How to keep yourself safe on social sites

Many people use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to communicate with family and friends. What they may not realize is that they also might be communicating crucial information about themselves to identity thieves and scammers.

Users of social networking sites open themselves to a number of dangers if they reveal too much information. Among them:

• Identity thievery: If you post too much personal information about yourself, online criminals can harvest your name, address, phone number and other information and use it to steal your identity. Only a few pieces of information are needed to access your financial resources. The large number of people who visit social networking sites also attracts large numbers of scammers.
• Viruses and malware infections: Cyber criminals use social networking sites to distribute computer viruses and malware. Click an infected link and you could inadvertently download a virus to your computer. Criminals also use social networking sites to gather private information about users and then employ it in phishing and fraud schemes.
• – Employers: More employers investigate applicants and monitor current employees through social networking sites. What you post online about yourself may reflect negatively on you, especially if you post photos of yourself exhibiting embarrassing behavior.
• Predators: Do you share your class schedule, plans or whereabouts with friends? If you do, you also make them available to sex offenders, thieves and burglars, as well. Knowing your schedule and location makes it easy for someone to victimize you, whether breaking in to your house or apartment while you’re gone or attacking you while you’re out. Don’t make it easy for a Facebook stalker to find you.

How do you best protect yourself against these potential threats?

• Don’t put personal information online in the first place.
• Don’t hesitate to ask friends to remove embarrassing or sensitive information about you in their posts.
• Don’t post your full birth date, address, phone number, etc.
• Use built-in privacy settings. Most social networking sites offer ways to restrict public access to your profile, allowing only your “friends” to view it. Disable extra options and enable only ones you know you’ll use.

Most sites don’t have a rigorous process to verify the identity of members, so be cautious when dealing with unfamiliar people online.

A final tip: Research yourself online to see what others may see. Enter your name – inside quotation marks — in Google and do a search. See if there is too much data or embarrassing information about yourself. Also, try searching for any of your nicknames, phone numbers and addresses to see what you find.

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