How to protect against recurrent massive social network data leaks

Data leaks are massive and recurrent. They now involve hundreds of millions of users… they include name, phone number, passwords….

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Recent massive data leaks on facebook and LinkedIn

You entrust your data to sites that makes billions of money with them , and do not implement the minium required security measures to protect them… Here are just a cases that occurred with facebook and LinkedIn:

Impacts of social networks data leaks

While this latest LinkedIn leak did not contain any financial records or login credentials, there are still serious consequences. This is because it puts 700+ million people at risk of:

identity theft
phishing attempts
social engineering attacks
hacked accounts

Measures to protect against recurrent massive social network data leaks

Preventive protection measures

Use a dedicated email address for each social network (then forward it to your main email address)
Use a dedicated password of each account you have (not only social networks)
Do not put your phone number
Do not put personal information like date of birth, social security number, bank account, etc…
Never register / record your credit card in general

Post leaks remediation measures

Regularly check / setup alerts on HIBP: https://haveibeenpwned.com (check our articles on HIBP).
Reset your password as soon as a leak occurred
Change your email address
Stop the forwarding the old corrupted email address