Social Networking Security Issues

With over 350 million MySpace and Facebook users, it is important to understand that there are criminals in these virtual cities. So, we all must protect ourselves. Here are some fast facts.

• When you invite others such as friends of friends or everyone to participate in your wall, messages, invitations, photos and any other open information may allow access to private information for criminals. Limit your social networking profiles to friends,

• Hackers can gain unauthorized access to a site’s underlying coding which may breach the security in the platform. In doing so, your security may be compromised.

• Phishing, malware, and other types of cyber attacks can occur through MySpace and Facebook. Hackers have easier accessibility to your computer through social networking sites when compared to firewalls on computers.

• Facebook’s third-party application programming interface (API) may allow for simple theft of private information such as address, picture and interests. Now, consider your social networking profile your home. Would you invite a stranger into your house, particularly one whose identity is truly unknown?

• Know that it can be simple for criminals to set up fake profiles. Certainly, Facebook and MySpace use tactics to capture perpetrators and block them from using the site, but this may not occur for quite some time after the fake profile is uploaded.

• Recently, Secure Business Intelligence author Nick Barron reported that recent errors have temporarily displayed private chat sessions to the public, and it is nearly impossible to delete this type of data from a Facebook account.

Tips for Security

1) Do not post your addresses, schedules and routines that would make you an easy target for perpetrators.

2) Know that the Internet is open to the public. When you type your name into an internet browser on the search engines, what do you find? You may be surprised to know how much of your personal information can be found online. Even if you request this information be removed, there is a risk that it has been indexed by the search engines and will still appear to the public.

3) Only invite people to be your friends if you know them. Strangers may attempt to become your friend which will provide them with private information about you.

4) Maintain anti-virus software on your computer. It’s easier for hackers to invade your privacy and tamper with your computer if they can reach you from social networking site.

If you or a loved one has been affected by an Internet security issue, contact Burton Padove, Indiana lawyer, for a free consultation at 219-836-2200.