Experts: Social media users must make important choices to protect privacy

Users warn of an update to the application «Snapchat» automatically reposts photos

  • Application updates are optional and can be denied or controlled by the user. From the source

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Users of the application «Snapchat» through videos published on social networking sites to close the option «remember» within the updates of the application «Snapchat», stressing that it allows the publication of images of memories between friends every year automatically. They stressed that the update threatens the privacy of users and may cause images to leak.

Two IT experts called on social media users to follow necessary and important options when posting photos, to protect privacy and not share them with untrusted people.

They stressed that users of social networking sites may be exposed to privacy violations if the settings and options are not changed by the user, explaining that application updates are optional that the user can refuse or control.

Cybersecurity expert, Abdel Nour Sami, said that with regard to the option to remember (Flash ack), this feature is present in «Facebook», «Instagram» and some phone systems such as «iPhone», and it is available in «Snapchat» also a few years ago, where memories are displayed a year after their passage, specifically photos or videos kept, not images that have been determined who is allowed to be watched, such as the feature (my yes only) that is seen by the user only, or in the phone. Camera roll", when these memories appear after a year, the person chooses, either save them in his device only, or display them to friends, or see them only without sharing or saving to the device, explaining that these photos are shared with friends only when choosing to do so and not automatic sharing.

As for the Memories option, Abdel Nour explains that it is a feature launched between 2016 and 2017, through which photos and clips that are filmed in Snapchat can be saved by clicking on the "Download" arrow, and the person can choose to save them on the phone only, or on the phone and memories on Snapchat, or on memories only, calling on users to save them on the phone only.

With regard to the possibility of the spread of pictures of girls and their exposure to blackmail through the application, he pointed out that with regard to sharing photos with friends, some girls share pictures with their friends and their friends film the screen, pointing out that there is information circulating that «Snapchat» is safe to share photos, because it shows an alert in the event that a picture of the screen is taken, but this matter can be bypassed and a picture of the screen is taken without the knowledge of the owner of the pictures, and also there are those who shoot with another phone, so sharing photos is not safe Absolutely.

He explained that in terms of sharing photos with strangers, many girls and boys befriend people online, exchange pictures among themselves and form a close relationship between them, but what some do not know, that there are programs to send images «Snapchat» as if they were taken «immediately», but in fact it may be a picture from the Internet for other girls, and this is what we call the reincarnation of the character or identity theft, and here the boy or girl trusts the other party who may be an experienced blackmailer or Just someone who wants to hurt, whether a boy or a girl, and it is better not to meet strangers and just add friends.

Abdel Nour continued: «With regard to relying on saving images in Snapchat; many people save images on Snapchat by virtue of being (online) and the images will never be lost in the event that the phone is lost, stolen or disabled, but the problem is that if the account is hacked, the hacker will see the images saved in memories, and suppose that the owner of the account has stored the images in My Eyes only, the hacker experiments with a set of numbers that may succeed, especially if The number is the account holder's birthday or a special number and he must use a number that is not linked to the account holder."

The cybersecurity expert called for not sharing the personal account with anyone, "out of love or friendship", as trust is not built on this type of participation, and once there is a dispute between the two parties, one of them exploits the other's account for the purpose of revenge. He revealed that the sharing of photos in the story (stories), although limited to friends only, they are kept with the company «Snapchat», and has the right to use the images, so we must always read the privacy policy of each application, even quickly, in order to know our money and what we have. He stressed that there are programs called «third-party programs», including, for example, «Snapchat Plus» and others, which contain a number of features, but what users do not know is that these applications get all your pictures, and the developer of the program or its distributor obtains them, so you should not use programs other than the parent company, pointing out that in the event of hacking the device, it is normal that all images, files, accounts and programs are hacked successively.

In turn, social media expert, Mohamed Fathy, said that if the application «Snapchat» contains a security vulnerability that allows hackers to hack phones, there are settings for safe uses can be followed, such as not giving the camera permission to access the video or allowing the application to access images at the time of use.

"The app settings can be adjusted so that it doesn't have access to stored files, so when the app has access to these photos, a person can share them with their friends."

He revealed that the last official update of the application was at the end of last February through the launch of the service «bot» called «My AI», a service available to users of the application subscribed to the service «Snapchat Plus» paid, and the operation of «My AI» default, and to use that service, the user must drag the screen to the right to turn to the camera screen and then open the chat screen.

Fathi stressed that the protection of privacy on the application is similar to other applications, especially since the degree of privacy protection on various means of communication does not reach 100%, especially if the person wants to spread.

He pointed out that to protect privacy, it is necessary to protect the personal password, not to click on links transferred from unknown people, not to share information with people you do not know enough, not to use the application as a third party to subscribe to other applications, as well as not to give the application the ability to access your personal information, and to use automated applications such as those that display your shape after 50 years and others, and therefore the user must be aware with those who share his data and information.

Social media users may be subject to privacy violations if their settings and options are not changed.

Fake Accounts

Cybersecurity expert, Abdel Nour Sami, pointed out that many people register «Snapchat» with a fake account, for example, he writes randomly smsmsmsm@gmail.com, so hackers take advantage of this and register that email and then retrieve the «Snapchat» account, so do not register at all with a fake email account, and register with a phone number only if you do not have an email or are not good at using it. He stated that many blackmailers and hackers communicate and claim that they provide technical support for the account «Snapchat» or document or increase followers and need the «code» that arrives on the number, and here they must be ignored, and not to trust only people in the country in which you reside, and they have a good reputation and knowledge among people, and not to deal with unknown people at all.