Filed under: Identity Theft Prevention | Tags: data breach, facebook identity theft, facebook security, Facebook security concerns, identity theft, Identity Theft Prevention
My family has had a website where we shared personal family photos and updates for the last ten years. It was a dumbed down version of Facebook. Once Facebook because a hit, the family stopped posting and moved everything to Facebook. I was the last one to join in the fun as I was very sceptical about the security. After all, that’s my job right?
I finally caved in and joined the crowd. However, I did not post any personal information. I asked everyone in my family to remove their personal information including their birth date from the site and to stop identifying my kids in photographs. A few weeks later once of the first publicized breaches of Facebook took place where personal information including birth date were exposed on the internet.
Along with any growing company, Facebook is constantly upgrading it’s systems to keep up with and stay ahead of the competition and security issues will always be a concern. So the security breaches are not a surprise. With that in mind, why would you want to risk voluntarily placing your personal information on someone else’s website? If you decide to use the service there are some things you can do to lower your risk:
- Keep kids off the service. Posting pictures, their schedules and their parents schedules can put them at risk for abduction.
- Don’t auto save your passwords. Someone who break into your computer can gain access to this information and get into your Facebook account.
- Use strong passwords, including uppercase and lowercase alphanumeric characters. Don’t use the word password or your pet’s name in the password.
- Use strong virus and malware protection on your computer.
- Do not put any personal information on the website including your birth date.
Enough for today. I’m off to go work on my www.identitydoctor.com Facebook fan page!
