Social Networking Security Risks

Pictures have GPS information embedded that lets others know where the pictures were taken. This includes your cell phone camera. Disable Global Position System (GPS) encoding in your phone or camera. If you fail to do so, and that photo is uploaded to a site, so are the GPS coordinates, which will let people know that exact location.

Social Media Security Tips

• Do not post to show where you are (e.g. on vacation in Florida), as this tells others where you are not (i.e. home).
• Do not make posts such as: Looking forward to the family vacation next week in California!

Although these might seem relatively harmless, you have just told everyone, not just your friends, where you are right now and that you will be away from home for a full week.

Posting pictures online of what big purchases you just made shows everyone, and I mean everyone, what you have. For example, that nice 70” flat screen television, your beautiful diamond ring valued at $5,000, or that new assault rifle. In essence just put a sign up announcing to the world that you have some great valuables in your house.

When you sign up for a new social networking site, or for anything online, you are often asked to set some security questions. Such as the name of your first pet, your mother’s maiden name, your father’s middle name, the name of your high school, or any number of personal questions. Did you realize that some of your online financial services ask for the same information for their security questions? Did you know how really easy it is to get people to give up what they think is basic information, which can actually be used to steal your identity?

Password Security Tips

• Do not use the same password for your emails or anything else that you use for your online banking.
• Never use the same PIN that you use for banking on any other service.
• Change your PINs and passwords often, never reusing the same ones.

I know what you’re thinking, I have a hard enough time remembering one password and you’re suggesting that I have numerous ones? Look at it this way, the guys trolling online are counting on you to have very few different passwords so do not be a victim and then blame someone else.

Vacation Security Tips:

• Do not post your travel plans online.
• Do not post on any social networking site when, where, or how long you’ll be gone.
• Do not post your vacation pictures until you are back home.
• Always use highest privacy controls on social networking sites.
• Only allow family and friends to view your photos, not Friends of Friends.
• Be careful with the status updates.

Online Security Tips:

To keep yourself and your information safe, pay careful attention to your online activity. Avoid posting information including:

• Travel plans
• Bank account information
• Your full address and birth date
• Your children’s’ names, school, and birth dates
• Location information, such as the name of your work place
• Your daily schedule
• Do not store any information you want to protect on any device that connects to the Internet
• Always use high security settings on social networking sites, and be very limited in the personal information you share
• Monitor what others are posting about you on their online discussions
• Use anti-virus and firewall software. Keep them and your browser, and operating systems patched and updated
  Change your passwords periodically, and do not reuse old passwords
• Do not use the same password for more than one system or service. For example, if someone obtains the password for your email, can they access your online banking information with the same password?
• Do not post anything that might embarrass you later, or that you don’t want strangers to know
• Verify those you correspond with. It is easy for people to fake identities over the Internet
• Do not automatically download, or respond to content on a website or in an email
• Do not click on links in email messages claiming to be from a social networking site, instead go to the site directly to retrieve messages
• Only install applications or software that come from trusted, well-known sites. “Free” software may come with malware
• Verify what information applications will be able to access prior to enabling them. Once installed, keep it updated. If you no longer use it, delete it.
• Disable Global Position System (GPS) encoding. Many digital cameras encode the GPS location of a photo when it is taken. If that photo is uploaded to a site, so too are the GPS coordinates, which will let people know that exact location (i.e. your child’s school….)
• Whenever possible, encrypt communications with websites. It may be a feature social network sites allow you to enable
• Avoid accessing your personal accounts from public computers or through public WiFi spots
• Beware of unsolicited contacts from individuals in person, on the telephone, or on the internet who are seeking corporate or personal data
• Monitor your bank statements, balances, and credit reports
• Do not share usernames, passwords, social security numbers, credit cards, bank information, salaries, computer network details, security clearances, home and office physical security and logistics, capabilities and limitations of work systems, or schedules and travel itineraries.
• If you do not know how to disable GPS on photos, change passwords or set your wi-fi security, ask someone that knows how

NEVER, and I mean NEVER click on a link anywhere in an email or add online before you ensure where it is directing you to once you do click on it, you can verify where it will send you by hovering your mouse pointer over the link without clicking on it. The most often means in which someone gets access to your computer files or smart phone files is by inserting malware on your devices which gets activated when you click a link that was in that message or ad. Social email ads, messages, or links, as well as emails in general, can be spoofed to make it look like it came from your friends or family, when if fact it had not.