Tag Archive for: Facebook Privacy Settings

12 Days to a Safe Christmas: Day 5 – Don’t Tell Facebook You Won’t Be Home for the Holidays

Holiday Security Tips: On the fifth day of Christmas, the experts gave to me, 5 Facebook fixes

In general, we share too much information on social media sites. During the holidays, we are positively intoxicated with the giving spirit! Without thinking, we share our holiday travel plans, click on seemingly charitable links or post pictures of a fun night out. And when you share with friends on Facebook, you are sharing with their friends and ultimately, most of the literate world. The problem is, some of those people aren’t really friends and only want to separate you from your holiday dollars.

Solution:  Apply these five fixes to ALL of your social sharing (not just Facebook)

  1. Customize your privacy settings. Sixty percent of social network users are unaware that their default privacy settings let others into most of their personal information. Facebook does a decent job of explaining how to lock your privacy down(https://www.facebook.com/help/privacy) but you must spend at least 90 minutes going over the settings to properly protect yourself.
  2. Protect your passwords. Don’t let the bad guys take over your account and contact your friends as if they were you. Create a unique, strong, alpha-numeric-symbol password without using a dictionary word, birthdate, pet’s name or other personal identifier. Use this password only for a single site and don’t share it with anyone. Be careful of using your Facebook login for other sites, as those sites gain access to your private information.
  3. Log into Facebook only ONCE each session. If it looks like Facebook is asking you to log in a second time, skip the links and directly type www.facebook.com into your browser address bar. Phishing emails and social media posts will often send you to sites that look like Facebook but act like a data criminal. When in doubt, log out.
  4. Beware of free offers, big discounts and requests for charity (even if they come from your friends). If the offer in the post is too enticing, too good to be true or too bad to be real, don’t click. Chances are pretty good that your friend’s account has been hijacked and the hacker is serving you a warm dish of malware. If the post is out of character for that friend, email them and ask if it’s real.
  5. Don’t check in when you aren’t home and don’t post your travel plans. Based on social media feeds and locational check-in services alone (Foursquare), it is simple to map your whereabouts and signal thieves when you aren’t home. If you have to let friends know where you are during the holidays, send a group text or email.

No matter if you’re headin’ home for the holidays or off to Whoville, remember to post your pictures and tell those tales AFTER you’re safely home. On the sixth day of Christmas…

To review our tips from previous days, click here.


About Cybersecurity Keynote Speaker John Sileo

John Sileo is the founder and CEO of The Sileo Group, a cybersecurity think tank, in Lakewood, Colorado, and an award-winning author, keynote speaker and expert on technology, cybersecurity, and tech/life balance. He energizes conferences, corporate trainings and main-stage events by making security fun and engaging. His clients include the Pentagon, Schwab, and organizations of all sizes. John got started in cybersecurity when he lost everything, including his $2 million business, to cybercrime. Since then, he has shared his experiences on 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper, and even while cooking meatballs with Rachel Ray. Contact John directly to see how he can customize his presentations to your audience.

Facebook Privacy Settings Get Needed Update

Facebook Privacy Settings… Some may say it’s too little, too late. I’m relieved that Facebook is finally responding to concerns about their confusing and weak privacy settings.  The social media giant (who has been losing customers of late) has recently made several changes to their settings.

Facebook Privacy Settings Update

  1. Additional photo settings.  Your current profile photo and cover photos have traditionally been public by default. Soon, Facebook will let you change the privacy setting of your old cover photos.
  1. More visible mobile sharing settings.  When you use your mobile phone to post, it is somewhat difficult to find who your audience is because the audience selector has been hidden behind an icon and this could lead to unintended sharing.  In this Facebook privacy settings update, they will move the audience selector to the top of the update status box in a new “To:” field similar to what you see when you compose an email so you’ll be able to see more easily with whom you are sharing.
  1. Default settings for new users.  Instead of automatically defaulting to “public”, new users will now have their default set to “friends”.  They will also be alerted to choose an audience when they post for the first time. This is a significant step in the right direction of a business best practice called Privacy by Default.
  1. Privacy checkup tool.   Users may encounter a “privacy dinosaur” (pictured above) that pops up to lead them through a privacy checkup.  (At this time, it is not a consistent feature: Facebook is “experimenting” with it.) The privacy checkup tool will cover a number of settings, including who they’re posting to, which apps they use, and the privacy of their profile information.
  1. Public posting reminder .  The privacy dinosaur will also remind you when you’re about to post publicly to prevent you from sharing an update with more people than you intended.
  1. Anonymous login.   This feature allows you to log into apps so you don’t have to remember usernames and passwords, but it doesn’t share personal information from Facebook. Traditionally, people using Facebook Login would need to allow the website or app to access certain information in their profiles. I’m also happy to see Facebook moving in this direction, as universal logins are one of the easiest backdoors for cyber criminals to exploit.

Facebook has been criticized for having unreasonably complicated privacy settings, had to pay a $20 million settlement for giving away users’ personal information, and frankly never seemed to care very much about personal privacy.

I’m guessing that Facebook has learned a valuable lesson: that by giving their customers the privacy controls they desire, they are creating happier, more loyal users, which is a long-term strategy for success. The need for change hasn’t disappeared, but these Facebook privacy settings are a step forward.

John Sileo is an an award-winning author and keynote speaker on identity theft, social media privacy, fraud training & technology defense. John specializes in making security entertaining, so that it works. John is CEO of The Sileo Group, whose clients include the Pentagon, Visa, Homeland Security & Pfizer. John’s body of work includes appearances on 60 Minutes, Rachael RayAnderson Cooper & Fox Business. Contact him directly on 800.258.8076.

Facebook Announces New Privacy Settings

Last week we announced that Facebook was changing their privacy settings – again! Well the new changes have arrived and should be active on your Facebook the next time you log in. The Instructions that will lead you through the new settings will be posted at the top of your mini-feed.

By clicking on the Learn More button you will be directed to the Controlling How You Share Page.

This page will contain a long list of descriptions of your privacy settings, what you can control and what is made public and out of your control.  Click Edit your privacy settings to make the appropriate changes to protect your information and what you want to share on Facebook.

Take the time to make sure you go step by step. Missing one option or click could mean sharing more information than you would like. Make sure you visit your Applications and Websites, Block Lists (if there is a specific person you are hiding your page from), and your Basic Directory Information.

Keep in mind, while the ability to understand your privacy settings has been made simpler, the settings themselves have not changed. You are still sharing information with businesses and advertisers with every “like” you click. Your interests are still linked and by choosing friends of friends you are still basically allowing everyone to view your profile.

Also, one of the main gripes about the recent Facebook Changes was the new “Instant Personalization” feature, which provides information about you to Yelp, Pandora, and a new Microsoft service called Docs.com to help them customize your experience. The main issue was that it was turned on by default – and it still is! If you don’t want to share this information, make sure you visit the Privacy Settings for Instant Personalization and turn it off.

Although these settings will help you keep your Facebook Profile protected, it isn’t foolproof. We offer a Facebook Safety Survival Guide that can help you protect yourself and your children online.  The best way to protect yourself while on social networking sites is to limit what you post and use your common sense.

John Sileo helps businesses tackle social networking privacy concerns. His clients include the Department of Defense, the FTC, Pfizer and the FDIC. John also wrote the Facebook Safety Survival Guide. To learn more about having him speak at your next meeting or conference or working directly with your business, contact him by email or on 800.258.8076