Category: Uncategorized

Secure use of social media for U/HNWI´s.

For almost all teenagers, and, let’s be honest, most adults too, social media has become as essential a part of our day as taking breakfast. In fact, many of us check Facebook before we even roll out of bed. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, social networks and media are popular-and they’re here to stay. We use them to stay in touch with old friends, to share photos, to make new friends, or to discover new things.

As soon as social media gained traction, of course, crime came with it. Once it was possible to pay for things like Facebook games with credit cards, people began scamming others for their passwords and accounts. When this became a serious enough threat, the networks themselves tried to educate people on the secure use of social media. Guides and rules were created to more or less enforce security measures beneficial-if not always appreciated-to the users.

The providers of social networks force their users to use longer, more complicated and more elaborate passwords, add phone numbers to secure their accounts (albeit there are other reasons for that too) and they allow to connect accounts with each other to make them more easily retrievable. On one hand this raises social media awareness, on the other hand it also increases the risk as people tend to use the same password for multiple things-therefore if someone finds out one password, they know them all.
Naturally, websites will warn users against choosing the same password in multiple places, however few people truly listen. Coincidentally, this is one of the first steps that should be taken to make social media more secure. And, despite it relating entirely to virtual things, social media awareness is incredibly important.

We post information about ourselves, our family, and our work, much of it publically. That is another thing that can increase the secure use of social media and that is reducing the amount of personal information that we spread around on the internet. Something as innocent as family pictures or a complaint about a supervisor has caused irreparable damage to people’s lives.

Without the existence of social media this likely wouldn’t have happened-not to say that they are a bad thing. A lot more people find employment through social networks than lose them, as there are entire networks dedicated to just that. And they are perfectly safe and beneficial to use-as long as it’s done responsibly.

Now, being aware of one’s security and safety is always a very good thing. There are many things that need protection, and, personal safety aside, most of those are either at work or at home. Almost all of us will keep valuables they have in a safe place, and, normally, the safest place we can think of, is home.

Naturally, that makes the homes of rich Families, Celebrities or VIPs prime targets for robbers. That isn’t to say that keeping things at home or feeling safe in one’s own home is a bad thing, however, it does mean that special security awareness is necessary. This can mean a variety of things, and people deal with it very differently.

Some people choose to not do anything besides possibly lock their front doors, but those aren’t the ones that we should use as an example. As far as VIPs and rich families go, there are certain ‘standards’ that are pretty much expected when it comes to security-cameras, a burglar alarm, locks on windows, doors and gates and alarmed dog doors.

Locked safes and secured display cases and paintings are the next step-they are relatively common too. For some though, their preferred solution for security is to hire human security. This has its upsides and downsides as well of course. As far as security awareness for rich families goes, hiring human security guards makes the protection flexible-a camera can do nothing but record and a lock holds a door closed-a human can react to situations, set priorities and move around freely.

There is, however, also the risk of deceit. A camera will hardly accept a bribe to let in robbers, however a human could, potentially, be paid off and end up helping to disable the standard security measures in place, thereby exposing the home entirely. Of course, while this risk can be minimized by hiring well-accredit and vouched for personnel, it’s not something that’s an issue at all within automated systems, which are, in general, entirely tamper proof.

They are kept this way in the same way CCTV is-the system is on it’s own, isolated, at most updated to be aware of new threats or security protocols. That makes a system far less vulnerable to outside threats like hacking or outside access.

Celebrities and VIPs are therefore generally best off using both human and machine security-ideally separate from each other. Hiring guards for personal security is well and good, not giving them the master code to disable the security system or safe combinations is better.