Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace have, in recent years, become one of the most common ways for people to keep in touch. You can send emails, post entire albums of pictures, reunite with friends around the world, form groups or clubs, arrange meetings, play games – the possibilities are endless.

There is some risk, however, just as there is with any sort of online activity. Most people are especially concerned with keeping their children and teens safe and monitoring their profiles. But what about parents? Who’s looking out for them? And if a parents’ profile is compromised, does that also put their children at risk?

Chances are likely if your profile is packed with pictures and information about your kids. When viewed by friends and family, it all seems pretty harmless. But when viewed by strangers with less-than-innocent eyes, images and information can quickly shift from harmless sharing to dangerous exploitation.

Here’s a few tips and steps to help keep you safe:

1) Use your privacy settings.
This is a big one, and probably the simplest way to protect yourself. Make sure you set your page so that only people on your “friends list” are able to view your profile. Don’t allow even partial access—lock that page down as tightly as possible. This isn’t the be-all, end-all security measure, of course. Social networking sites are just as hack-able as any other site around. Only the very determined online crook will take the time to crack into your account.

2) Be mindful of the pictures you share.
Okay, so the picture of your children playing on the slip n’ slide is adorable. But do you really want the whole world seeing them, barely dressed and dripping wet? It might seem innocent to you, but in the eyes of a pervert, that picture is anything but chaste. Save those for sharing in person, and try to keep the web-sharing to a minimum.

3) Do NOT post personal information.
Birthdays, phone numbers, addresses, full names—you have the option to share a lot of personal information on these sites. Assuming you have set your privacy settings correctly, only your friends and family should have access to view this information.  And seeing that they likely already have this information, there’s no need to post it online. On the off-chance that someone does hack into your page, your exposed information lends itself to identity theft or potentially even stalkers.

4) Become Password Savvy
When trying to come up with a secure password, don’t use things like your child’s name, or your birthday, or anything that could be easily guessed. It’s important to remember to not use the same password for everything. Also make sure you have a good mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols, and keep it longer than eight characters. It’s recommended to change this password at least once every three months.

There are a number of phishing sites [sites that masquerade as honest companies with the sole purpose of stealing passwords or other sensitive information] who would delight in getting their hands on your information. If you’ve used the same, easily hack-able password for several sites and it falls into the hands of cybercriminals, they may sell the information to more telemarketing scams than you could count, use it to pull a credit card scam or for identity theft, or use it to break into your accounts to steal more information.

A little bit of caution online can go a long way.  Keep using social networking sites to connect with your friends and family—have fun, because that’s what these sites are meant for. But do so in a way that is safe for everyone.

Sources: http://news.cnet.com/Study-Identity-theft-keeps-climbing/2100-1029_3-6164765.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

Posted in Internet Safety | feature, guides, social media, social networks | |