Social networking sites (like Facebook and Twitter) are great ways to connect with people, share information,
and market products and services. However, these sites can also provide
terrorists, spies, and criminals with the information they need to uproot the
lives of you, your family, and friends.
The more information adversaries can
obtain to cause damage at your expense the better. Regularly practicing the
Internet standards below will minimize your risks, and help you protect all
your critical data. [i]
1. Follow
computer security guidelines:
Adversaries prefer to go after easy targets. Keep your computer security
up-to-date and make yourself a hard target.
2. Never login
from risky locations: Public social
networking sites (SNS) don’t have secure login available. If you log-in from a
hotel, cyber-café, or airport hotspot (especially in a foreign country), your
name and password can be captured at any time.[ii]
3. Keep your
password secure: Use different strong
passwords for each online account. (Never give your password away.)
4. Modify your
search profile: Do a search for yourself
and if too much data comes up, go to your settings and restrict the search
profile.
5. Don’t depend
on the SNS for confidentiality: Even SNSs
that aren’t open and public by design can become so due to hacking, security
errors, poor data management practices, and data brokering. In some cases, the
site terms of service explicitly claim ownership of all posted content.
6. Treat links
and files carefully: Social engineers and
hackers posts links in comments, and try to trick you into downloading an “update,” “security patch,” or
“game.”
7. Don’t trust
add-ons: Plugins, games, and
applications are often written by other users, not the SNSs themselves. The
authors can easily gain access to your data once you install them.
8. Don’t post
critical information: If you don’t want it public, don’t post it. Search engines
can make it easy for adversaries to find requested information. Once
information is on the Internet; it is there forever.
9. Review your
friends’ profiles: The photos (or information) they posted about you may be a
problem.
10. Control
“friend” access: Don’t allow just anyone
(on your page). Verify “friend” requests before allowing access. Group friends
(e.g. family, work, church, etc.) and control access permissions based on the
groups.
Your Heavenly Father wants you to be
safe and smart on the Internet. Because you never know who’s watching. Be
careful of your Internet viewing. Remember, “I will set nothing wicked before my eyes…”[i]
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