HOW NOT TO GET HACKED ON FACEBOOK
from the article 'Facebook Users: How Not to Get Hacked'
By Kimberly Weisul | May 10, 2011
There are plenty of things Facebook users, and others, can do to protect their personal information online. Consumer Reports recommends:
Keep tabs on your kids’ accounts. Some kids won’t ‘friend’ their parents, of course, but they just might fork over their user name and password. Other parents can keep up on their children’s online activities via siblings or other friends.
Use privacy controls. Consumer Reports found that one in five adult Facebook users don’t use privacy controls. Whenever Facebook gives you a choice, set the information to be visible only to your friends. Otherwise your profile picture, friends list, activities, and other info can be seen by anyone who does a public search on your name.
Turn off Instant Personalization. Instant personalization shares your location information with sites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor (and the list is growing). The default setting for “instant personalization” is “on,” but you can turn it off.
Be careful with apps. In most cases, you can decide which information an app can see. Facebook says it doesn’t share identifiable information with advertisers, but using an app does make general information available.
Set a PIN number for your phone. Most smartphones allow you to set a four-digit PIN for your phone, but only about 20 percent of people-even those who store sensitive information on their phones-actually do this.
Protect your phone. The PIN is just the start. Many manufacturers offer over-the-air backup, remote phone locating, remote phone locking, and erasing of data and account info. You can also get software to lock your phone or erase data remotely. Turn off the phone’s GPS feature if you don’t need it.
MY THOUGHTS
I never liked the apps.
