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Chances are you’re a pro at using Facebook. You have your Page optimized, ads targeted, and your privacy settings impenatrable. So why is it that I see so many glaring issues that could cause the average person to have their account life hacked?
I come across these 5 issues below every day. Any one of them could result in a someone nefariously hacking your account, stealing your identity, or even ransacking your home. If you have these covered, congrats, but please share them with your Facebook friends, because many of them are leaving themselves vulnerable.
1. Don’t Share Your Full Date of Birth
I still see a lot of Facebook users sharing their full date of birth. TURN IT OFF! There really is no reason why you should share you full date of birth with anyone interested. You’re making it one step easier for an identity thief to wreck your life. Besides, do you really want everyone to know how old you are? Head to your Profile Settings and turn it off! Friends will still see your birthday, just not the year you were born.
2. Don’t Share With Everyone
I personally only ever share my Facebook updates with those that are confirmed as my friends. While not foolproof, it does ensure that when I check in at a restaurant, or tell my friends I’m on vacation, I’m not broadcasting that to the entire world! Check to see if you are sharing your updates with just your friends or the entire world by looking for the drop-down option on your last update:
You can set your sharing option on a per post basis, or head to your Privacy Settings to change for all updates you post:
3. Don’t Friend Everyone
I’ve written many times that Facebook is not a popularity contest. Don’t add just anyone to your network, simply because they ask. Studies have shown that thieves and hackers set up fake profiles, just so they can try and infiltrate your network and steal information that is useful to them.
4. Don’t Click on Crap
While it may be tempting to click on a video that claims to show someone in their underwear or a man-eating spider, ask yourself two questions: is it likely to be real, and, do you really want to see it anyway? There are a lot of bogus posts made to Facebook and clicking on them could at best, make you look like an idiot, and at worst, breach your privacy.
5. Not All Emails are From Facebook
If you have email notifications switched on, be sure to double check their authenticity before clicking on them. Here’s an example of one that tried to phish for my login credentials.
It was not actually from facebook.com and the email address it shows is not the one I use for Facebook. Two good reasons to mark it as spam!
We Want Your Facebook Security Tips!
There are many more threats, but I felt motivated to share these five with you. Please post this advice to Facebook and warn your friends, they’ll thank you for it! And also, please leave a comment with any other security tips you may have!
