Cybersecurity Challenges in Social Media Erdal Ozkaya

4.6.7
 
Using privacy settings 
Social media platforms, despite their many shortcomings, try to provide their users 
with tools to improve their privacy and security. One great privacy setting is the one that 
limits the audience for the posts. Social media sites, such as Facebook have an icon on each 
post a user makes that gives the user the option to change the audience or who can see the 
post. Therefore, when traveling, the post can be made to be visible to friends only. When 
sharing information about general things that present no security harm, such a post can be left 
to be public. There are other things that a user can control. Some sections of one's bio can be 
hidden. It is of no importance for one to announce to the world private information such as 
schools attended, all workplaces one has been through, or even pet names. On other 
platforms, such as Instagram, one can make his or her account private. This means that the 
posts he or she makes will get to a much smaller audience and therefore, it is safer. Users 
need to be made aware of these settings. Some social media platforms are really trying to get 

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more practical privacy settings on their platforms to help the users secure the information that 
they share. 
4.7
 
Recovery 
In the worst-case scenario, a user will have fallen victim to the social media threats. 
Therefore, it is good to know how to recover when this happens. The following are some of 
the recovery ways categorized as per threat: 
4.7.1
 
From spamming 
If a user has fallen victim to a scammer and sent some money to them, the best way to 
handle this is by reporting the matter to legal authorities as well as to one’s financial 
institution. Responsible banks will try and follow up the matter to see whether the money can 
be recovered. Legal authorities might try to nab the suspect in future attack attempts. It is also 
good to retain the digital evidence of the scam just in case it is needed.