DESCRIPTION OF PROTECTION SERVICES
Social Media Services
This service addresses common issues arising from social media activity: protecting personal information and online privacy, purging inappropriate or fraudulent information, defending against online identity fraud, protecting personal and financial information on mobile devices, and defending against viruses and cyber threats. Specialists may also assist users with investigating, resolving and defending against cyber-stalking and cyber-bullying.
Resolution of existing issues, suspicion of fraud, and related problems
Social Media Services
Americans of all ages now interact with each other online. A recent Nielsen study reported that 73% of the American population uses social media weekly. Facebook, in particular, is an important part of American life, with 47% of the online population visiting Facebook at least once per day. Compare this to 55% of the population regularly watching T.V., 37% listening to radio and 22% reading newspapers. Including those Americans age 13 and older who use mobile devices to access social media, and users increase to more than 234 million. As the mobile payment industry and the general trend toward reliance on mobile devices gain momentum, these usage rates show no sign of waning.
As our use of social media becomes more pervasive, so will threats to users’ personal information. Children and minors may be particularly vulnerable. Without proper controls in place, obtaining an individual’s personal information is simple. For criminals, it is a new gold rush, and they are using information gleaned from social media to commit identity fraud, do physical harm, and commit property theft. Postings, tweets, blogs and videos often unwittingly provide the raw materials with which predators use to bully, stalk, or perpetrate fraud, not to mention a potentially poor reflection on a future user’s application for a new job, university, or membership to various organizations or volunteer opportunities.
