How to have a safe and protected social site
We are all using social media and share all information over it. We are also worried if our posting has not received any likes and comments and happy if we receive more comments and likes over our postings/ pictures. I will take an example of FACEBOOK. Many a time, we put like over a posting on facebook without knowing the meaning of like. We come across the situation where a like has been accorded for obituary posting.
We share our personal information on facebook which includes our mobile no, address, blood group, our entire job profiles, education and institution where we worked and date of birth. It is done with an intention to get connected people with whom we have worked or studied. We do add friends to Facebook without any discrimination.
We use it to connect with far-flung friends and family, send quick messages to co-workers, and announce major (and minor) events in our lives. Many businesses use social media sites to collaborate or share information—for instance, we might discuss a project with co-workers via a Facebook messaging session or plan a conference on a LinkedIn forum. Employers and schools are increasingly using social media to reach out to potential employees and students as well.
Is it good or bad? Will it any time used against us.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, over 16 million US residents became victims of identity theft in 2012 alone. With more and more of our identities taking shape on social media, protecting our personal information on these sites has become more important than ever. Here are several ways to keep our personal information safe while still enjoying the benefits of making social media connections:
1. “about me” fields are optional.
Facebook gives the option to record all information about ourselves from our date of birth to our present status of the job. It is not necessary that we need to fill it up all in “about me”just because these fields are offered. Just fill in general version of information to complete the form. For instance, listing only our state of residence, instead of both city and state, can make it harder for others to figure out exactly where we live.
2. Understand privacy settings.
All social media sites give us the option to limit post-viewing to specific audiences. We need to understand these settings of Privacy to restrict ti specific audience. For instance, both Facebook and Twitter let we create custom lists of people who are allowed to view specific posts. As we get better at using the privacy settings, bear in mind that not all privacy settings “translate” into websites. For instance, some Facebook users have reported that photographs they set to “private” on Facebook were still indexed publicly in Google Image Search—and could be found by searching for their names. If we don’t want it found publicly, don’t post it!
3. know our friends (KOF)
Earlier, we compete with other users to have the largest number of connection/ friends and for this, we will be going on adding people as our friend without any discretion. But today, we review it and delete them who we do not know. Further, We also evaluate the friendship request to know whether he was any time work in an organization where we worked, or friend of any of our friends, or studies in an institution where we studied. Make sure we know the people we add on social media, in real life if possible. Don’t hesitate to use the “block” feature when the situation seems to call for it.
4. Understand “off-limits” list.
There are certain pieces of personal information we should never, ever post such as the PAN card number, Aadhar card No, our bank account detail and our specific location etc. Tagging our specific location can seem fun, but announcing to our friends that we are at the beach for the day also announces to strangers that we are fifty miles from home. We are seeing people tagging the location and Face Book started tracking them continuously and inform to the world at large about our activities, This may turn against us and we may not know the implication/ consequences of letting everyone know about our activities.
5. Log out and close the page.
If we’re using a public computer, make it a ritual to log out—but log out of private devices from time to time as well. Logging out helps ensure that other people won’t “commandeer” our social media profile and use it to attack our friends, change our personal information to embarrassing or slanderous comments, or worse, change our password and lock me out of our own account entirely.
6. Password –effective one
Always use a strong password combining words, numbers, upper- and lowercase letters, and special characters that is easy to remember, but tough for other people to guess. Never use common password element viz. birthdates, anniversaries, and the names of our children or pets. Keep passwords private by memorizing them—and never write them on the device itself.
Why should we be careful about the Privacy control?. The answer is to protect against the following.
· Personal identity theft
· Banking information theft
· Burglaries
· Potential job opportunities
· Maintaining our business online reputation
· Credit card scams
· Potential college placements for ourself or a family member
· Safeguarding our insurance policy
· Protection from lawsuits or legal issues
· Medical benefit fraud
1. Prevent theft of identity
Identity theft is number one rated cybercrime, with the growing web; many of our identities are being stolen online. By stealing our identity, the person gains access to our personal information, he can be online making every belief that it is we. They can use our identity and commit fraud through various web pages. I have come across the incident that a email has been sent from one of my friend’s email requesting for money as he lost his passport etc and do not have money to even settle the hotel bill. The hotel is kind enough to receive money on his behalf and hand over to him. To my luck, I have met this friend just a day ago and hence, I called whether he has traveled abroad to understand that the email is forged one. It is one a tip of an iceberg. They will find innovative ways of commit fraud using our identity.
2. Protect our banking information.
We all feel safe to do banking transaction online but we need to protect our banking information which we do not bother about. Cybercriminals can take our banking information and make unauthorized withdrawals and transfers. Although banking websites are encrypted, we should still practice privacy protection by changing our passwords frequently and by never logging in unless we are in our protected network at home.
3. Can we post vacation details
We are excited to inform our friends through Facebook about the trips planned by us and we do give all the finer details like date of travel, place, and date of return and people accompany us. We can update such status only our status updates are completely protected otherwise, we are leaving our front door open for the unscrupulous hacker to do the needful. Never share our vacation plans on social networking websites.
4. Employment record what it means
At the employers or the HR consultants are verifying our status updates in Facebook or Twitter. The posting made by us regarding our likes and dislikes about politics, religion or current job may shut the door on future job opportunities. There we should be careful about our posting in social network to keep our record clean
5. Manage business online reputation.
Our Business electronic privacy to be protected otherwise, it will destroy our online reputation.Criminals may take our business information and create fake emails and fake employee’s names and even hack our corporate network system. Protect our Company’s digital privacy by running our intranet on a secure server.
6. Credit card information.
Credit card scams are also on the rise. Many online sites want us to store the payment system wherein the details of credit card are requested. Except for the CVV number all the details are stored on the site to enable us to make the purchase easily without searching for the credit card for its details. If the CVV number is also stored by the site, it will be easy for them to fraud us by carrying out the international transaction. Although for all domestic transactions the PIN or OTP is required, we should avoid keeping our card details in merchant site ot=r for that matter with Google.
7. Will Facebook affect school admission?
In much the same way that our social network status updates and tweets can prevent us from gaining a new job, they can also damage any chances of gaining admission to school or college by us or by our family members. Do not allow Facebook to become the judge and jury of our online reputation. Keep our personal information private.
These above are only some illustrative list not an exhaustive one, it may cut across through legal/ medical/insurance also.
When we’re sitting in front of our computer at home, it’s easy to feel safe while surfing the Internet. Focusing on privacy protection is vital in protecting our personal data both online and off. So, let us keep our personal information private.
Steps
Conclusion
We should know what we share with whom and protect our information. We should also know what we are posting and its implications. We do have responsibly that we should not post any derogatory information, gossip and untrue information about any one on our page even if he is proved as very bad character. While posting picture, we should be careful that our picture are decent and will not cause any problem later. We also need to respect others while making a posting or reply to a post. Everyone has a right to express their views even if it against our views. If some of your friends are posting on the face which are unacceptable to you or inappropriate to the society, please hide the posting or block him permanently.
Let us have good safe social network for us.
