Considering the number of high-profile stories regarding
security and information breaches this year, social media security is of the
utmost concern for companies. One recent example involves Burger King in 2013.
An “anonymous” poster under the alias “McDonalds” took over the Burger King’s Twitter
account and proceeded to mock the company. Burger King was able to quickly
regain control of the situation (and even gained quite a few new followers in
the process) but not everyone is so lucky (Colbert, 2013).
Threats can emerge for a number of reasons, including malicious
software in the code on social media sites, advertising and apps; employees posting
confidential information; scammers pining for personal information; and lack of
training for employees and company representatives (Nerney, 2011).
For this week’s post, identify a company that has
experienced a security breach on its social media sites. Consider the following:
- What impact did the hack have on the company? (financial, reputation or other)
- How did the company respond to the situation? Do you agree with the approach? What would you have done differently?
- Was there something the company could have done to prevent the breach? What measures should be put in place to prevent a breach from happening again?
This week’s assigned readings will be helpful:
- Internet 2 Wiki, Tips for Safe and
Secure Social Networking (
Read
online) - Microsoft, 11 Tips for Social
Networking Safety (Read online).
- McAfee, 15 Social Media Security
Tips (Read online).
References:
Colbert, Annie. (2013, February 18). Burger King Twitter
Account Hacked. Mashable. Retrieved
from: http://mashable.com/2013/02/18/burger-king-twitter-account-hacked/
Nerney, Chris. (2011, May 31). 5 top social media security
threats. Network World. Retrieved
from http://www.networkworld.com/article/2177520/collaboration-social/5-top-social-media-security-threats.html
Question on this one. While not exactly a company, would I be able to cover Army Central Command's Twitter and Facebook being hacked by ISIS as my organization? Fairly major event, and if need be I can branch into a couple other high profile military social media hacks in the past couple months.
ReplyDeleteHi Harley, that would be fine! Thanks for checking.
DeleteThank you for such an interesting topic and example, Sabrina. Everyone needs to be extra careful while utilizing social media and posting to the various networking sites. As McAfee notes in your suggested reading, “Realize that you can become a victim at any time” and “Think twice about applications that request permission to access your data” (Siciliano, 2011). This is a great reminder to be aware of the consequences of just going through networking sites and clicking agreements without reading the fine print. All too often I feel as though many people quickly click on the agreements just to get to the main page or whatever it is they’re looking to get to without doing their due diligence in reading the request. Thanks again for an interesting topic!
ReplyDeleteReferences
Siciliano, Robert. (July 13, 2011). McAfee. 15 Social Media Security Tips. Retrieved on February 26, 2015 from https://blogs.mcafee.com/consumer/15-social-media-security-tips