Why you Need to Upgrade your Social Media Security

For organizations, social media is vital for the success of their business. It forms a central part of their efforts to build brand awareness, establish their community, do market research and gather intelligence. However, because of the frequency with which it’s used and the importance of the role it plays, social media cybersecurity threats can have a very tangible impact on an organization through reputational damage, data breaches, or worse.

In a recent survey by Statista, it was revealed that 22% of internet users said that their online accounts have been hacked at least once, while 14% reported they were hacked more than once. Due to the constantly changing nature of technology and trends, it’s difficult to pin down a defined set of best practices. 

In this article, we take a look at why and how attackers target social accounts as well as reviewing some of the current best practices for mitigating the risks.

Why Do Hackers Target Social Media Accounts?

A successful account takeover can enable threat actors to achieve a variety of malicious objectives, from the distribution of malware to the spreading of misinformation. Some of the most common uses for a compromised account are as follows:

Continuing the Attack: Generally speaking, most people are wary of random messages from strangers. However, if you can gain access to someone’s account and launch your phishing campaign against their contacts you can leverage the trust already established as a personal contact to dramatically improve the success rate of the phishing campaign. In the case of an organization’s account, these attacks are particularly harmful as they can target thousands or even millions of followers and can come with serious associated reputational damage.

Gathering Intelligence: The actual account takeover might not be the endgame of the attack. Instead by taking over an account, they gain access to intelligence, from an individual's messaging history to extensive personal details on an individual and their contacts.

Reputational Damage: We’ve already mentioned the potential for reputation damage as a by-product. However, there is a chance that reputation damage is the entire objective of the attack. Attackers might have a grudge against an organization or person, for example. Once they have access to the account they could do a range of things, such as posting racist slurs from the account or directly targeting followers through the account.

Credential Stuffing: Many people use the same login credentials across websites. Once attackers have successfully compromised an account, they then attempt logins at other popular websites using the same credentials to see what else they can gain access to. Often the objective is a financial reward.

Blackmail: If embarrassing or damaging information is surfaced through the account attack then hackers are unlikely to miss the opportunity to blackmail the individual or organization to further their other objectives.

4 Examples of Successful Social Media Attacks

LinkedIn Hacked, Exposing 117 Million Credentials

• When: May 2016

• Tactic: Data Breach, Account Takeover

• The 2016 LinkedIn data breach exposed 117 million records of its users including email and password combinations. These were sold on the dark web and allowed hackers to gain access to and control thousands of accounts as well as use the data for credential stuffing.

Vevo Hacked Via LinkedIn Phishing

• When: September 2017

• Tactic: Targeted Phishing & Malware

• In 2017 the streaming service Vevo suffered a breach when one of its employees was phished via LinkedIn. Through this attack, hackers obtained and publicly released over 3TB worth of the company’s sensitive internal data.

HAMMERTOSS Malware

• When: July 2015

• Tactic: Malware/Data Exfiltration

• HAMMERTOSS is a malware which was created to automatically search and extract data from social networks and was controlled by commands posted by attacker profiles. This novel approach to weaponizing social media shows the need to analyze social media as part of the full lifecycle of a cyber attack. 

Twitter Bitcoin Scam

• When: July 2020

• Tactic: Account Takeover

• Through a series of targeted phishing campaigns, hackers were able to get access to internal systems and tools at Twitter. They used this access to take control of numerous high profile accounts, including verified accounts such as Kanye West, Barack Obama, Apple, and Joe Biden. The attackers used the platform to Tweet a message requesting Bitcoin be sent to a specific wallet number with a promise they’d return it doubled. In the short time the message was up the attackers collected over $100,000.

6 Quick Tips to Improve your Organizations Social Media Cybersecurity

1. Employ strong unique passwords.

Avoid the risks of credential stuffing by ensuring that all accounts are locked with strong unique passwords.

2. Keep personal and business accounts separate.

Linking personal and business accounts just make it easier for hackers to gain access to both. So, when possible, keep a separate and distinct login and password for both. 

3. Restrict access and permissions.

Not everyone needs to have the ability to login to the organization’s social media accounts. Not everyone needs to be able to post, share or send messages through it. Additionally, when an employee leaves make sure to revoke their access to all social media accounts.

4. Be mindful about what you share.

Even harmless posts might unwittingly share sensitive data that could be used by attackers. For example, you might share an employee update, maybe congratulating an employee for having a child, information which could be used in a targeted spear-phishing campaign.

5. Protect the physical access points.

Make sure devices are password-protected, don’t leave USB devices lying around, ensure that wi-fi networks are private and secure. These physical security threats are particularly prevalent currently with many employees working from home. 

6. Be wary of third-party apps.

Third-party apps like scheduling softwares are invaluable, allowing you to save a huge amount of time. However, they also provide an additional way for attackers to gain access to your social media accounts. 

The Role of OSINT in Securing Social Media Platforms

By monitoring social networks for mentions of your brand and keywords, you’ll know right away when suspicious conversations about your brand emerge. For example, people might be sharing fake coupons or offers, or an imposter account starts tweeting in your name. Using OSINT you can monitor all the relevant activity online regarding your business and quickly identify fraud allowing you to respond to it in a timely fashion.

Additionally, you can use OSINT tools like Signal to monitor not only your social media channels for things like imposters but also for physical threats against employees or branch locations. 

OSINT is vital in identifying when one of the above-mentioned risks of social media becomes more than just a threat when it becomes a reality. Being amongst the first to know when something like this happens allows you to respond quickly and effectively.

6 Common Social Engineering Tactics and How to Prevent Them

Social engineering is an attempt by attackers to fool or manipulate others into surrendering access details, credentials, banking information, or other sensitive data. Once access is gained the general goal is to gain money. 

Recently, for example, Twitter was subject to a high profile social engineering attack. Attackers manipulated several Twitter employees to gain access to the platforms admin accounts. Once they got access they used the admin privileges to post a tweet saying “All Bitcoin sent to our address below will be sent back to you doubled!”  They posted on a number of celebrity and company profiles including Apple, Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Joe Biden.

Twitter shut the attack down quickly but not before the attackers got away with an estimated $120,000 USD worth of Bitcoin.

Social engineering is a creative strategy for attackers to exploit human emotion and ego, generally for a financial reward. It often forms part of other strategies as well such as ransomware. 

In this article, we take a look at some of the more common forms and tactics of social engineering as well as exploring just how an organization can protect itself from such an attack.

What are the stages of a social engineering attack?

In general, social engineering attacks are implemented in three stages.

1. Research. Attackers perform research to identify potential targets as well as to determine what strategies might work best against these particular targets. Attackers will likely collect data off company websites, LinkedIn and other social media profiles and potentially even in-person.

2. Planning. Once the attackers know who they will be targeting and have an idea of the targets potential weaknesses, they have to put together a strategy that is likely to work. The attacker needs to design the strategy and specific messages they will use to exploit the target’s individual weaknesses. Sometimes discussions surrounding plans can be found on darknet forums.

3. Implementation. The first stage of execution of their prepared strategy is often sending messages through email, social media messaging or some other messaging platform. Depending on their approach the entire process could be automated, targeting a broad number of individuals, or it might be more personal with the attacker interacting personally with their victim. Generally, they are aiming to gain access to private accounts, uncover banking or credit card details, or to install malware.

6 of the Most Common Social Engineering Attack Strategies

1. Phishing and Spear Phishing.

Phishing messages are designed to get a victim’s attention with an alarming or curious message. They work on emotional triggers and often masquerade as well known brands making it seem like the messages come from a legitimate source.

Most phishing messages have a sense of urgency about them causing the victim to believe that something negative will happen if they don’t surrender their details. For example, they might pose as a banking institute and pretend to be a fraud notice asking them to log into their account immediately, however, the email actually links to a fake login page.

Spear phishing is similar but with a more targeted individualistic approach.

2. Baiting.

A baiting attack generally pretends to offer something that the victim would find useful, for example, a software update. However, instead of a useful update or new software, it is, in fact, a malicious file or malware. 

3. Scareware. 

Playing on the targets fear this approach seeks to persuade the target that there is already a malware installed on their computer, or perhaps seek to persuade them that they already have access to their email address. This attack will then persuade the target to pay a fee to remove the malware. 

4. Pretexting.

In a pretexting atack the attacker creates a fake identity and they use it to manipulate their victims into providing private information. For example, the attacker might pretend t be part of a third-party IT service provider. They would then ask for the users account details and password in order to assist them with a problem. 

5. Quid Pro Quo. 

Similar to baiting, a quid pro quo attack promises to perform an action which will benefit the target. For example, an attacker might call an individual in company who has a technical support inquiry and then pretend to help them. However, instead of actually helping them they get the individual to compromise the security of their own device.

6. Tailgating.

Tailgating is a physical type of social engineering. It enables criminals to gain physical access to a building or secure area. An example of how this might work would be the criminal following behind someone authorized to access an area, they ask the person ahead to simply hold the door for them assuming an air of innocence.

How to Prevent Social Engineering

One of the key reasons social engineering is so difficult to protect against is because of the variety of ways it can be implemented. Attackers can be incredibly creative and this can make it very hard to spot a social engineering attack. Additionally, security professionals have to contend with skilful manipulation of the human ego.

Social engineering attacks exploit human behaviour. They target peoples fears or concerns often with messaging that centres around urgency attempting to encourage victims to take action immediately before they figure out they are part of a social engineering attack. Key to prevention then is remaining suspicious of emails, voicemails, or instant messages through platforms such as Facebook. 

Additionally, security teams need to stay ahead of the attackers. They need to be aware of each variation of a particular social engineering attack. Using OSINT tools, for example, they can learn about current messaging and strategies being implemented as well as potential exploits. Allowing them to take actions to mitigate evolving and emerging threats.

Increased awareness and vigilance though is only the first step. These attacks are common because they are effective, and they are effective because they take advantage of inherently human traits. Changing this human behaviour though doesn’t happen overnight. An internal education strategy needs to be put in place to regularly inform and teach employees about current social engineering strategies in an effort to reduce the potential for any employee to fall prey to one. In these ways, security professionals can mitigate the potential risks that surround social engineering attacks.

How to Secure your Organization’s Social Media with OSINT Tools

Social media is a powerful tool that allows organizations to reach new audiences, communicate and engage with customers, build brand loyalty, share promotions and ultimately achieve new growth. However, because of the very public nature of it, social media opens up new opportunities for cyber criminals to target an organization.

Companies which don’t take the proper precautions in securing their social media channels could find themselves reeling from unexpected attacks. These attack could implement a wide variety of threat vectors, from employees to malware, and could evolve into serious and costly threats.

In this article, we explore some of the commonly exploited risks that are associated with corporate social media use as well as what a company can do to best mitigate these risks and how Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) can play an important role in preventing and protecting an organization.

The risks of social media for corporate security

Phishing and Scams

Phishing is a predominant attack strategy by cybercriminals with an estimated 90% of incidents and breaches including a phishing element. 

Phishing is defined as social engineering using digital methods for malicious purposes. Generally, the goal is to get the victim to hand over private information such as passwords, banking or credit card information.

In the case of social media, there are numerous forms that phishing can take. For example:

• Impersonation

• Credential theft

• Propagating attacks

• Data dumps

• Romance scams

• Intelligence gathering (for account takeover and spear phishing)

Social media platforms still offer only minimal controls to prevent the further propagation of account takeovers. Additionally, because social accounts typically need to be approved prior to connecting with people, account takeovers allow hackers to utilise trust associated with that account. Which is why it’s important for organizations to understand and prepare responses to these evolving threats.

Human Error

One of the key security weaknesses that many organizations face is human error. Everyone makes mistakes and in today’s digital world it is all too easy for cybercriminals to take advantage of these mistakes. In fact, according to EY Global Information Security Survey, employee weakness was responsible for 20% of all cyber attacks. Something as simple as clicking the wrong link or downloading the wrong file could cause havoc with a company's security systems.

When it comes to social media, one attack vector that many users don’t realize cybercriminals utilise is online challenges and quizzes. These quizzes often ask for or obtain by way of an answer personal information which is then used to hack passwords. 

For example, the answers to a social quiz might require you to give up letters from your mother's maiden name, your date of birth, or your first pet's name. This information combined with the details publicly available on your social media profiles could very easily offer up common password and security question combinations.

Third-party Apps

Even if your company's social media accounts are locked down tight, hackers may be able to gain access to an otherwise secure social media account through vulnerabilities in connected third-party apps.

Imposter Accounts

A cyberattack doesn’t always take the form of a hack. Instead, it is fairly easy for an imposter to create a social media account that looks like it belongs to your organization. This is one reason having a verified account is so valuable.

• LinkedIn’s latest transparency report notes that they took action on 21.6 million fake accounts in just six months.

• Facebook estimates that about 5% of monthly active user accounts are fake.

Impostor accounts can target your customers with fake deals, disinformation, or nefarious links. When a customer is tricked like this, not only does your brand suffer but often the organization is held responsible.

One recent example found on Twitter was a fake account fraudulently collecting money on behalf of President Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign. The account “@realDonaldTrump_” is set up as an almost exact replica of the real Trump’s account with only an underscore at the end of the handle to indicate it is not the real account. And of course, it lacks that tell-tale blue verification tick.

An example of an imposter account being used to fraudulently collect money.

Unsecured Mobile Phones

More than 50% of the time spent online is done through mobile phones. Using social media apps allows us to access and engage on social channels with just a single tap. This is great, as long as you are the one in possession of your phone. However, this ease also creates a security risk. 

Should your phone be stolen and accessed all it takes is one tap for the thief to access your social accounts and then they can message all your connections with phishing or malware attacks or spread disinformation using your accounts.

And, worryingly more than half of people leave their phones unlocked.

Malware and Hacks

By its very nature, social media is about social interaction. For personal accounts, this means interacting with friends or acquaintances online in some form or another. For organizations it means interacting with customers, for celebrities or influencers it means interacting with fans.

This is actually a barrier for many cybercriminals. People are generally distrustful of communications where they have no prior experience with the person or people behind them. 

Generally speaking, strangers on the internet are still strangers and it takes a while to build an audience and gain their trust. For a cybercriminal to utilize social platforms then, they often have to go through a rather troublesome and lengthy process of building this trust. And while there are certainly numerous ways for a cybercriminal to sidestep these issues, if their end goal is to get people to click links or share information then their success rate will obviously be much higher should they originally share from a trusted account. 

Related: The Crucial Role of Social Media Monitoring in Corporate Threat Intelligence

5 actions to securing your companies social media presence

The best policies for social media security operate around prevention. By implementing a few basic social media security protocols organizations can massively reduce the potential threats that social media might otherwise present.

Have a clear social media policy

A clear and properly implemented social media policy is the first place to start. This will allow you to not only protect against security threats but also help prevent bad PR or legal trouble that might ensue should your social media be compromised.

You social media policy should include the following things:

• Outline of your brand guidelines that explain how people are allowed to talk about the company on social media.

• A list of social media activities to avoid, such as the quizzes that we mentioned earlier.

• Guidelines related to copyright and confidentiality

• A guide on the best practices for password management to avoid threats like credential stuffing.

• The expectation that employees will keep all their devices updated with the latest software.

• Examples of scams and attacks and educational material on how staff can avoid these and other key security threats,

• Information on who to notify and how to respond should an employee notice a security concern.

Train staff on best security practices

Building on from the previous point, because human errors are such a prevalent factor in hacks and other cyber attacks it is incredibly important to properly and routinely train staff in proper cybersecurity measures. Even the best social media policy won’t protect an organization should the staff not know how to properly follow or implement it.

Training employees routinely will also give them the opportunity to ask questions, engage and get a sense of the importance of the issue. Additionally, because cybercriminals are constantly evolving their strategies, training is an opportunity to update staff on new threats or examples of current scams.

As an added bonus, social media training also equips your team to use social tools effectively. When employees understand best practices, they feel confident using social media for their work. They’re then well-equipped to use social media for both personal and professional purposes and ultimately your company will see better results.

Limit access and permissions

One of the best ways to keep social accounts secure is to strictly control who has access and the exact permissions they have. Not everyone after all needs the ability to post, not everyone needs the ability to see the stats. And should an individual leave (especially if they leave under a dark cloud) it is important to be able to and remember to revoke their access so that they can’t use the social accounts to cause harm to the company.

Have a designated person in charge

This isn’t just a security concern, having a designated person in charge of and responsible for the running of your social channels will, first of all, ensure consistency but also ensure that someone is constantly on top of and routinely checking the social media security which will go a long way to mitigating any risks.

This person will likely be a senior person on your marketing team. They should maintain a good relationship with your company’s IT department to ensure marketing and IT work together.

Social media monitoring for threat detection

As we have mentioned several times already security threats, especially those around social media accounts are constantly evolving as cybercriminals implement new and innovative new methods for attacks. Using OSINT you can not only closely monitor not only your own social media accounts but the entirety of the web. This will allow for your security team to catch risks as they appear and neutralize potential threats early. 

For example, careful monitoring of social channels will allow you to discover imposter accounts and get them shut down quickly before they can do real damage. It will allow you to spot inappropriate use of your brand by employees or others associated with your company such as a new partner.

The role of OSINT for social media monitoring and corporate security

By monitoring social networks for mentions of your brand and keywords, you’ll know right away when suspicious conversations about your brand emerge. For example, people might be sharing fake coupons or offers, or an imposter account starts tweeting in your name. Using OSINT you can monitor all the relevant activity online regarding your business and quickly identify fraud allowing you to respond to it in a timely fashion.

Additionally, you can use OSINT tools like Signal to monitor not only your social media channels for things like imposters but also for physical threats against employees or branch locations. Moreover, you could monitor for negative emotional sentiment concerning an event you're hosting and identify people who may decide to turn those threats into action.

Finally, OSINT is vital in identifying when one of the above-mentioned risks of social media becomes more than just a threat, when it becomes a reality. Being amongst the first to know when something like this happens allows you to respond quickly and effectively

Conclusion

Social media security threats are constantly changing. Hackers are always coming up with new strategies, and new scams and viruses can emerge at any time. Researchers are now anticipating that advanced attacks against social media networks will be able to leverage a user’s contacts, location, and even business activities. This information can then be used to develop targeted advertising campaigns toward specific users, or even help spark crime in the virtual or real world.

To prevent social media breaches, protect user information, and secure company data, increased vigilance by individual users and regular audits of your social media security measures are necessary to ensure organization security.