![]() Once a password is cracked, it's a no-brainer that scammers are going to try to use it to breach other accounts associated with the individual.īeyond having unique passwords for every site, it's also advisable to use longer phrases and hard-to-guess passwords so they are difficult to crack through brute force. Reusing passwords is a perennial problem that causes internet users many headaches, said John Buzzard, lead fraud and security analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research. Practice smart password management principles It is possible, although difficult, to dupe the verifying systems within these social platforms," Ramzan said.Īs the social media world shifts its approach to identify verification and cybersecurity, here are five basic steps all users can take to help secure social media accounts and help prevent takeover fraud. "When you interact with a verified account, there's a greater assurance that someone is who they say they are. But beyond that, "it's just plain wrong to charge people to verify their identity to help keep their personal information secure," he added.Ĭonsumers should not have the mistaken idea that paying for these services makes account security 100% guaranteed, which isn't possible. "They'll just be compromised by a criminal who was able to pass the verification," Lee said. With social engineering and phishing the primary sources of social media account compromise, it's unlikely verified accounts will actually be more secure. ![]() Twitter Blue briefly launched in November, and its first iteration became a major embarrassment for the company, which pulled it after users abused the new paid option by impersonating celebrities and brands. Lee said it remains to be seen how rigorous the verification process will be. ![]() Lee, chief operating officer at the Identity Theft Resource Center. "This will be a monumental waste of time and money, in my opinion," said James E. Wall Street seems optimistic about the opportunity to make more money from these social media subscriptions, with Bank of America estimating that Meta may add as many as 12 million paid users by early next year, worth about $1.7 billion in revenue.Ĭonsumer internet advocates, though, are worried about the security implications of these changes. And in-depth verification requires human labor, additional monitoring, and additional resources and operational upkeep, meaning increased costs for the technology companies. "It's not only about protecting you it's about protecting your friends and family from potential threats, scams and cybercrime." What cybersecurity experts are saying about Meta, Twitterįor some users, such as public figures with many followers - and also "semi-public" figures well known within a specific community - the case is strongest for paying to have identity verification as a way to protect one's followers and one's brand. "Once they are in, the sky's the limit as to what they can do to your account," Ramzan said. Once scammers gain access to your social media account, they can usurp your personal information, read your private messages, scam your contacts, post publicly as you and take other nefarious actions. In the case of Twitter, only verified users will be permitted the benefit of SMS-based two-factor authentication. It is possible, although difficult, to dupe the verifying systems within these social platforms. When you interact with a verified account, there's a greater assurance that someone is who they say they are. The company's new subscription service is similar to Twitter's revamped service called Twitter Blue, which also grants users a verification badge if they pay a monthly or annual fee. "This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post. For that fee, users also get "proactive monitoring" for account impersonation, the company recently told CNBC. Meta's new verification subscription, first rolling out overseas, offers users of Instagram and Facebook the ability to submit their government ID and get a blue verification badge for $11.99 a month on the web and $14.99 a month on iOS and Android.
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