Sharing pictures online might seem harmless, but it can carry significant risks. With sophisticated technology being used in scams and frauds, scammers can exploit your personal photos to gather sensitive information. The UAE's Cyber Security Council advises residents to be cautious before posting videos or pictures on social media.
To mitigate cyber threats, users need to find a balance between excessive sharing and sharing images in a way that protects their privacy while still enjoying social media. Hackers can extract crucial information from photos, including age, gender, location, biometric data, job position, medical details, and unique identifiers.
Protecting yourself from unauthorized access and misuse involves several precautions. Guidelines for posting images and videos online include reviewing and updating privacy settings, deleting sensitive information attached to media, using strong security measures and encryption, and being mindful of what you share. Avoid sharing sensitive content online, automatically syncing visual content with cloud services, and using weak or reused passwords.
Oversharing can lead to serious issues such as identity theft, privacy violations, exposure to cyber threats, and compromised physical safety. The UAE provides platforms for residents to report cybercrimes.
