Influencers and cyberattacks on social media: How to protect yourself?

"In Spain, there are more than 9,100 professional influencers with over 100,000 followers on one of the existing social media platforms: TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, or Twitch. 900 of them have reached one million followers." Tubular Labs.

Furthermore, the latest Digital 2022 study by HootSuite and We Are Social revealed that there are over 4.033 billion social media users worldwide. The average daily global exposure to social media by these users is 1 hour and 53 minutes.

The report also indicates that cyberattacks on social media have increased by 50% in the last year.

Common Cyberattacks on Social Media

Phishing Attacks

Utilization of Malware

Some accounts have found that suddenly they cannot access their profile and inappropriate content starts getting posted, completely unrelated to the type of content the user normally publishes. Cybercriminals use malware to take control of important accounts, such as those of influencers and companies, to disable their access and use them to obtain users' data by impersonating their identity.

DDoS Attacks (Denial of Service)

DDoS or Distributed Denial of Service attacks aim to disable a server, a service, or an infrastructure. It is the equivalent of having the account blocked, rendering the user unable to access their own account while the cybercriminal can take unauthorized actions as they please.

Utilization of SQL Injection

When cybercriminals use SQL injection techniques, their goal is to gain access to social media databases and obtain information about different users, often companies. They threaten these companies that if they don't pay a ransom for their data's recovery, it will be made public.

Influencers often collaborate with many brands, which is why cybercriminals often target direct database access to influencer accounts.

Identity Impersonation

Tips for protecting any social media account from cyberattacks:

• Use strong passwords. It is recommended to use very long and easily memorable passwords (constantly resetting passwords can put your account at risk) and change them regularly.

• Carefully analyze incoming messages before clicking on any links.

• Avoid sharing personal information or important data through direct messages.

• Have cybersecurity solutions configured on your computer system, such as anti-phishing tools, firewalls, password managers, and endpoints.

• Avoid connecting to public Wi-Fi networks.

• Enable two-factor authentication (2FA).

• Influencer accounts are more vulnerable to hacking by cybercriminals due to the high volume of data they generate. It is essential to protect yourself, as cybercriminals often target accounts following these influencers.