Review your social media privacy settings
Check who can see your posts, your location, and your personal information on each social media account. Fully public profiles give scammers and identity thieves easy access to information they can use against you.
Why this matters
Fully public social media profiles give scammers and identity thieves easy access to your full name, location, employer, birthday, and contact details — everything needed to impersonate you or target you with a convincing phishing attack. Most people set up profiles years ago and have never reviewed what is publicly visible.
How to do it
- 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.
- Review your tagged photos and posts — untag yourself from anything that reveals your home address or regular patterns such as 'just got back from holiday' posts.
Cyber Essentials framework
This task falls under the Secure Configcontrol — one of five areas assessed in the UK's Cyber Essentials scheme. Completing it counts toward your Cyber Essentials alignment.
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