Social Media Quizzes Could Put You At Risk For Hacking

We’ve all seen them, those social media quizzes that ask you twenty questions that are supposed to help you figure out what Simpson’s character you are or what kind of job you did in a past life.

These things can definitely be categorized as guilty pleasures. Even the best of us fall into taking quiz after quiz. When you’re bored, they really seem like a good idea, but they can actually put your at risk to be hacked!

Many of the security questions that websites ask you when you’re trying to sign up for a service seem normal enough. You’ve probably seen things like, “What was the name of your high school?” or “What’s your mother’s maiden name?” They’ve gotten a little more complicated over the years, but generally, the questions are pretty straightforward. Some clever hackers have realized that they can access your account if they can find the answers to these types of questions.

Facebook keeps a tremendous amount of information on each of its users, and most of the time, keeping that much information is great because it makes our experience that much better. I can quickly go to a friend’s page and see what his little brother’s name is and where he’s going to school, but, on the other hand, what’s convenient for us also makes it more convenient for hackers to access our information, and if they can’t get it from our Facebook pages, they design quizzes with common security questions imbedded in them.

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So before you take that quiz on Facebook, think twice. Even if the writer of the quiz didn’t design the questions to make you disclose potential answers to potential security questions, hackers could still be using the quiz to access your information.

How often do you take these online quizzes? Have you ever thought about the potential information about yourself that you could be disclosing? Let us know in the comments below.