Especially around the holidays, social networking is a fun way stay connected to friends and keep in touch with people you rarely see in person.  However, according to the FTC, reports of e-commerce fraud have skyrocketed with the pandemic. Nearly 25% of these reports include a social media hook and 94% of these reports mentioned Facebook or Instagram.  The message is clear: be careful while you are on social media platforms.

Also, as a healthcare organization, protecting patient privacy is paramount and there are rules that everyone must follow:

• Never share any patient information or patient photos on social networking sites
• Never post a personal opinion in a way where it might be confused with the official position of UCSF
• Never use the UCSF brand identity on any personal blog or social networking profile
• Never post any information that is proprietary to UCSF

You can further protect yourself and UCSF by adhering to the following practices:

• Don’t give to charities who ask for money on social networking sites. If you plan to give to charities during the holiday season, note that most reputable charities do not ask for money online or over the phone.
• Don’t post anything confidential or potentially embarrassing about yourself. Remember: once posted, always posted. Even if you immediately delete a post, it can still appear or be retrieved.
• Be selective with friend requests and make sure your friends respect your privacy. Criminals can piece together your personal information to guess your passwords, answer password-reset challenge questions, hijack your account, or try to steal your identity.
• Use high security settings on all social networking sites. Look for headings such as "Edit My Profile", "Settings", or "Account Details” and check drop-down menus for detailed privacy settings. If you’re not sure how to do this for a particular site, use a search engine to learn how.
• Use multi-factor authentication, if available. Even if your credentials are compromised, your data would still be safe.
• Use and maintain anti-virus software and a firewall. Protect yourself against viruses and malware that may steal or modify the data on your own computer and leave you vulnerable to data breaches.
• Install apps and other software from trusted sites only. And keep the software updated once it’s installed.
• Use long and strong passwords or passphrases for your social media accounts. Use a short sentence that’s easy to remember but hard to guess. We recommend at least 12 characters from 3 of 4 categories (uppercase, lowercase, numbers, symbols).
• Use a separate password for each of your social media accounts. If the bad guys get your user ID and password for one of your accounts, they cannot also compromise your other accounts.
• Understand there are risks in using networks you don't control, like public wi-fi. Make sure the site you are accessing uses an encrypted connection by looking for https vs http and heed any warnings you get from your browser. Change advanced sharing settings and turn off file and printer sharing.
• Disable GPS and do not post information about your whereabouts. If the bad guys know you’re on vacation in Europe, they’re more likely to rob you.
• Review credit card and bank account statements to check for unauthorized charges. It’s best to do this as soon as you receive your statements. If your statement is late by more than a couple of days, call your credit card company or bank to confirm your billing address and account balances.
• Log in to your social networking sites frequently to make sure they have not been hacked. This is especially important if you use a particular site infrequently.

Take the Safe and Secure Social Networking Quiz. Everyone who passes the quiz wins one entry in a drawing for one of six $50 Grubhub gift cards.

Additional Information

UCSF IT Security

Manage Your UCSF Password

FBI: Internet Social Networking Risks

Scams starting on social media proliferate in early 2020