Here is the step by step process to disable Facebook Places:

1. Log into your Facebook account, and at the top right drop down menu under Account click Privacy Settings.Once you are in Privacy Settings you will see this screen:

2. Click Custom (if that isn’t your selection already) and then click below 0n Customize Settings.

3. You should see the following screen, where you will need to make 2 changes – first, to Things I share and then to Things others share. Under Things I share click on the drop-down box next to Places I check in to click custom and chose to make this visible to  Only Me.

5. Scroll down on the Customize page to Things others share:

Under Things others share click Disabled to the right of Friends can check me in to Places.

One More Thing…

There is one last step you should take. You need to adjust one last setting that allows third-party applications (such as quizzes and games) used by your friends to access your location data. Facebook makes it difficult by stating that you only need to “uncheck the new box in your Privacy Settings under “Applications and Websites.” Facebook should have specified which box they were talking about, and they should NOT have turned this on by default. Alas, in reality, we’re not working with what Facebook should do, but what we must do to turn off data leakage.

Go back to the main privacy page (above) and under the heading, “Applications and Websites.”click on “Edit your settings.” You should now be looking at a screen similar to the one below. Click on the “Edit Settings” button across from “Info accessible through your friends.”

You should see a pop-up window (like the one below) that lists a variety of identity information from your profile including biography, birthday, hometown, current city, and so forth. Any of these items that are checked off are available to third-party applications used by your friends.

Find the checkbox called “Places I check in to,” and uncheck it (if you don’t want third-party applications that your friends use to harvest your check-in data). While you are here, uncheck any other data that you don’t want your friends sharing with corporate America.

TIP: Third-party applications you use personally can gather your geographic data only if you authorize that application to do so. The downside is that if you don’t want an application to access your location data then you won’t be able to use that application.

These steps will help tighten your security and minimize the amount of location tracking data that is stored and shared. Facebook, however, will always reserve the right to collect and utilize this data internally, but that’s the price you pay for using Facebook. Although this disables Facebook Places now, it is best to stay current on the changes that Facebook is making and always check your privacy settings to make sure that you are protected.

John Sileo became one of America’s leading Social Networking Security Speakers. You can learn more about Facebook Safety and how to protect yourself online here. His clients include the Department of Defense, Pfizer and the FDIC. To learn more about having him speak at your next meeting or conference, contact him by email or on 800.258.8076.

Related posts:

1. 6 Abuses for Facebook Places
2. Facebook: Press 2 For Law Enforcement
3. Facebook Privacy: Videos, Photos and Status Updates

I grow more and more convinced that, while the issues that keep us busy generate headlines that have migrated from the legal journals and trade publications into the mainstream media, the basic need for education among consumers becomes more urgent.  Lately the Wall Street Journal has published a steady stream of insightful articles related to digital privacy, and data breaches are reported in local newspapers wherever and whenever they occur, but in my experience talking with regular folks, the lessons contained in these articles don’t seem to be having any meaningful effect.

Whenever I’ve had the privilege of standing before an audience of regular folks, the questions I hear over and over again are related to information so basic that in my professional interactions they don’t even come up.  “Is it safe to send a check through the mail?”  “Should I pay with cash, credit, or debit?”  “How can I tell the difference between a fake email and a legitimate one?”

I’ve heard a lot of people scoff at the simplicity of these questions.  Surely we’ve moved well beyond the question of spam and phishing, right?  We’ve got bigger questions to address today, like HIPAA and HITECH; like RFID and biometrics; like behaviorally targeted advertising; like Mass 201 CMR 17…

Like anyone who you’d pass on the street knows or cares about what any of that means.

This morning I was reminded of an old sketch from the early years of Saturday Night Live in which a clever landshark knocks on an apartment door and offers reasons why it should be let inside: flowers, plumber, telegram, candygram, I’m a harmless dolphin.

The sketch is funny because of the absurdity of the deceit, but this is exactly how many scam operators ply their trade.  And too many people fall for the con because they simply don’t know any better.  Those of us with the knowledge tend to forget that for millions of people, the Internet remains a mysterious and intimidating environment, and their innocence leaves them vulnerable to dishonest and malicious social engineers.

Meanwhile, we privacy professionals are more concerned with demonstrating how smart we are to our peers that we’ve forgotten the tens of thousands of consumers who, each day, could benefit from some of what we know.  Instead, we leave them at the mercy of scammers, grifters, con artists, frausdsters, charlatans, and swindlers and wonder incredulously at how the problems associated with cybercrime and identity theft can persist.

We need to make an effort to step outside our professional circles and step into the everyday world, and make an effort to help raise awareness of the threats that exist in today’s digital economy and how to avoid them.  We need to take our knowledge out of the conference room and the exhibition hall and bring it to the schoolroom, the senior center, the town hall, the church, the barracks and wherever else people are gathered.

Through education and awareness we can make the biggest gains in preventing identity theft, but that can’t happen unless we tell folks what they need to know.

Mike Spinney is a senior privacy analyst with privacy research and consulting firm Ponemon Institute.  For more information about or to contact the Ponemon Institute, visit www.ponemon.org.

No related posts.

1. Which steps need to be taken first to make the process simple?
2. Which actions are most effective at preventing identity theft?
3. Which items are you most likely to complete given time and resource constraints?

The detailed information for taking each of the steps is contained in the individual mind-set chapters of Privacy Means Profit, which are shown in italics and enclosed in parentheses following the steps, for easy identification. I strongly recommend that you refer back to each chapter for in depth explanations of each step.
I also highly recommend that you set up a schedule for yourself and complete the items phase by phase. Take 10 minutes a day, one hour per week, or one weekend a month and schedule time to ‘‘accumulate privacy.’’ If you have to wait on one of the action items—for example, you order your credit report but it will be 10 days before you receive it—move on to another of the items further down the list and return to the item you skipped when you receive the report.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: There is no silver bullet in the world of fraud or identity theft prevention. If someone tells you there is, he or she is probably trying to sell you something. Rather, the layered approach enumerated here will provide you with a base level of privacy, which you can add to over time. Click on the links provided below to begin implementing these phases today.

Phase 1: Credit

1. Order and monitor your free credit report, and set up regular calendar reminders every four months to review your updated report. This can be completed online at www.AnnualCreditReport.com or by calling 1–877–322–8228. This step is not necessary if you take step 2 and subscribe to an identity monitoring service, which has the added benefit of providing convenient, consistent surveillance delivered directly to your e-mail box. (Monitor)
2. Sign up for a reputable identity monitoring service with 3-in-1 credit monitoring, cybertracking, theft restoration services, and recovery insurance. To learn more about specific surveillance products, visit www.Sileo.com/productreviews. (Monitor)
3. Freeze your credit with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. This step, while the most important for protecting your credit, makes it more difficult to take the two previous steps, which is why it is listed third. Visit www.DefendYourDollars.org to begin the process. If you do not wish to place a security freeze on your credit, at least place an extended fraud alert on your file. (Eliminate)

Set up online account alerts for all of your banking, credit card, mortgage, and investment accounts. At the same time, reduce at risk mail and switch to online statements, which allow you to easily and consistently monitor your accounts for signs of fraud. Begin using online bill pay instead of sending checks through the mail. (Monitor)

Phase 2: Wallet

1. Protect your wallet or purse by keeping it with you or locked up at all times and by removing the following items (Eliminate):
2. Sign your credit cards and include Photo ID Required on both the back and front. (Eliminate)
3. Photocopy every piece of identity in your wallet and store the copies safely, in case the wallet is stolen and you need to shut down accounts quickly. (Eliminate)

Phase 3: Databases

1. Opt out of information sharing, telemarketing, and junk mail by visiting www.OptOutPreScreen.com or calling 1–888–5–OPT–OUT. (Eliminate)
2. Place your name on the National Do Not Call Registry by visiting www.DoNotCall.gov. (Eliminate)
3. Place your name on the Direct Marketing Association’s Do Not Mail list by visiting www.DMAChoice.org. (Eliminate)

Phase 4: Computers

1. Physically lock your computer in a secure place when in transit or when you are not using it. (Secure)
2. Protect your desktop, laptop, or server computer with software security tools (preferably by hiring a professional to help you implement them) (Secure)
3. Have your computer or cell phone digitally shredded or low-level formatted before selling, donating, or passing it on to someone else. (Destroy)
4. Visit www.Sileo.com/productreviews to learn more about the best tools to implement.

Phase 5: Mobile Computing

1. Define what is at risk on your mobile data devices. (Protect)
2. Verify acceptable use of your mobile data devices with your company. (Protect)
3. Control exposure and eliminate unnecessary transport of your mobile data devices. (Protect)
4. Encrypt individual data files, as well as your hard drive, SIM card, and SD memory card. (Protect)
5. Utilize a secure wireless Internet connection. (Protect)
6. Utilize SSL-encrypted e-mail, and e-mail sensitive data only when absolutely necessary. (Protect)
7. Use a backpack or other carrying case to keep your mobile devices physically on you. (Protect)
8. Consider adding a locking or alarm device to your laptop and mobile computing devices. (Protect)
9. When going through security at the airport, don’t put your laptop on the X-ray belt until you are ready to walk through the metal detector; keep an eye on it until you reach the other side. (Protect)
10. Utilize a LoJack-type software program to track your laptop if it is stolen. (Protect)
11. Password-protect your cell phone and PDA with a sophisticated alphanumeric/symbol login. (Eliminate)
12. Destroy any sensitive files that you store electronically after you are done using them. (Protect)

Phase 6: Physical Documents

1. Purchase a high-quality, cross-cut document shredder and shred every document, disk, and credit card that you no longer need. Place the shredders conveniently, for easy access. (Destroy)
2. Create a safe room, or purchase a fire safe or fire-rated filing cabinet and have it secured to the foundation of your home or office. Lock your essential documents according to the chart. (Lock)
3. Lock your mail and mailbox against theft. (Lock)

Phase 7: Online

1. Research your online identity. Google your name, phone number, address, e-mail address, and any other information you would like to verify. (Defend)
2. Withhold or mask identity information when building your social networking profile, including: date of birth, address, phone number(s), and any password reminders that you use (high school, city born, pet’s name, etc.). (Defend)
3. Read and understand your privacy settings on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, and other social networking sites; adjust them to protect your identity information. (Defend)
4. Vary online passwords and make them more sophisticated by using alphanumeric/symbol passwords. (Secure)
5. Be alert and wary of ‘‘friends in distress’’ scams, posted links, and other social engineering scams. (Defend)
6. Only ‘‘friend’’ your actual friends, and understand both the benefits and drawbacks of responding to quizzes and surveys, and utilizing widgets, groups, and third-party applications, before you add them. (Defend)
7. Don’t forget: posts are permanent, public, and exploitable. (Defend)
8. Protect your e-mail (Defend)
9. Become knowledgeable about information collection performed by search engines, cookies, and tool bars. (Defend)
10. Read, understand, and adjust your application privacy settings in Google, Google Docs, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo!, or other online accounts. (Defend)
11. Be aware and recognize phishing scams. (Secure)
12. Shop securely online, patronizing only reputable, recognizable companies. (Secure)

Phase 8: Travel

1. Travel light; simplify and minimize what you take with you. (Travel)
2. Take precautions to protect your home and office while away. (Travel)
3. Travel with a copy of your identity documents and give a second copy to a trusted friend. (Travel)
4. While traveling, securely lock up client files, laptops, cell phones, and passports and other identity documents. (Travel)
5. Carry a travel pouch, use a backpack, and watch your credit cards while out of your hands when traveling. (Travel)
6. Don’t announce to strangers on social networking sites when you will be traveling. (Travel)
7. Bank safely, using only well-lit ATMs in banks or credit union buildings. (Travel)
8. When you return home, monitor your bank accounts and possibly rotate your account numbers. If possible and safe to do so, monitor your accounts while traveling. (Travel)
9. Pick up your mail as soon as possible after you return; likewise retrieve any copies of identity documents that you left with friends. (Travel)

Phase 9: Social Engineering

1. Learn to observe what is going on around you by slowing down. (Evaluate)
2. React to requests for identity of any type with healthy skepticism. (Evaluate)
3. Think ‘‘Hogwash!’’ when anyone tries to access your data. (Evaluate)
4. Look for signs of manipulation (fear, rushing, bribery, flattery, trust, security). (Evaluate)
5. Stop, look, and listen when your hogwash reflex triggers. (Evaluate)
6. When in doubt, interrogate the enemy. (Evaluate)
7. Implement the four phases of interrogation (Interrogate)
8. Don’t be afraid to say no. (Interrogate)

Phase 10: Extras

1. Create a dossier, complete with photocopies and logs of all crucial identity documents, for future reference. (Monitor)
2. Use an electronic calendar (like Microsoft Outlook) to track your bill- ing cycles. (Monitor)
3. Guard against shoulder surfing (someone peering over your shoulder or recording you on a cell phone video camera) to steal your PIN while at an ATM or retail checkout. (Evaluate)
4. Monitor your annual Social Security statement. (Monitor)
5. Eliminate or lock up all identity documents in your car. (Eliminate)
6. Remove your name from other physical and online directories. (Eliminate)
7. Scratch out all but the last four digits of any unmasked credit card numbers on the merchant’s copy of your credit card receipt. (Destroy)
8. Implement all safeguards for your spouse or partner. (Secure)

For more ways to protect you and your organization from Identity Theft pick up a copy of my new book: Privacy Means Profit- in stores August 9, 2010.

Related posts:

1. 5 Steps to Good Privacy Habits
2. Privacy Means Profit Details Announced
3. Practice the Privacy Reflex

Opt Out of Financial Junk Mail

Your private data is bought and sold by junk-mailers without your knowledge, but you can easily opt out by calling 1-888-567-8688 or visiting www.OptOutPreScreen.com.

There are complete industries built around collecting, massaging and selling your data – your name, phone number, address, spending patterns, net worth, the age of your children, the magazines you buy, etc. Companies buy bits of your privacy so that they can knowledgeably market products to you that you are likely to purchase.

To minimize the amount of your personal information bought and sold on the data market, begin “opting out”.  Opting out is the process of notifying organizations that collect your personal information to stop sharing it with other organizations. “Pre-approved” credit card offers (i.e., financial junk mail) are a major source of identity theft. Those mailers give thieves an easy way to set up credit card accounts in your name without your consent. They spend money on the card and default on the balance, leaving you with the mess of proving that you didn’t make the purchases. The solution is to opt out of receiving pre-approved credit, home loan and insurance offers.

Pre-approved credit offers (also called pre-screened or pre-qualified credit offers) are possible because credit reporting bureaus (Experian, Equifax and Trans Union – companies that collect and sell financial data on nearly every American) make a great deal of money selling your identity (i.e., name, address, phone number, age, credit score) to credit card, loan and insurance companies.  But it is your right to stop the sale of your information. To opt out of pre-approved credit offers with the three main credit reporting bureaus, call 1-888-567-8688 or visit www.OptOutPreScreen.com. There is no cost to you for opting out, and it will save a forest of trees.

Once you’ve completed this step, begin opting out of ALL information sharing on every account you have (bank, brokerage, mortgage, utilities, phone, etc.) as well as with the Direct Marketing Association.

John Sileo speaks professionally on identity theft, data breach and social networking safety. His clients include the Department of Defense, the FDIC, FTC, Pfizer and the Federal Reserve Bank. Learn more about bringing him in to motivate information privacy inside of your organization.

Related posts:

1. Protect Yourself Against Mail Fraud
2. Credit Freeze Stops Financial Identity Theft
3. Does Your Financial Advisor Protect You from Identity Theft?

During a recent 60 Minutes interview, I was asked off camera to name the Achilles’ heel of an entire country’s data security perspective; what exactly were the country’s greatest weaknesses. The country happened to be New Zealand, a forward-thinking nation smart enough to take preventative steps to avoid the identity theft problems we face in the States. The question was revealing, as was the metaphor they applied to the discussion.

Achilles, an ancient Greek superhero — half human, half god — was in the business of war. His only human quality (and therefore his only exploitable weakness) was his heel, which when pierced by a Trojan arrow brought Achilles to the ground, defeated. From this Greek myth, the Achilles’ Heel has come to symbolize a deadly weakness in spite of overall strength; a weakness that can potentially lead to downfall. As I formulated my thoughts in regard to New Zealand, I realized that the same weaknesses are almost universal — applying equally well to nations, corporations and individuals.

For starters, let’s assume your business is strong, maybe even profitable in these tough economic times. In the spirit of Sun Tzu and The Art of War, you’ve dug in your forces, preparing for a lengthy battle: you’ve reduced costs, maximized your workforce, and focused on your most profitable strategies. As your competitors suffocate under market pressure, you breathe stronger as a result of the exercise. But like Achilles, your survival through adversity blinds you and even conditions you to ignore pending threats. You begin to think that your overall strength translates into an absence of weaknesses; and in general, you might be right. But Achilles didn’t die because of his overall strength, which was significant; he died because he ignored critical details. What details are you and your company ignoring?

Information, like Achilles himself, is power. And maintaining control and ownership of your information is quite possibly the most threatening Achilles’ heel any data-reliant business faces. Companies that don’t actively take control of their data are prime targets for identity theft, social engineering, data breach, corporate espionage, and social media exploitation. Regardless of your title, you have a great deal to learn from Achilles’ mistakes, and a significant opportunity to protect your own corporate heel.

Achilles 3 Fatal Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Admit Your Vulnerabilities. Achilles forgot that he was human, failing to take inventory of his weakness in spite of superior strength. Though his faults were limited — a small tendon at the base of his foot — his failure to protect himself in the right spots proved fatal. When protecting data, it is imperative to understand that your greatest vulnerabilities lie with the people inside of your company. No matter how secure your computer systems, no matter how much physical security you deploy, humans will always be your weakest link. The more technological security you implement, the quicker data thieves will be to attempt to socially engineer those inside your company (or pose as an insider) to capture your data. Admitting vulnerabilities doesn’t have to be a public, embarrassing act. It can be as simple as a quiet conversation with yourself and key players about where your business is ignoring risk.

The three greatest human vulnerabilities tend to be: 1. Unawareness of the risks posed by data loss, 2. Lack of emotional connection to the importance of data privacy (personally in professionally) and it’s affect on profitability, and 3. Misunderstanding that in a world where information is power, it’s no longer about whom you trust, but how you trust. These symptoms suggest that your privacy training has either been non-existent or dry, overly technical, policy related and lacking a strong “what’s-in-it-for-me” link between the individuals in your organization and the data they protect every day.

If this is true inside of your business, rethink your training from this perspective: Your audience members (employees) are individuals with their own identity concerns, not just assets of the company who can be forced to follow a privacy policy that they don’t even pretend to understand. By tapping into their personal vulnerabilities regarding private information (protecting their own Social Security Number, etc.), you can develop a framework and a language for training them to protect sensitive corporate information. Like in martial arts, where you channel your opponent’s energy to your favor, use your employee’s humanness to your advantage. Pinpoint these vulnerabilities and shine the light of education on them.

Fight Prevention Paralysis. One of the most unfortunate and destructive character traits among humans is our hesitation to prevent problems. It is human nature to invest time to prevent tragedy only after we’ve experienced the pain that results from inaction. We hop on the treadmill and order from the healthy menu only after our heart screams for attention. We install a home security system only after we’ve been robbed. Pain motivates action, but the damage is usually done. You can bet that had he the chance to do it all over again, Achilles would slap a piece of armor around his heel (just like TJMAXX would encrypt their wireless networks and AT&T would secure their iPad data).

Prevention doesn’t get the proper attention because its connection to the bottom line is initially harder to see. You are, in essence, eliminating a cost to your business that doesn’t yet exist (the costs of a future data breach: restoring and monitoring customer credit, brand damage, stock depreciation, legal costs, etc.). This seems counterintuitive when you could be eliminating costs that already exist. But here is the flaw in that method of thinking: the cost of prevention is a tiny fraction of the cost of recovery. When you prevent disaster, you get a huge return on your investment (should a breach ever occur). Statistics say that a breach will occur inside of your organization, which means that by failing to invest in prevention you are consciously denying your organization a highly profitable investment. Why would you insure your business against low percentage risks (fire), but turn the other way when confronted with a risk that has already affected 80% of businesses (data breach) and has an almost guaranteed double digit ROI? It is your responsibility to demonstrate how the numbers work; spend small amounts of money preventing, or vast sums of time and money recovering.

Harden the Riskiest Targets. Once you have admitted to and cataloged your vulnerabilities and allocated the resources to protect them, it is time to focus on those solutions with the greatest return on your investment. A constant problem in business is knowing how to see clearly through information overexposure and pick the right projects. Just think of how much stronger Achilles would have been had he placed armor over his heel (which was human) rather than his chest (which was immortal). There is no financially responsible way to lower your risk to zero, so you have to make the right choices. Most businesses will gain the greatest security by focusing on the following targets first:

1. Bulletproof Your People. Most fraud is still committed the old fashioned way – by manipulating trusting, unsuspecting people inside of your organization. Train your people for what they are: the first line of defense against fraud. Begin by preventing identity theft among your staff and then bridge this personal knowledge into the world of professional data privacy.
2. Protect Your Mobile Data. Laptops, smart phones and portable drives are the most common sources of severe data theft. The solution to this very powerful and ubiquitous form of computing is a quilt-work of security including password strengthening, data transport limitations,  access-level privileges, whole disk and wireless encryption, VPN and firewall configuration, physical locking and human decision making (e.g., don’t leave it unattended the next time you get coffee at your corporate conference).
3. Prevent Insider Theft: Perform thorough background checks, reference verification and personality assessment to weed out dishonest employees before they join your organization. Implement an ongoing “honesty meter” for your employees that ensures they haven’t picked up bad or illegal habits since joining your company.
4. Classify Your Data. Develop a system of classification that includes public, internal, confidential and top secret levels, along with secure destruction and storage guidelines.
5. Anticipate the Clouds. Cloud computing (when you store your data on other people’s servers), is quickly becoming a major threat to the security of organizational data. Whether an employee is posting sensitive corporate info on their Facebook page (which Facebook has the right to distribute as they see fit) or you are storing customer data in a poorly protected, non-compliant server farm, you will ultimately be held responsible when that data is breached. You must be aware of who owns that data, today and in the future, when your storage company is bought out or goes bankrupt.

We have much to learn from the foresight of New Zealand; they are an excellent example of how organizations should defend their Achilles’ heel. To begin with, they have begun to acknowledge their vulnerabilities in advance of the problem (in fact, their chief vulnerability is that dangerous form of innocence that comes from having very few data theft issues, so far). In addition, they are taking steps to proactively prevent the expansion of identity theft and data breach in their domain (as evidenced by the corresponding educational story on 60 Minutes). Finally, they are targeting solutions that cost less and deliver more value. I was in New Zealand to instruct them on data security. Ironically, I gained as much knowledge on my area of expertise from them as I believe they did from me.

John Sileo speaks professionally on identity theft, data breach and social networking safety. His clients include the Department of Defense, the FDIC, FTC, Pfizer and the Federal Reserve Bank. Learn more about his Privacy Survival Boot Camp or bring him in to motivate your organization to better protect information assets.

Related posts:

1. Protect Yourself Against Mail Fraud
2. Uncovering Business Identity Theft
3. Privacy Means Profit: Lock Your Business Docs

A New Study from the Ponemon Institute Reveals How Online Safety Behavior Leaves Consumers Vulnerable to Identity Theft.

Although more than 80% of study respondents expressed concern about their security while using social media, more than half of these same individuals admitted they do not take any steps to actively protect themselves. This data clearly demonstrates that while people may acknowledge that security is important, many do nothing to protect their information online.

Other key findings from the survey include the following:

• Approximately 65% of users do not set high privacy or security settings in their social media sites.
• More than 90% of users do not review a given Website’s privacy policy before engaging in use.
• Approximately 40% of all respondents share their physical home address through social media applications.
• Surprisingly, people who have been victims of identity theft are just as likely to be lax in securing their personal information online. Study results from identity theft victims and non-victims are virtually identical.

“The study results are extremely telling, especially about measures that users take, or fail to take, in order to protect their identity while using social networks,” said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute. “I was surprised that those who had experienced identity theft in the past weren’t taking stronger measures to protect their identity. No matter who you are, if you want to increase social networking safety, you must take the necessary steps to protect your information.”

The best way to protect you and your children from Online threats is to educate yourself about Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other online social networking utilities.  We recently published the Facebook Safety Survival Guide (with Parents’ Guide to Online Safety) with that exact goal in mind.

Social networking is immensely powerful and is here for the long run, but we must learn to harness and control it. So whether you need to help protect your own online presence, or the reputation and sensitive data inside of your business, or to bulletproof your kids from some of the harmful forces on the web, the Facebook Safety Survival Guide should get you started.

John Sileo is the award-winning author of Stolen Lives, Privacy Means Profit and the Facebook Safety Survival Guide. His professional speaking clients include the Department of Defense, the FTC, FDIC, Pfizer, Prudential and hundreds of other organizations that care about their information privacy. Contact him directly on 800.258.8076.

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1. Social Networking Safety – Travel
2. Facebook Safety Tips to Stop Social Networking Hangovers
3. Facebook Privacy? Social Media Webinar…

Facebook Safety
Survival Guide

Includes the

Parents’ Guide to Online Safety

Order your copy Today to get our special introductory pricing of $12.95 or order the Ebook below for only $8.95 !

There is no final word on how to use Facebook safely. Here’s why: social networking and the web change too quickly. The social network you use today is not the same one you will use tomorrow or next month. The privacy settings, functionality, connectability and features are constantly evolving, which means that almost no one has a handle on every aspect of this topic. Those who tell you that they have the final answer are probably selling you something you shouldn’t buy.

This Survival Guide is an evolving document that I started writing for my young daughters and my employees, and is an attempt to give you a snapshot of some of the safety and privacy issues as they exist right now. Social networking, texting, instant messaging, video messaging, blogging – these are all amazing tools that our kids and employees use natively, as part of their everyday lives. In fact, they probably understand social networking better than most adults and executives. But they don’t necessarily have the life experiences to recognize the risks. I’d like to make their online vigilance and discretion just as native, so that they learn to protect the personal information they put on the web before it becomes a problem. Social networking is immensely powerful and is here for the long run, but we must learn to harness and control it.

So whether you are reading this to help protect your own online presence, or the reputation and sensitive data inside of your business, or to bulletproof your kids from some of the harmful forces on the web, the Facebook Safety Survival Guide should get you started.

This Facebook Safety Guide includes:

• Action Item Checklist for Facebook Safety
• Action Item Checklist for Parents’ Guide to Online Safety

Part I: Facebook Safety Survival Guide

• Protecting People We Care About
• Social Networking’s Secret Weapon: Trust
• Fifteen Hazards of Social Networking
• Fifteen Steps to Safer Facebooking
• 10 Types of Information to Keep Private
• Customize Your Privacy Settings: Control Who Can See Your Personal Information & A Tool to Test Your Facebook Privacy
• How Do I Delete My Facebook Account?
• How To Deactivate Your Facebook Account
• How To Delete Your Facebook Account

Part II: Parents’ Guide to Online Safety

• Socializing Online: Sexting & Cyberbullying
• Communicating Online & Phishing
• Mobile Phones: Socializing and Communicating on the Go & Texting
• Protect Your Computers: P2P File Sharing & Parental Controls

© Copyright 2010 John D. Sileo All Rights Reserved

John Sileo became one of America’s leading Social Networking Speakers & sought after Identity Theft Experts after he lost his business and more than $300,000 to identity theft and data breach. His clients include the Department of Defense, Pfizer and the FDIC. To learn more about having him speak at your next meeting or conference, contact him by email or on 800.258.8076.

Related posts:

1. Online Safety: The Truth About Social Media Identity Theft
2. Are Your Kids Safe Online?
3. Facebook Safety Tips to Stop Social Networking Hangovers

Social engineering stories: The sequel

Two more social engineering scenarios demonstrate how hackers still use basic techniques to gain unauthorized access, and what you can do to stop them

By Joan Goodchild, Senior Editor
May 27, 2010 —

John Sileo, an identity theft expert who trains on repelling social engineering, knows from first-hand experience what it’s like to be a victim. Sileo has had his identity stolen—twice. And both instances resulted in catastrophic consequences.

The first crime took place when Sileo’s information was obtained from someone who had gained access to it out of the trash (yes, dumpster diving still works). She bought a house using his financial information and eventually declared bankruptcy.

“That was mild,” said Sileo, who then got hit again when his business partner used his information to embezzle money from clients. Sileo spent several years, and was bankrupt, fighting criminal charges.

Now that he has come out of it all innocent, he spends his time assisting organizations train employees on what social engineering and identity theft techniques look like.

ow that he has come out of it all innocent, he spends his time assisting organizations train employees on what social engineering and identity theft techniques look like.

“I’m trying to inspire employees to care about privacy,” he said. “If they don’t care about it at a human level, they are not going to care about the company’s privacy policy or IT security. You’ve got to get it at a primal personal level.”

Sileo ran through some memorable social engineering scenarios he’s heard during his years as a security lecturer. The first is taken from his upcoming book

Continue Reading Social engineering stories: The sequel

If you are serious about training your staff on social engineering scams, fraud detection and protecting your business from a costly data breach, start with the items above and then bring a professional social engineering expert to your next meeting or conference. Email us for more information or contact one of us directly on 800.258.8076.

Related posts:

1. Social Engineering Training
2. Social Engineering: Scams that play on your Human Emotion
3. Read CreditCards.com Article featuring John!

Maybe that is why Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg confessed on Monday that the quickly expanding social network had “missed the mark” when it comes to its complex privacy controls — and pledged to do better.

Can you imagine keeping up with all your Privacy Settings every time Facbook makes a change? Until Facebook figures it out, a new Privacy Awareness Group—ReclaimPrivacy.org, has developed a tool that scans your Facebook privacy settings to tell you how secure your personal information is. The tool comes in the form of a bookmark for your web browser.  Start by dragging the bookmark from the website above to your bookmarks/favorites. Then, log into your Facebook account, go to the privacy settings screen and click on the bookmark. After the tool scans your privacy settings in six areas—Facebook’s Instant Personalization feature; your personal data; contact information; friends, tags, and connections; what your friends can share about you; and whether applications can leak your personal data—it tells you what areas are secure and where you may want to consider tweaking your settings.

If you have received any sort of fraud training, I am sure you are thinking: How do I know that ReclaimPrivacy.org will respect my privacy and isn’t just trying to get access to my personal Facebook page? Great question. The Website says it never sees your Facebook data nor does it share your personal information (take this for what you will). It also publishes the source code for its scanning tool in the name of transparency (the experts at PCWorld/MacWorld checked this out and found it to be sound).

After the scan is complete,  this window (above) rises to the top and shows three levels of concern. Green means you are secure, Yellow means you could tighten your settings, and Red means you are at high risk. It provides helpful links to guide you to the pages where you need to tighten your settings.

It is recommended that you perform this scan in all browsers you use (Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, etc.). Users have noted that they get different results in different web browsers. This brings up an important point about this tool and other privacy tools – nothing works flawlessly and nothing replaces good old-fashioned human involvement. This tool is a starting point to simplify the process, but don’t let it be the only tool. Take time to manually investigate your Facebook Privacy.

Although Zuckerberg has promised privacy changes to better suit Facebook users in the coming weeks, perhaps this tool can help users rest easy in the mean time.

Order your copy of the Facebook Safety Survival Guide to make sure you and your children are protected online.

John Sileo helps corporations tackle social networking privacy concerns. His clients include the Department of Defense, Pfizer and the FDIC. To learn more about having him speak at your next meeting or conference, contact him by email or on 800.258.8076.

Related posts:

1. Facebook Privacy Settings Update
2. Facebook Changing Privacy Settings – Again!
3. Why Facebook Privacy Settings Don’t Matter

The feature was announced last Thursday, and is similar to how secured banking sites work — they only let you access the site from approved computers.  If you are attempting to log onto your Facebook account from an unknown computer, device, or location, Facebook will notify you via email and lock down your account in case it is under attack. To regain access, you will have to follow the link in the email which will lead you through a security check to verify your identity. They will ask you a few security questions and have you acknowledge that it was in fact YOU (or if it wasn’t you, then you notify Facebook at this point) trying to access your account.

This change comes on the heels of one of the largest Facebook privacy issues to date. The social networking site that services over 400 million people made headlines recently when they chose to link users’ likes and interests to organizations and others on Facebook.  This raised major concerns that they were no longer acting in the users’ best interest.

Although it comforts some users that their pages are harder to hack, most users are more concerned with what Facebook is sifting from their profiles and sharing about them online. When it comes to anything on the Internet, be aware that what you think is kept private can be made public in an instant (even after the fact, like it has been recently on Facebook — the rules can change mid-stream). Be mindful of what you are sharing and if you wouldn’t want the world to see, hear or know something, don’t put it online in the first place…no matter how tight your security settings are!

Order your copy of the Facebook Safety Survival Guide to make sure you and your children are protected online.

John Sileo became one of America’s leading Information Control Speakers & sought after Identity Theft Experts after he lost his business and more than $300,000 to identity theft and data breach. His clients include the Department of Defense, Pfizer and the FDIC. To learn more about having him speak at your next meeting or conference, contact him by email or on 800.258.8076.

Related posts:

1. Facebook Safety Survival Guide
2. Facebook Privacy Settings Update
3. Cellphone Security: Can You Hack into a Smart Phone?