You Need To Stop Oversharing: How Viral Posts Can Expose Sensitive Information
You've heard not to give away your sensitive information, but specific information is just as precarious.
You’ve definitely seen them before: social media trends that ask you to answer fun questions about your life -
“What is the name of the street you grew up on?” “Who was your first pet?” “How old were you when you had your first kiss?”
Personally, I know I see copy-and-pasted Facebook posts like these from my older relatives. However, it exists on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, too.
They look harmless. They feel like an easy way to join in, share memories, or connect with friends. But here’s the catch: those questions are the same ones many websites use as password recovery questions.
Think about it. Everyone has their favorite recovery question: What is your mother’s maiden name? What was your first car? How many siblings do you have?
By answering these questions publicly, you could very likely be giving away the keys to your most sensitive log ins.
“But I want to have fun!” you say! And, we get it! So…
What Can You Do?
Besides refusing the be complicit completely, you do have a few options to keep your social media interactions fun and active.
Tongue-In-Cheek
You got tagged in one of these posts by Aunt Karen, and you don’t want to leave her hanging; we all know how important Facebook is to her. You can always answer “N/A” to all of the questions; “None of your business” if you are feeling spicy.
Instead of tagging more friends at the end, add a short and sweet message explaining how posts like these can serve your information to hackers on a silver platter. Fitting in is never a good reason to risk needing to change all of your credit card information after an identity theft.
A Practice In Fiction
Do you have a favorite book character? Maybe a movie? Answer as them! Or, make up answers that are totally ridiculous, just for fun.
It Sounds Scary, But The Solution Is Simple
Don’t give real answers to public posts. Treat them like strangers asking you for personal details — because that’s essentially what they are.
Use a password manager. Tools like LastPass, which startWorks members can access, store and generate strong, unique passwords so you don’t need to rely on recovery questions or “easy to remember” logins.
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