, always make sure this setting is switched off.
Altering your password periodically is often a good idea – much more right after the Snapchat hack. Even if no person within your family continues to be affected, improving your password strength never goes amiss. Your best bet for security? Choose a number of words that you could remember but aren’t typically related; think of it just like a short story with several key words. Alternatively, choose a collection of letters, both lowercase and uppercase, numbers and symbols that won’t easily be guessed. Just be certain you can also remember the password. Lastly, think about a password management program that will help you manage all your passwords while providing the right level of encryption.
You might get a phone call or email from someone who claims they work with Snapchat; they don’t. For starters, no social networking site will contact you on the phone, even though companies may occasionally reach out for feedback on the Web, they are going to never request any personal information. Any email that claims your account has become compromised and needs you to definitely provide personal information to “reactivate” it is a lie.
Usernames were portion of the data published by Snapchat hackers. Together with phone numbers, this puts anyone who used their real name – or perhaps a percentage of their real name – in danger. Ideally, children ought to choose usernames that don’t have anything to do with their real name, age or address. Doing this means even in the event of a total security breach, usernames can’t be tied to real people.
As pointed out above, pictures on Snapchat should disappear forever but don’t always vanish. While it’s doubtful a big-scale hack like the phone number and username attack will dredge up every photo snapped with all the app, it just takes one picture screen-captured and sent towards the Web at large because of it to become public knowledge. To combat this challenge, parents need to set ylicnm strict guidelines for taking and posting pictures: nothing identifiable, like school names or addresses, without any photos delivered to friends a kid will not know in person. Anonymity protects families while acting as misdirection against those that mean to result in harm.
Internet safety for youngsters is now largely a conversation of social media; cmd hack facebook password is only the most current example. Along with the tips mentioned, it’s always a good idea for families to rely on Kaspersky virus scanner for Mac that has easy-to-use parental controls, for cellular devices. The Snapchat hackers are proof positive that no social site is perfectly secure, though with the right groundwork and mobile security solution, families can rest easier.
