Galaxy Ninja

With the rise in mass popularity of Facebook comes increased security threats. There are many Facebook security problems from identity theft to viruses. Several common questions: Am I at financial risk if I use Facebook? How can I make my information private? I hear about security issues on Facebook—is it something I should really be concerned about? In this blog post, we will look at how to protect oneself from Facebook security problems, how to privatize your profile, and more. Facebook Privacy Settings - The Simplest Way to Protect Your Information In the top right corner of your profile page is the word “account.” If you click on “account”, you will see a drop-down menu with several items, one of which is “privacy settings.” If you click on privacy settings, you will be brought to a page which shows a table of your information and profile items, and who is able to see them: everyone, friends of friends, and friends only. The highest level of security is having only friends be able to see your information, and the lowest security setting would be to allow anyone to see all of the information, photos, and other items that you have posted on your account.  There “recommended” settings, in which certain information is available to everyone and more private information is available to friends only. With the growing number of incidents of identity theft, it may be wise to lean towards the “friends only” category, or not even posting any important personal information at all. After all, the people who are really your friends already know you. How To Avoid "Badware" -- Being Tricked Into Downloading Viruses You can potentially download a virus by clicking on a "fake" button. This button could look like anything, for example a "view photo" button. This button then prompts a download for a virus that could potentially harm your computer and/or send spam messages to your friend list trying to trick them into downloading the virus. Fortunately for us, modern web browsers will ask you if you are sure you want to download any files, so if you are receive a "download" prompt from your web browser while using Facebook and are not intending to download anything, the safe choice will be to cancel the download. Facebook Applications Safety You are able to download “applications” which may be games, such as Scrabble, or a toolbar for Firefox that gives you Facebook updates immediately. Anybody can create an application and make it available. This poses a danger that someone could potentially make an application which tricks you into downloading a virus. Fortunately, there of “application settings” in the “privacy settings” page in which you can help to protect yourself from malicious activity. On this page are several settings which you can adjust, such as which of your personal information is available to the application, which applications you are currently using/allowing to see your page, and other settings. Block List -- Individualized Safety Another security possibility is where you can “block” a specific individual from seeing or interacting with your profile and its contents. This can be useful if you think an individual has malicious intentions, or is spamming your page with event invites and applications. The rise in social networking is a sign of rising collective consciousness. Greater ability for individuals to communicate or organize is changing the way the world functions. Ignorance is vanishing as people across the world are able to organize and inform instantaneously. As an example, internet social networks greatly contributed to the recent political development in Egypt. Technology expands with the development of consciousness. The Unified Field is understood to have infinite communication within itself—with internet social networks, we are more effectively displaying within ourselves the organization of the Unified Field. This blog post on Facebook Security Problems was my first post for Galaxy Ninja. Please give feedback in the comments below. Luke.

Filed under: Facebook by Luke