During the pandemic period, people spend a significant part of their time indoors, socializing with friends, family members and friends, who are kept away, is carried out through social digital networks. It’s not just sociologists, educators, or marketing professionals who are following this change. Cybercriminals who make money using illegal means in digital environments are also closely watching the developments. They follow the appropriate time and environment in order to make money easily. They try to get what they want with the methods they have developed on social media platforms, which are an entertainment and socializing tool for users.

Part of social engineering jobs

Cybercriminals take advantage of social engineering practices by performing meticulous work. They create a meaningful whole by bringing together the information in different parts. Sometimes they can collect enough information to be able to master the details that your spouse and friends and sometimes your parents do not know, and they can use this information for their own purposes. They can either open a new account on your behalf or set up new traps using your existing account.

What can the hijacked account do?

The attack using the fake Clubhouse application made a lot of noise. Lukas Stefanko, an ESET malware researcher, detected a malware that aims to steal user login information from cybercriminals on many online services. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit and the new platform ClubHouse are among the most well-known social media accounts. Some periods, according to the popularity of the platform, one stands out as an attack target, another next month.

People who think that their social media account has been compromised can apply to the help center of the captured social media account if they take precautions beforehand. Depending on which platform it is, it can sometimes be undone with an easy or a difficult process.

What should you do to prevent your account from getting hijacked?

ESET Turkey Product and Marketing Manager Can Erginkurban summarized the things to be considered when using social media accounts as follows;

• It says that you can login to some applications with your social media account. Although it sounds good not to have to create a new account, be very careful about the applications you will log in with this method.
• Do not login to unfamiliar applications and sites with your social media accounts.
• Absolutely strong, hardly predictable, and use different passwords for each social media account. In fact, start using a reliable password manager that can remember the passwords of all your accounts.
• Be sure to use an antivirus software that provides multi-layered protection on every device you connect to the Internet.
• Do not connect to the Internet from Wi-Fi networks that you do not know and are unsure of their security. For example, remember that every communication you make on a hotel’s or restaurant’s Wi-Fi network can be monitored and changed by others.
• Be sure to enable the two-factor authentication feature. Especially for android phone users, the second authentication measure with sms can be circumvented by the attackers. For this reason, choose 2FA applications instead of SMS.