Social networking Web sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and
Windows Live Spaces are services people can use to connect with others to share information like photos, videos, and personal messages.
As the popularity of these social sites grows, so do the risks of using
them. Hackers, spammers, virus writers, identity thieves, and other
criminals follow the traffic.
Read these tips to help protect yourself when you use social networks.
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Use caution when you click links
that you receive in messages from your friends on your social Web site.
Treat links in messages on these sites as you would links in e-mail
messages. (For more information, see Approach links in e-mail with caution.)
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Know what you've posted about yourself. A
common way that hackers break into financial or other accounts is by
clicking the "Forgot your password?" link on the account login page. To
break into your account, they search for the answers to your security
questions, such as your birthday, home town, high school class,
father's middle name, on your social networking site. If the site
allows, make up your own password questions, and don't draw them from
material anyone could find with a quick search.
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Don't trust that a message is really from who it says it's from.
Hackers can break into accounts and send messages that look like
they're from your friends, but aren't. If you suspect that a message is
fraudulent, use an alternate method to contact your friend to find out.
This includes invitations to join new social networks.
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To avoid giving away e-mail
addresses of your friends, do not allow social networking services to
scan your e-mail address book. When you join a new social
network, you might receive an offer to enter your e-mail address and
password to find out if your contacts are on the network. The site
might use this information to send e-mail messages to everyone in your
contact list or even everyone you've ever sent an e-mail message to
with that e-mail address. Social networking sites should explain that
they're going to do this, but some do not.
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Type the address of your social networking site directly into your browser or use your personal bookmarks.
If you click a link to your site through e-mail or another Web site,
you might be entering your account name and password into a fake site
where your personal information could be stolen.
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Be selective about who you accept as a friend on a social network. Identity thieves might create fake profiles in order to get information from you.
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Choose your social network carefully. Evaluate
the site that you plan to use and make sure you understand the privacy
policy. Find out if the site monitors content that people post. You
will be providing personal information to this Web site, so use the
same criteria that you would to select a site where you enter your
credit card.
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Assume that everything you put on a social networking site is permanent.
Even if you can delete your account, anyone on the Internet can easily
print photos or text or save images and videos to a computer.
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Be careful about installing extras on your site.
Many social networking sites allow you to download third-party
applications that let you do more with your personal page. Criminals
sometimes use these applications to steal your personal information. To
download and use third-party applications safely, take the same safety
precautions that you take with any other program or file you download
from the Web. For more information, see Before you download files, help protect your computer.
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Think twice before you use social networking sites at work. For more information, see Be careful with social networking sites, especially at work.
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Talk to your kids about social networking. If you're a parent of children who use social networking sites, see How to help your kids use social Web sites more safely.
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