Facebook has been the topic of many security and privacy headlines with a number of consumer protection agencies recently filing complaints with the Federal Trade Commission to members of the controversial hacker group Anonymous vowing to hack Facebook on November 5. Additionally, with the rise of spam and fraud on Facebook there is an increasing need to be aware of the type of actions that might compromise your Facebook profile. Here are some tips to keep you safe:
Secure password – Passwords such as “1234”, “ABCD” or “AAAA” are easily brute-force cracked by hackers. We recommend that you use at least 1 letter, at least 1 capital letter, at least 1 number and at least 1 symbol. Here is an example: “AFK2@now”. Try Microsofts Password Checker.
Reject friend requests from unknown persons – We recommend that you never become “friends” with people that you don’t know. Once you’ve accepted a request from a new source, your profile and whatever personal information you have entered into it will open itself to that person.
Be careful when installing new Facebook applications – When applying new applications to your Facebook page, we recommend doing a quick Google search before installing anything. Try finding reviews of the application to find out whether or not it is legitimate. A couple minutes of your time can potentially save you much more as certain malicious applications contain Trojans.
Do not open links from friends that contain an “aggressive” header – These types of links are seldom shared by your friends, they are spread automatically via their profiles because they have entered the advocated page themselves, a page which is likely infected with malware. You can report malicious links here: Report Malicious Link
Report to Facebook – If you think you were a victim of account hacking. You can contact Facebook directly here: Privacy@facebook.com.
We hope this post helps you to act safely on Facebook. If you have any questions regarding Facebook security or privacy concerns don’t hesitate to ask us here, or join us on Facebook for additional discussions not found on our blog.
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