Facebook users have become easy prey for criminals as more and more people share personal information on the social networking site, says a computer anti-virus company.
Criminals are harvesting and selling Facebook users’ information, stealing identities, sending spam and planting viruses, according to [security product vendor] AVG.
“People put themselves at risk every day by carelessly clicking on invitations sent by ‘friends’ to join groups or write on their wall,” AVG marketing manager Lloyd Borrett said.
“They put all their personal information including date of birth and photos on their page. They even respond to fake Facebook requests for security details.”
To help people stay safe on Facebook, AVG gave 10 tips:
1. Think about who you add: accepting a friend request provides your new mate with access to posts, photographs, messages and background information about yourself. Go through your list of friends and think about who you really want accessing your stuff.
2. Check privacy settings: Facebook recently got a face-lift, changing default privacy settings. It’s worth going through them again; you may be sharing more than intended.
3. Why are you on Facebook? To share photos? Keep in touch with people? Share links and updates of your activities? Ask yourself what you want to achieve. It could be better to cut down on information-sharing.
4. Be smart about your password: try not to use the same passwords for all your accounts. Think about the type of security questions you set and where you are sending your updates.
5. Be aware of where you sign in from: When signing in from a different computer, check that it doesn’t store your email address and password. It’s easy to accidentally choose it to “remember you”.
6. Be careful what you say: once status updates and comments are posted, anyone can see, copy, and post it elsewhere. Do you really want people…