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Technically Speaking: An Ounce of Prevention – Playing Safe on the Social Network Scene
By Jessica Kennedy
Growing up, we were inundated with a number of fair warnings from our elders. Never talk to strangers, they said. Or take candy from them, or tell them where you live. And yet, more than 500 million active Facebook users, not to mention countless others on My Space, Twitter, Friendster and the like, log in daily to share all sorts of secrets and personal details on a very public forum. We admit our whereabouts by “checking-in” on Foursquare, accept friend requests from friends of friends and upload intimate photographs of our families and social activities.
It’s all in good fun, of course, but what happens when sketchy strangers turned sordid cybercriminals stalk your profile looking for ways to violate your privacy, bypass your security and take advantage of your information? It happens every day. At best, you wind up on a mass email list for illegal pharmaceuticals. At worst, accounts get hacked, identities get stolen, lives and credit lines are left in ruins. Sound scary? It is. But that doesn’t mean you have to turn off your Wi-Fi, cover your computer and just listen to your friends talk about the latest and greatest Twitter post. While there are no guarantees that your information is safe online, there are many ways you can amp up your security, maintain some level of privacy and still enjoy social media sites to the fullest.
Setting Up for Safety
Taking precautions when establishing a new presence on a social media site is your first line of defense. You’ll likely be asked for personal information like what school you graduated from, place of residence and phone number. Just because they ask doesn’t mean you have to answer truthfully. It’s only important that you remember what you entered in case they ask you to verify your information for security reasons. This measure alone could potentially protect you from being a victim of identity theft or worse.
If you’ve already set up an account, it’s not too late to change your address and delete your phone number. If a particular system won’t allow you to delete your number entirely, you should still be able to change it. Make one up, but remember it. A good alternative is to use your area code plus 123-4567, which seems to be accepted by most sites.
Don’t Tempt Fate
Passwords are like the keys to your house; never share them or make them too accessible. If you live at 1234 Main Street, for example, a poor choice in passwords would be “1234Main”. Consecutive numbers or letters, the names of pets or family members, and the commonly used “password” should also be avoided. Using at least one capital letter, one or two numbers, a symbol and eight to ten characters makes your password very difficult for someone to guess. Isn’t that right, sT3ph@n13? Create a different password for each site you use. This way, if someone is able to guess one account, your other accounts won’t be compromised. If your passwords are so intricate that even you can’t remember them, write them down and keep them somewhere away from your computer, but not in your purse or wallet, in the event that it gets stolen.
To further insure the security of your personal information, it is advisable to change your passwords once a month. This will make it very difficult for someone (or someone’s computer) to correctly guess your current password. If generating unique passwords every month gets too cumbersome and time consuming, try getting them from a password generator like Roboform.
On the Look Out
It is a sad reality that people out there spend a lot of time devising clever schemes to fool you into thinking you’re talking to a trustworthy source. For that very reason, it’s important to be vigilant and know how to identify and report schemes before you become a victim.
A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: Phishing
Created to mimic real sites–those of social media outlets, financial institutions, software distributers, etc.–phishing sites are designed to capture your personal information and/or install malicious software on your computer through various methods. One popular phishing scheme on Facebook is when a “friend” of yours makes a wall post about some great deal they received and suggests you click on the link to get the deal as well. Clicking on the link takes you to an obscure website where you’ll be asked to enter personal information. Don’t fall for it. Look for these tell tale signs of a phishing scheme:
- Poor Grammar and Spelling: Professional organizations have copy-editors that proofread messages for grammar; cyber criminals are notoriously bad spellers.
- Threats: Phishers attempt to convey a sense of urgency by threatening that your account will be blocked or closed if you don’t fill out a security form.
- Too Good to be True: If a message promises to give you a brand new, $600 iPad for free just for filling out a survey, you can bet money it’s a scam.
- Real-Looking Links: These links are designed to look legitimate, but often contain random extra letters, numbers or file extensions.
To verify whether or not a link is legitimate, place the cursor over the link but do not click on it. A small window will appear with the actual web address you are going to link to; if it doesn’t match the link printed in the email/message, do not open it.
If you see a phishing site, report it. Most social networking sites offer the option to “report this user”. If the message came from a friend, send them a private message alerting them that their account has been hacked. It only takes a moment of your time and could prevent you and others from having any personal information unknowingly and unwillingly shared.
Bad Company
They’re called “friends” for a reason. Know them before accepting a friend request. Anybody can set up a profile using anybody else’s photo and information, including hackers. If someone requests your friendship online and you’re not sure who it is, ask them how it is that you know one another. Check to see if you have “mutual friends” and ask those friends if they know the person. If you do accept a friend request from someone you think you know, and he or she starts uncharacteristically asking you for personal information or sending you spam messages, chances are they are not the person you thought they were. Drop ‘em like a hot potato.
Use Good Sense
Even more important than keeping your information safe is keeping yourself safe and your reputation intact. Mostly, this boils down to using common sense. If you don’t want your boss, teachers, co-workers, mother, father, grandma, etc. to see or read it, don’t post it. It can and will come back and bite your backside when you least expect it.
While sharing with real friends can be fun and safe, there is a point at which giving away too much can be dangerous. Take Gowalla and Foursquare’s “checking-in” feature, where you can tell everyone on your friend list precisely where you are and when. Surely it can be a great thing if you’re out with friends and want others to join you, but beware the dark side. If your address is on the internet somewhere, and it probably is (check out the county assessor’s page), mentioning that you’re away from home could be the green light for a burglary. Additionally ladies, if you’re out partying at 2 a.m., you might want to think twice about blasting your whereabouts all over the web; you really never know who’s peeking in on you and what kind of unsavory agenda they might have.
The online world of social media certainly has its pitfalls, but it doesn’t have to be overly frightening. Use Google or your favorite search engine to find out the latest news on current scams. Then, take it a step further and share it with your friends. Remember, an ounce of prevention can bring about more than a pound of cure; it can give you the privacy and the security you and your identity need to be safe and play nice on the social networking scene.
Jessica Kennedy is a social media expert who teaches a variety of classes on the subject in UNLV”s Continuing Education Department. She can be reached at jessica@cleandesignLV.com.
