How to review your social media privacy settings

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Cyber Nova AI helps you prepare for Cyber Essentials. It doesn't award or certify it. Follow the steps here to get ready, then apply for certification through an accredited Cyber Essentials body when you're set.

Secure ConfigMedium priority

About 30 minutes to complete

Check who can see your posts, your location and your personal details on each account. A fully public profile hands anyone who's targeting you the raw material to do it convincingly.

Step-by-step guide

Log in to each social media account you use: Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and TikTok if applicable.
Go to Privacy or Security Settings on each platform.
Set 'Who can see your posts' to Friends or Followers only, not Public, unless you are intentionally running a public account.
Remove or hide your phone number, home location, and date of birth from your public profile.
Look through your tagged photos and posts. Untag yourself from anything that gives away your home address, your workplace, or a routine someone could predict, such as posts about being away.

5 steps

Why this matters

A public profile gives away your full name, your location, your employer, your birthday and your contact details. That is enough to impersonate you, or to write you a phishing message convincing enough that you act on it. If you run a business, it goes further: an attacker who knows your role, your colleagues and your suppliers can write an email that looks exactly like an internal one, which is how invoice fraud starts. Most profiles were set up years ago and have never been looked at since.

How to confirm it worked

The setting is saved and active on your device
You have tested it works before closing the page

Tick this task off in your Dashboard to update your Security Score.

Worth repeating. This is not a one-and-done task. Revisit it every 3–6 months to keep your protection current.

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