2023-06-28 09:47:16
53% of Spanish companies are present on social networks, with an average similar to the European one, as indicated by Eurostat. But, the advancement of technology and digital transformation processes go hand in hand with the increase in cyberattacks.
Cybercriminals have increased their actions through social networks, being Instagram the most attacked social platform. In these cases, Juan Manuel Pascual, CEO of Innovery Spain and LATAM, recommends going directly to the specialized support centers that the platforms themselves have developed to receive the assistance required in each case, as well as several other actions that will put up more barriers to future attacks.
81% of the successful actions of Hijacking have been directed at the Meta social platform. The main reason why this network has become the center of attention of attackers is its large number of users, which has been increasing sustainably, and its ease in carrying out a social engineering attack for the account hijacking.
The most common attack modality in these social communities is phishing. Cybercriminals gain access in two different ways. The link can redirect to a site similar to the network itself by the attacker, stealing the user’s credentials, or open a back door, through which they can directly access the device from which they have connected to the social network.
Social platforms are the main ones interested in protecting their users, which is why they have developed their own specialized team in the prevention, detection or restoration of accounts in the event of a cyberattack. This has led to improving the quality of the service they offer, but also to improving the image and reputation of social networks, despite the controversies surrounding the security of their users.
Pascual also points out that “Companies that have social profiles must be aware that not only they can be harmed, since in many cases they are only the gateway for cybercriminals who are looking not only to attack this company, but also to look for vulnerable users to achieve their objective. of the attack, such as the theft of credentials or valuable information, or identity hijacking, to gain control of the accounts”.
In these cases, the best option is to notify the specialized assistants of said platforms in order to recover the account, recommends Innovery, while identity theft is reported in other profiles. The main objective of cybercriminals in these cases is to market the account, thus selling a profile that already has a considerable number of followers who are looking for very similar interests.
Fortunately, there are prevention measures, as Juan Manuel Pascual recalls. On the one hand, enable double factor authentication, keeping the data updated, and have a backup account that allows password recovery, in case access is lost. For another, always avoid clicking on suspicious links. With just pressing it, the account, and even the device, are compromised, thereby allowing access to contacts and sensitive information, such as bank movements themselves. It is essential to check the links.
Once the account is recovered, the most important step that the company must take is to work on a forensic report of the attack received. This is where cybersecurity professionals come into play who are in charge of seeing what has happened, detecting existing gaps and vulnerabilities in order to mitigate them and thus avoid future incidents.
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