Social Media Safety | Security and Emergency Management Services | Seneca Students

Social media has also become an excellent investigative tool which sometimes can be used by criminals to identify vulnerabilities and certain unlawful opportunities.

You can prevent criminal opportunities by doing some of the following:

• Avoid posting photos with personal information present, such as background street signs or other personal identifiers.
• Limit who you share your photos with, and always assume these photos to be publicly accessible.
• Always fact-check and verify the information you engage with online.
• Turn off geolocation features, and maintain this via app settings with each update.
• Avoid posting information such as your first car, your pet's name, and other information that could typically be used to answer a verification question.
• Never disclose that you are away from home on vacation as this will tell the public that your home is not occupied and is an easy target for criminal activity.  Wait until you return to post your vacation photos.

•  If you suspect you have been a victim of a crime related to social media, ensure you document all chat logs and report your concern to your local police department.
• Ensure you review your privacy settings frequently and adjust them accordingly.
• Change passwords often, and make them unique for each platform.

Security Office Locations:

Non-Emergency Online Reporting Tool
• Toronto Police
• York Regional Police
• Peterborough Police