9 tips to be safe online

By on May 6th, 2009 In Advice

You’ve heard about the Craigslist murders, and the Facebook ruse where someone hacks into your identity, claims to have been mugged in London, and posts on your status that “you” need to have money wired to you in order to get home.  Here’s a story about a South Carolina councilwoman who experienced this.

 

What are some ways to stay a safe social butterfly?   I polled people on FB, LinkedIn and Twitter.   Here are 9 tips:

1.  Choose strong passwords that include letters and a number and even a special character.  Length should be 8 or 9 characters minimum.  Stay away from dictionary words.    – Joe Green

2.  If you are on a site and suddenly asked for a password, do not provide it. Instead, shut the browser down and reenter the site the usual way. Never use a password on these sites that you use for financial or crucial information.  – Geoff Feldman

3.  Have an idea up front of what you will discuss with strangers and stick to it. Don’t provide your exact town, date of birth, place of birth, mother’s maiden name or other information that you would commonly give to establish identity. Keep in mind that if you exchange e-mail outside the social media site with someone, it is possible to readily use the IP address in your e-mail header (which is hidden in normal use) in order to identify your whereabouts, even your precise neighborhood.  – Geoff Feldman

4.  Don’t broadcast that you are home alone or home alone with the kids, especially if you have a public timeline set on twitter. – Sally Clasen

5.  Don’t list your kids names on a social media site. – Christopher Weber

6.  Only link to people you actually know. Post your business, not your home address.  – Gwen Henson

7.  Set your privacy settings to limit who has access to and visibility of your profile.  – Abbie Fink

8.  Keep the social media sites on your home PC, as many cell phones are more likely to be lost or stolen.  – Rick Hancock

9.  If you’re going to be on social media, BE on it and monitor it frequently.   That way, you can find out immediately if something is wrong.   Too many people set up accounts and then never check them.  – Linda VandeVrede

Pat Elliot sent me so many helpful links, I think she should start her own blog!   If you want to find out how to set your Facebook privacy settings, click here and here for 2 good articles. 

And if you want to wire me money, please send it to…..oh, never mind.

 

Comments

Pat Elliott Says:
May 7th, 2009 at 2:46 pm

When you have a name like Pat Elliott – or Bill Smith – or any other name that’s shared with many others, identity mix-ups take place with or without deliberate ID theft actions.It can cause major damage to your credit information and FICO score, affecting the cost of borrowing money and even the ability to get a job. It’s a side of identity protection that’s rarely mentioned.
By the way, the Pat Elliott in the State of Arizona’s convicted felons database is NOT me. :-)

Samantha Says:
May 7th, 2009 at 6:18 pm

I love these tips! Thanks for collecting this great information and sharing with everyone.

With social media and internet branding growing so rapidly it is important for people to educate themselves accordingly.

Deb Krol Says:
May 8th, 2009 at 1:15 pm

I love these tips–there’s been some Facebook break ins lately and one of my Facebook friends has been hacked at least twice in the last two weeks [heaven knows what she's using for a password!]

Also, NEVER, EVER put your real birthday up ANYWHERE on the Web unless you REALLY enjoy having your identity and credit stolen. [I know that was a tip but it needs its own breakout!] Ditto your exact place of birth, etc… I keep sending out blasts on my social media sites that I don’t give my birthday out for exactly that reason.

Another tip: Don’t engage in IM with anybody you don’t know. There seems to be some of that on Facebook too. I just politely say “thanks but no thanks” and I’m not even sure if I should be saying that much, but at least it lets them know I’m not interested.

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