Hey there! Have you ever worried that your Pinterest account could get hacked? Or wondered if pins could be exploited by attackers? With over 450 million users, Pinterest‘s growth has unfortunately attracted lots of cybercriminals.
My friend Sarah, who runs a popular hairstyling blog, recently confided her nightmare experience. Hackers broke into her Pinterest business account and deleted all her boards and pins! Years of content building vanished overnight.
Sarah learned the hard way that beyond driving traffic, you must also implement cybersecurity best practices on Pinterest. Neglecting protections can lead to stolen customer data, reputation damage, blackmail attempts and more.
But don‘t let fear of cyber risks scare you off Pinterest! The key is following secure pinning strategies so you can safely grow your blog‘s audience.
In this guide, I‘ll share tips to help you:
- Secure your account from getting hacked
- Carefully vet pins before sharing
- Expand reach while protecting visitor privacy
- Continually strengthen defenses against emerging social threats
Let‘s dive in!
Recent Alarming Pinterest Breaches Highlight Need for Caution
While Pinterest feels more innocuous than sites like Facebook, serious cyber threats exist:
- Account Takeovers: Hackers use brute force attacks or password resets to gain access and take control. They then delete content, change payment info or post malicious links.
- Data Scraping Attacks: Bots mass collect public profile info, pins and comments to assemble dossiers sold on dark web markets.
- Spear Phishing Campaigns: Bad actors now leverage Pinterest to research targets, create credible fake personas and directly engage individuals as a trusted connection to trigger downloads of malware.
High impact attacks like these often target business accounts specifically. Yet simple precautions can help secure your brand‘s presence:
Start with These Quick Pinterest Account Security Wins
Given the risk of credential theft or social engineering ploys, the first priority is locking down account access:
- Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Add an extra verification step via text code or authentication app when logging in from new devices. This stops 99% of automated account hijacks!
- Use Strong Unique Passwords: Never reuse the same password twice! Utilize a password manager app to generate and remember complex 12+ character passwords for every account.
- Review Third-Party Apps: Be extremely wary of granting marketing tools, schedulers and other services access without vetting them first. Limit connecting only essential tools and revoke permissions periodically.
With account access secured, next focus on pinning content carefully.
While aspiring to viral pins is great, you must consider risks of exposing visitors or yourself through what gets posted publicly:
- Scrub Image Metadata: Photos can contain embedded details like device serial numbers, GPS coordinates or personal details. Use tools like ImageOptim to purge risky metadata before uploading.
- Analyze Links Thoroughly Before Inclusion: Use services like URLVoid or PhishTank to detect malicious links masquerading as helpful resources. Only share sites you fully trust.
- Mask Sensitive Data If Repinning: If showcasing customer data/records, anonymize names, IDs and other identifiers first.
Grow Your Audience While Still Respecting Privacy
Driving more Pinterest traffic to your blog is fantastic, but not at the cost of visitor privacy:
- Limit Excess Tracking: While analytics are useful, enable privacy-focused options and don‘t gather unnecessary personal usage data without informed consent.
- Allow Visitors Granular Cookie Control: Respect preferences of users who deny non-essential cookies and don‘t penalize them with limited site functionality.
- Secure Site Access: Require HTTPS encryption for all connections to your blog using free SSL certificates to prevent snooping.
Regularly Review Defense Posture Against Social Platform Threat Trends
As hackers increasingly target sites like Pinterest, routinely evaluate your usage for strengthening vulnerabilities:
- Enable Account Activity Notifications: Review login alerts and location changes for detecting unauthorized access attempts early.
- Back Up Your Boards: Export your boards to CSV or other formats periodically so pins/descriptions aren‘t fully dependent on Pinterest.
- Wipe Old Pins: Delete pins more than a few years old to limit publicly accessible content that could expose dated security practices.
Let‘s Build Your Blog‘s Audience Safely!
I hope exploring Pinterest safety gives you confidence to move forward driving referral traffic, not anxiety about cyber boogeymen!
Implementing these common sense precautions allows you to focus on creating captivating pins, building engaged followers and reaping rewards of more blog subscribers without constantly looking over your shoulder.
Have any other favorite Pinterest security tips? Share them below!
