SALT LAKE CITY — A recent social media meme that went viral is opening up the conversation about cyber security.
The meme accused Instagram of tracking users’ exact location, making it possible for them to be stalked or targeted by criminals.
Instagram responded and debunked the meme, claiming the company does not share location with others.
Cyber security experts are using this example to warn social media users to pay attention to their “cyber hygiene.”
“It’s safe to assume that most applications want to track your location,” said Hank Schless, a senior security manager at online security company Lookout. “They can use it for serving up – especially social media apps – but also any app that serves up any sort of advertising.”
Users aren’t required to give away their location information. On most phones, a quick check of location settings allows users to see which apps know where they are. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing your information with a certain app – just turn off the permission for it to use your location.
Schless believes allowing apps access to location data can be problematic.
“It's a concern around the fact that sometimes, you don’t really know, “ he said. If Instagram gets hacked, is that data protected?”
He advises people check location permissions for every app on their phone, regularly check settings as apps can update their terms and defaults without letting anyone know, and read the fine print in user agreements to learn what data is being collected and how its being used.
“We have this very inherent trust in our smartphones and our tablets because of how personal they are, and we need to suspend the level of that trust,” Schless said.
Security apps can add an extra level of security by scanning phones for “ghost apps” or apps that are installed without a user’s knowledge.
