Think Before You Click
By: Charlz Wayne A. Felipe
HUMSS 4
Be suspecting.
Is the information real, and not fake? Be mindful of clickbait posts! These posts share information that are fake in order to gain attraction.
Why do Clickbait posts exist?
Posts that gain attraction on social media can lead to more followers for the poster of the fake information. Reasons for this can include monetization, because accounts with large followings can gain profit with sponsors and advertisement.
Can you spot fake news?
Absolutely. Methods on how to spot fake news is in the next page. Scroll down!
How to spot fake news?
There are resources that we can use in order to spot fake news.
The number one way to spot fake news is to check the source! Does the news come from a reliable source? Or is it just some random article made by an obscure website?
Here are a list of examples of reliable and not reliable sources:
Not Reliable
- Wikipedia
- Facebook posts by random accounts
- Blogspot/Blogger sites
Why is Wikipedia not reliable?
Wikipedia is a community driven website. Anyone can edit the pages so long as they have an account. These incorrect information may eventually be fixed, but for the average user, there is no way to tell if it is correct or not. As long as anyone can just edit the information displayed on the website, it cannot be treated as a reliable source of information.
Are all information in Wikipedia incorrect?
No. However, there is a possibility that it is. So it's best to not believe the information from this website until you do your own research. Political topics are especially susceptible to these hoax information.
Why are Facebook posts unreliable?
Facebook posts can be easily created by anyone. Facebook does not check if a post is reliable or not until enough people reports a specific post as such. Therefore, you should never trust information circulating around social media platforms until a reliable new source has published their own insights.
Protect your online privacy.
When posting online, make sure that you set the privacy to only people you know. Turn off visibility for search engines if possible.
Setting post privacy in Facebook
It is best to control who can view your posts online. Set your post privacy by following this guide.
The audience selector can be found in most places where you share content on Facebook, such as posts, photos and for some information on your profile.
Why you should always set your post privacy
Your personal information and safety are important. Facebook profiles, including those of Page admins, may be targeted to gain access to contacts and sensitive information. It’s crucial for the security of your account that you take steps to protect your information.
Search engine visibility
Make sure that your profile is not visible when people are searching for you on search engines such as Google.
Why should you hide your profile in search engines? This is because unless you are a prominent individual, people looking you up on search engines have a high chance that they are doing a background check on you. This can be for malicious intent or other reasons.
To turn this setting off in Facebook:
- Click your profile picture in the top right of Facebook.
- Select Settings & privacy, then click Settings.
- In the left column, click Privacy.
- Click "Edit" next to Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile?
- Review your current settings and make your selection.
Yandex, Russia's own "Google"
Yandex, a search engine just like Google based in Russia, has a robust AI in face recognition. This means that anyone can search for your profile just by taking a photo of your face and then doing an "image search" in Yandex. If your profiles in social media platforms are not private, they can find who you are, where you live, your birthday, and many more.
Scan the files you download.
Downloaded something online? Scan it with a trusted antivirus software before opening. Malicious files can infect your system with worms, trojans, and many more.
How to scan my files?
Surprisingly, Microsoft's own antivirus software Windows Defender is good enough to catch malicious files. This is because Microsoft updates their antivirus software very frequently.
To scan specific files or folders, right-click the ones you want then select Scan with Microsoft Defender. When the scan is complete, you'll see the Scan options page letting you know the results of the scan.
-Microsoft Support
Tips for
Online safety
Always check the URL.
Before even typing your email and password, make sure that the url is correct. Ex:
GOOD: facebook.com/login
BAD: faceebook.com/login
the BAD url has two [e] in it url. This is a bad sign that you have entered a FAKE website. These websites, (phishing websites) try to imitate the real website to trick people into sending their account information!
What are phishing websites?
According to TechTarget:
Phishing is a form of fraud in which an attacker pretends to be a reputable entity or person Attackers will commonly use phishing emails to distribute malicious links or attachments that can perform a variety of functions. Some will extract login credentials or account information from victims.
Do not click random links.
Browser Exploitation Framework (BeEF), allows anyone who owns a website to control other user's clients as long as the website is open. This leaves your system at risk.
These websites usually do not make it into search engine results, as most have a terrible SEO. However, links sent to you directly through messaging platforms can expose you to these links.
How does BeEF work?
Browser Exploitation Framework (BeEF) is a penetration testing, or pen-testing, tool designed to provide effective client-side attack vectors and to exploit any potential vulnerabilities in the web browser. BeEF is unique among pen-testing frameworks because it does not try to tackle the more secure network interface aspects of a system. Instead, BeEF clings on to one or more web browsers to use as a Pavillion for injecting payloads, executing exploit modules, and testing a system for vulnerabilities by sticking to browser influenced utilities.
Be protected.
Make sure that you are using an updated version of your preffered browser. Do not use browsers that are not popular or browsers that do not use Google's Chromium as a base.
Update guide for the most common browsers
