FACEBOOK-Security Issues and Prevention Tips

With the growing popularity of facebook, privacy of millions of users is at risk as its users are experiencing a number of security issues. Just like a coin has two sides, similarly facebook usage has two facets - Fun and Threat. Facebook users are an easy target for spammers. Privacy of millions of users is at risk on facebook mainly because of the following reasons: • Users disclose a lot of personal information in their profiles. • Status updates by users let third parties like facebook applications, friend requests, pages, groups and facebook advertisements etc., seek user information using facebook. • Users mostly sign out in haste without checking whether they have actually logged out or not. For more information on facebook issues, refer to an article on Wikipedia - "Crticism of Facebook" It is better to be alert and prevent your account from being hacked rather than suffering personal or financial losses later. You should be cautious while using social networking sites. Following tips will help in protecting your privacy: • Never share personal information rnMany users mainly teenagers share their personal information like mobile numbers, email ids, address, photos etc. in their profile page. You must not share such sensitive information publically. • Restrict your profile access:rnEdit your settings to allow only your friends to see your profile information. This will restrict strangers to know your personal details or view your photos. Also disable the "view my friends" option in the privacy tab. Most importantly, do not add strangers to your friend list. • Password related tips:  Always use a strong passwordrnYour password should have at least 6-8 characters. Choose a password which is easy for you to remember and difficult for others to guess. Include letters, symbols and digits in your password to increase its strength.  Don’t disclose your passwordrnAt times users do share their password with people they trust, which is the easiest way to lose your privacy. Never disclose your password or any other confidential information with anyone, if you have already shared your password, change it immediately. Always remember a quote by Clifford Stoll “Treat your password like your toothbrush. Don’t let anybody else use it, and get a new one every six months”.  Change your password frequentlyrnDo not change your password so often that it becomes hard for you to remember it. You must change your password often enough so that till the time someone figures out your password, you have changed your password. • Always sign out completelyrnAt times people leave their systems in a hurry without signing out or without waiting to see if the signing out process is complete. This is quite unsafe especially when you are using computers at cyber cafes. Before leaving your system, always make sure that you have completely logged out of your account. • Do not let others use your PC, mobile phones, etc.rnYou might have allowed your friends to access your system and other devices but this is not right for your privacy. Your friends can access your account and can post or send anything under your name. They might download some malicious program which can harm your system. • Do not click on unnecessary links rnUnnecessary links on your wall post, which appear under your friend’s name, could be a spam. Spammers send malicious emails posing as facebook notification and stealing user's information by asking them to open the links or attachments. Always ignore suspicious links or private messages - they may rob you of your privacy. • Avoid using third party applications: rnWhen you click on a like button of a certain page it accesses your data. Even the advertisements that appear on your page may be spams. The various applications on facebook ask for access to your personal data which is not good for your security. Never allow these applications to access your personal data. • Choose right browser for accessing your accountrnAlways choose a right browser to access your account. When it comes for choosing a browser, Firefox is a good option as it comes with add-ons. These add-ons provide security at a certain level as compared to other browsers. The following add-on would help:  Adblock PlusrnAs the name suggests, this will block all the ads that pops-up. Hence provides security from dangerous links.  NoScriptrnThis add-on blocks javascript to run on a website unless you allow. This will help in preventing cross site linking which hackers use to insert dangerous codes. These tips will help you protect your account and would lower down the risk of security issues as security always comes first.