6 ways to protect yourself on Facebook

from JoeUser Forums

Seems as though a new scam is coming out for every new member that joins the site. While it’s best to stay vigilant and read up on the latest scams to avoid, there are a few other tips that will keep you ahead of the game, protecting your profile 24 hours a day.

With all of your personal information and photographs posted on Facebook, the last thing you want is to find that your account has been hacked or accessed without your permission. We’ve put together a list of ways that you can protect yourself from the latest scams, making sure that your Facebook account is never compromised.

Follow The Sophos Blog

Antivirus developers, Sophos, report on the latest Facebook phishing scams practically on a daily basis on their blog, Naked Security. There seems to be no limit to the rogue applications preying on people’s curiosity, or the desire to activate certain features on their Facebook profiles through these apps. Sophos is one of the best sources today when it comes to Facebook scams.

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See my article posted today here. Turns out it’s the safest browser to use for Social Networking sites!

SafeGo

BitDefender’s SafeGo is a Facebook application designed to keep users aware and protected from spam and any kind of threat that might be floating around Facebook. SafeGo scans your profile for any suspicious links, and you also have the option of allowing the app to automatically post a comment to your wall when a threat is detected.

Facebook Security

Another place to find tips and tricks to stay safe on Facebook comes directly from the source. Facebook’s Security page is constantly being updated with ways to protect your account.

Look For The Signs

Aside from all of these tips and tricks, the most important thing that any person can do is use common sense. See who it was that posted the link and ask yourself how likely it is that they would share something that begins with OMG You won’t believe this! or would they really write to you, through Facebook of all means, if they were stranded in a strange city?

If you receive emails that claim to be from Facebook, always analyze the email address they came from and the link they want you to click. Facebook notifications always come from Facebookmail.com.

What To Do If You Unwittingly Clicked That Link?

If you feel that you may have been the victim of a Facebook phishing scam, the first thing you should do is change your Facebook password. If you’ve linked your Facebook account to other online services, it would probably be best to change the passwords to those services as well.

If you’ve granted permission to an application, you can revoke permission through your privacy settings. Navigate to your Privacy Settings, and at the bottom of the page, click ‘Edit your settings‘ under Apps and Websites.

You will be taken to a page featuring the latest apps you’ve authorized. Click the ‘Edit settings‘ button.

From there you can delete any apps that you have mistakenly authorized by clicking the small ‘x’ next to the app.

How do you keep your Facebook profile safe? Have you been the victim of any phishing attacks? How did you deal with it?

Let me know in your responses.

129,327 views 63 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top

wow, thanks for this info!!  I FB all the time, and pretty much am over the application/quiz/stuff....but what great information!!

I'm going to link this on my FB page!

 

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

The best way, stay off of Facebook.  One day, when you aren't paying attention, someone will pull a 'Gotcha' on you. :-"

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Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Better way Philly is to not join Facebook at all, or Twitter, or any other social networking site.  Unfortunately, sometimes it is a necessary evil, I had to join Facebook for other reasons.  I hardly ever use the place though, it just sits there.

Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

With all of your personal information and photographs posted on Facebook, the last thing you want is to find that your account has been hacked or accessed without your permission.
End of quote

Facebook.

....Myspace.

......And all others likewise site.

Seriously.  Who in their right mind would enter 'personal' information and photographs on such sites?

I do have one fb account but nothing else...and my address there is "616 up yours street; your momma's town; one plate on planet earth; 61616".  I don't even have my real name anywhere on that site.  OH and to top it off, such information is set to private (ie by permission only).

Do people really enter all that information???

That is just UNBELIEVABLE!

-.-

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting aeligos, reply 4

With all of your personal information and photographs posted on Facebook, the last thing you want is to find that your account has been hacked or accessed without your permission.
Facebook.

....Myspace.

......And all others likewise site.

Seriously.  Who in their right mind would enter 'personal' information and photographs on such sites?

I do have one fb account but nothing else...and my address there is "616 up yours street; your momma's town; one plate on planet earth; 61616".  I don't even have my real name anywhere on that site.  OH and to top it off, such information is set to private (ie by permission only).

Do people really enter all that information???

That is just UNBELIEVABLE!

-.-
End of aeligos's quote

Depends on which generation you're from. The young and teenagers seem to have little regard for it... until a disaster happens.

Take a look here.

Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I had Facebook. Past tense. I rarely if ever used it and finally decided not to bother. None of these so-called social networking sites interest me.

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

The most important way is missing from the list.  IF you have to be on Facebook, the most important way to protect yourself is to NEVER place anything credit card-related or any other information possible involving money transactions of any kind.  Leave the "Payments" tab under your account preferences blank at all times.

 

Seems like common sense to some of us, but many (without common sense) put their cc info all over facebook, and of course whether they realize it or not, get robbed continuously.  No matter how "protected" you are otherwise, this is bound to happen sooner or later.

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Anyone putting data like that in a site that doesn't have super security is asking for trouble, imo.

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

^ I'd say that's accurate.

Personally, I've had my account hacked/broken-into from some guy in Brazil (FB informed me of this when I signed on and allowed me to reset my password etc).  No idea how it happened, since I never clicked on any apps or linked myself etc. Fortunately, I literally have nothing on it that I consider personal on there anyway; I keep my name and address/city off of it, I even refuse to add my family members as "friends".

I can't imagine divulging too much on there considering how many horror stories I hear (far worse than mine) from people I know.

Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top

You really only need to do ONE thing to be 100% absolutely safe on Facebook,
I have tested this method, and found it to be 1000% reliable:

 

 

 

 


........Stay away from it and it's Hype!

Reply #11 from Elemental Forums Top

You might be surprised how many people now have jobs that force/require them to have a Facebook account.

Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Victor5, reply 9
^ I'd say that's accurate.

Personally, I've had my account hacked/broken-into from some guy in Brazil (FB informed me of this when I signed on and allowed me to reset my password etc).  No idea how it happened, since I never clicked on any apps or linked myself etc. Fortunately, I literally have nothing on it that I consider personal on there anyway; I keep my name and address/city off of it, I even refuse to add my family members as "friends".

I can't imagine divulging too much on there considering how many horror stories I (far worse than mine) hear from people I know.
End of Victor5's quote

Brute force cracking.  HERE.

Quoting Victor5, reply 11
You might be surprised how many people now have jobs that force/require them to have a Facebook account.
End of Victor5's quote

Also true.

Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Victor5, reply 11
You might be surprised how many people now have jobs that force/require them to have a Facebook account.
End of Victor5's quote

Well if work required me to have an account it would only have information on it that would lead folks back to where I worked.  I can't imagine you would be required to input personal information.

Reply #14 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting M-203, reply 10
You really only need to do ONE thing to be 100% absolutely safe on Facebook,
I have tested this method, and found it to be 1000% reliable:

 

 

 

 


........Stay away from it and it's Hype!
End of M-203's quote

I agree with this and got a story about a e-mail I got inviting me to join facebook that was sent from a family member's account (e-mail was @facebookmail.com) that turned out to be malware.  The family member didn't even know it had been sent until I sent a reply saying I wouldn't sign up.  A key indicator in knowing if a facebook invite MAY be the e-mail saying something like "I have started using Castle Age and I think you would like it too".  There are companies out there that block employee access to facebook/twitter as part of their internet policy.  To be 100% certain that you are safe on facebook is to NOT make an account and question any invites you get from people you know telling them you won't sign up.

Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top

This may suprise you all, but I don't use FaceBook or any social-networking site.  I don't see the point.  Why would I open up my entire world to everybody instead of just an elect few (like WinCustomize) who I actually have things in common with?  (OS Customization for example)  Let alone, people knowing my REAL identity, of which I won't allow to disclose to anybody*?  MY Identity is MY business and I won't become the next "sucker" who joins this or any other social-networking site.  Hook, Line, and Sinker.

And I would much rather have real, physical, face-to-face contact friends (the old-fashioned way to befriend people) than to ever "friend" some total stranger half-way across the globe just because they happen to have ONE similarity trait or common interest.  Chances are that they won't even speak the same language as you.  What's the fun in that?  To me, "friends" are more like "fans".  They're a fan of you, just like fanboys are to comic books, movies, anime, and the like. 

However, I'm not saying that all "friends" are total strangers or fans.  There are some people that you probably know in person who are "friends" with you on FaceBook, and that's okay.  There's nothing wrong with that.  But when your FaceBook profile says that you have "50,000 friends", chances are that 99.9% of these people ARE NOT your real friends.

In conclusion, the best defense is to not use FaceBook at all (like me) [Philly already said this I know, but I can't stress it enough.].  But for those who have a FaceBook account, stay on your toes and try to learn from others' mistakes so you won't reproduce the same mistakes yourself.  And for the record, only "friend" people who you know in person. 

Oh, and I HATE FaceBook and everything it stands for! (except the logo, hehe.)

*EDIT:  pbbt, Duh!  I revealed my REAL identity to Stardock & this Site of course.  And Adobe & Yahoo as well, but that's about it.

Reply #16 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Philly0381, reply 2
The best way, stay off of Facebook.  One day, when you aren't paying attention, someone will pull a 'Gotcha' on you.
End of Philly0381's quote

The OP's point about the younguns is hard to ignore. Sure, the best thing to do about Facebook is ignore it (and block the domain if your browser supports that).

But if you're going to wallow in that online orgy of self-profiling for mass marketers and self-marketing for scammers, best take as many precautions as you can.

Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I said I had a Facebook account yet I still get emails from the site. How do I stop them?

Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top

"*EDIT:  pbbt, Duh!  I revealed my REAL identity to Stardock & this Site of course."

Some interactive sites require personal information, typically a legitimate email account as simple recognition requirements...so that you are 'who you are'.  All that is fine.... as there is no instance when that info is made public or displayed on those sites [such as Stardock's].

It's a little 'different' for people such as myself.... where it's only appropriate that my email [and some others']is accessible to our community members.

The problem with social networking sites is the '6 degrees of separation'.

Your personal info which you inadvertently or intentionally divulge is only ever 6 degrees of separation from the absolute scum of humanity [insert personal choice of same here].

Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I found it really difficult to refuse to join. Old High School friends and folks from here.... I just did. Not sorry I did [yet], but to quit suddenly? Why?

I've taken more than adequate precautions... so I do not feel insecure about it.

Besides, how could I pass up on commenting on Smedley's "adventures" in ER's?

Reply #21 from Elemental Forums Top

I have several SM accounts, despite being older.  I was one of the early adopters of Livejournal as we used it for SM stuff back in the 90s, so I got used to it.  That said, I'd never post any real important financial information on  there, and Facebook does make me wary.  I'm warier now then I was a couple years ago even, all due to Facebook and its policies.

 

 

Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I have a FB account I use it to keep in touch with Family and Friends from here and in Tasmania  I do like to play some of the games on there  too :grin:

Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Here's an interesting question. Why did they call it Facebook? When I first heard about it visions of a face opening and looking inside to see the person's gray matter. Weird.

Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Uvah, reply 23
...
Why did they call it Facebook?
...
End of Uvah's quote

Because the inventor needs to be smacked in the Face with a large leather-bound Book of concrete samples?

Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top

people who wouldnt normally trust you with their name in real life but somehow dont mind giving their personal info on the internet..i guess it just doesn't add up too good in their mind..i wonder how it would be if sites like facebook were off the net,you had facebook agents that came to your house,or you went to their office to give your info to make a profile,and access things through a phone system