The Dangers of Facebook

Finding and making friends online using social networking Web sites such as MySpace and Facebook has almost become a rite of passage. Students at universities around the world chronicle their lives by building online profiles and sharing personal information, photographs, and opinions in order to connect with new people. If you use one of these sites to stay in touch, to express yourself openly, and to find like-minded people, that’s great. Just be sure you stay smart and safe in the process.
This includes knowing what Facebook and other social networking sites intend to do with your profiles. In September 2007, Facebook announced that profiles will become searchable through its new Public Search Listings. If you have a profile posted on Facebook, and don’t want your name and profile picture indexed by one of the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN Search, you need to update your Facebook privacy settings immediately. While Facebook has some restrictions on the Public Search Listing of a profile, few people posted their information on Facebook thinking it would be made available to virtually anyone with an Internet connection. You need to take action to prevent this from happening.
You should consider some other important things as well. First, while you can meet new friends online, you may also come into contact with malicious people misrepresenting themselves. These are people you don’t want to know. Internet thieves and sexual predators are only too eager to exploit personal information found on social networking sites. They are out there and willing to hurt you unless you take precautions to protect yourself.
A second consideration, frequently overlooked, is that information you post on a social networking site may reveal indiscretions and worse to future employers, college professors, or even your parents. It’s on the record that students have been suspended and expelled for escapades and threats posted online. In some instances, potential job offers have been withdrawn because of information posted on a social networking site. Keep these things in mind when taking advantage of the pluses of social networking.
You can follow these tips to help you protect yourself on a social networking Web site:
Consider restricting access to your profile. If the site allows it, it’s a good idea to limit access to your profile. Don’t allow strangers to learn everything they can about you. It’s just not safe.
Keep your private information private. Never post your full name, Social Security number, address, phone number, full birth date, financial information, or schedule. These will make you vulnerable to identity thieves, scams, burglars, or worse.
Choose a screen name that is different from your real name. Avoid using any personal information that would help someone identify or locate you offline.
Think twice before posting your photo. Photos can be used to identify you offline. They can also be altered or shared without your knowledge.
Don’t post information that makes you vulnerable to a physical attack. Revealing where you plan to meet your friends, your class schedule, or your street address is almost an open invitation for someone to find you. Remember that a photo in front of the Co-op tells strangers you are in Austin, and quite likely at the university.
Use your common sense. If you are contacted by a stranger online, find out if any of your established friends know the person, or run an online search on them (after all, you can use these things to your own benefit too!). If you agree to meet them, make it in a public place and invite others to join you.
Trust your instincts. If you feel threatened or uncomfortable during an online interaction, don’t continue the dialogue. Report any offensive behavior to the social networking Web site administrators.
Be suspicious. Don’t take any information you receive from a new online contact at face value. The Internet makes it easy for people to say or do things they would never say or do in public or in face-to-face interactions. Protecting yourself is the smart thing to do.

Best Blogs

Social Networking Gives Fake Love

The Perils of Social Networking Love

social love

A friend of mine who knows that my line of work involves internet security came to me with a problem she faced. A friend of hers met a guy from a different country on one of these social networks and fell in love with him over time. It might be important to note that it was the guy who initiated the contact.

That’s generally great; however, my friend is afraid that he may be trying to play her friend and after hearing the story I think she is quite right to be worried, so much so that I believe it’s even worse than what she was initially suspecting.

Fake Love

The first red flag was raised when this guy said that he really wants to meet her but unfortunately needs a large sum of money in order to get a visa to visit the country. Classic dating scam. Luckily the sum which he said he needed was so large that she couldn’t afford it, because if she did it is quite likely that she would have sent it over without a second thought. As if that wasn’t enough proof of this person’s malicious intent, another girl contacted my friend’s friend and told her about her bad experience with this person and cautioned her to be careful. However, when confronted with this information, the potentially malicious person said that he used to date the girl who had contacted her but had left her a while ago and now she just wants revenge. The girl believed his story even in light of the earlier scam attempt.

However what really got me worried was what came next. This guy suggested that they should meet in a different country and get married there. The biggest problem here is that, as far as I could tell from my research, the country which he suggested and the home country of this girl has the same exact same visa requirements. Actually the country which he suggested requires extra monetary guaranties that he would need to fulfill, which he wouldn’t need to for a visa in the girl’s country of residence. What’s a lot worse is that the country which he suggested is pretty well known for human trafficking.

Fake Love

And this had a profound effect on me because the first thing that went through my mind is one of the first things that you’re taught in security i.e. never think that it cannot happen to you. I honestly admit that my first thought was that it couldn’t possibly be that bad, I was just being paranoid. But then my security instinct kicked in and I decided that it’s better to be safe than sorry so I told my friend what I was suspecting – that this guy tried to scam the girl, but because she wasn’t rich enough to satisfy his scam, he might be going to plan B which is to try to sell her instead. I didn’t take this decision lightly; I know my friend came to me to ease her worry primarily and I was about to make it a lot worse but I dreaded the consequences which would be a lot worse, if it turned out that I wasn’t being paranoid after all.

After a lot of effort we managed to convince the girl not to travel to meet him, however she still insists that he is genuine. Yes, she still thinks that she wasn’t being scammed when he asked her for money.

Best Blogs

The Dangers of Social Networking

The Dangers of Social Networking

Social sites

There are many inherent dangers of social networking sites because of the way the websites work. One of the biggest dangers is fraud, sometimes having to do with identity theft. Because these sites are based on friends and the passing along of bits of personal information, thieves realized the potential instantly. There are endless social networking scams that crooks can try to pull off with this medium and we have only seen the “tip of the iceberg” so far

CEO Michael Fertik has co-authored a new book that discusses the importance of managing your online presence and the impact it can have on an entire company's reputation.

Dangers

The newest mainstream social network is Twitter. It’s based on people following others and getting to read their tweets of 140 characters or less. This is one of the dangers of social networking sites because many people want as many followers as possible and they aren’t shy about what they say in their tweets. This highlights the trouble with Twitter and many other social networking sites. Many people’s goals on these sites is to have as many friends as possible and they just don’t think before they message or add friends. Unfortunately, this sets them up to be victimized by one scam or the next.

                                  The biggest social network in the world is Facebook. Started in 2004 by a Harvard student, this site has had a meteoric rise. Facebook has become a huge software platform that houses every application imaginable and millions of games and groups. This brings me to another one of the dangers of social networking sites.

facebook

With the goal of becoming bigger than big, can these sites really protect the average Jane or Joe while on their site? Yes, this should be up to the individual user, but certain things cannot be controlled by the user and when the site has 200 million users (100 million log in everyday!), how much resource can be used for protecting clients of the site?

With so many people logged in everyday that contribute personal information constantly, the crooks have followed and committed Facebook identity theft to get what they need. There are truly endless scams they have tried and will try to pull off on the social networks. There are thousands and thousands of Facebook impostors out there looking to make an easy buck or harass people they know. Be careful!