As more and more people sign on to social networking sites such as Facebook, ID fraudsters are set to target these sites to harvest information about you, warns security software company Sophos. Accordingly, the company has released a set of guidelines to help protect your privacy on the site.
The company says 41% of Facebook users will divulge personal information. It recommends you modify your Facebook privacy options to reduce your chances of being a victim of online identity theft.
A step-by-step guide to managing your privacy settings is located here. The guide covers exactly which options you should select for your Profile, Search, News feed and mini-feed, Poke, message and friend requests, and Applications settings.
Sophos says, unlike some other social networking sites, Facebook has actually provided some powerful options to protect you online – but it’s up to you to use them! Some general tips include – think carefully about who you allow to become your friend – and you can always remove friends if you change your mind about someone. Or you can choose to make some people limited friends and show them only a cut-down version of your profile.
Another hint is to disable options, then open them one by one. Sophos says if you only use Facebook to keep in touch with people and want to be able to contact them then maybe it’s better to turn off the bells and whistles and enable them only when you need them.
