Ramblings of an old Doc

Seems as though a new scam is coming out for every new member that joins the site. While it’s best to stay vigilant and read up on the latest scams to avoid, there are a few other tips that will keep you ahead of the game, protecting your profile 24 hours a day.

With all of your personal information and photographs posted on Facebook, the last thing you want is to find that your account has been hacked or accessed without your permission. We’ve put together a list of ways that you can protect yourself from the latest scams, making sure that your Facebook account is never compromised.

Follow The Sophos Blog

Antivirus developers, Sophos, report on the latest Facebook phishing scams practically on a daily basis on their blog, Naked Security. There seems to be no limit to the rogue applications preying on people’s curiosity, or the desire to activate certain features on their Facebook profiles through these apps. Sophos is one of the best sources today when it comes to Facebook scams.

ie 9

See my article posted today here. Turns out it’s the safest browser to use for Social Networking sites!

SafeGo

BitDefender’s SafeGo is a Facebook application designed to keep users aware and protected from spam and any kind of threat that might be floating around Facebook. SafeGo scans your profile for any suspicious links, and you also have the option of allowing the app to automatically post a comment to your wall when a threat is detected.

Facebook Security

Another place to find tips and tricks to stay safe on Facebook comes directly from the source. Facebook’s Security page is constantly being updated with ways to protect your account.

Look For The Signs

Aside from all of these tips and tricks, the most important thing that any person can do is use common sense. See who it was that posted the link and ask yourself how likely it is that they would share something that begins with OMG You won’t believe this! or would they really write to you, through Facebook of all means, if they were stranded in a strange city?

If you receive emails that claim to be from Facebook, always analyze the email address they came from and the link they want you to click. Facebook notifications always come from Facebookmail.com.

What To Do If You Unwittingly Clicked That Link?

If you feel that you may have been the victim of a Facebook phishing scam, the first thing you should do is change your Facebook password. If you’ve linked your Facebook account to other online services, it would probably be best to change the passwords to those services as well.

If you’ve granted permission to an application, you can revoke permission through your privacy settings. Navigate to your Privacy Settings, and at the bottom of the page, click ‘Edit your settings‘ under Apps and Websites.

You will be taken to a page featuring the latest apps you’ve authorized. Click the ‘Edit settings‘ button.

From there you can delete any apps that you have mistakenly authorized by clicking the small ‘x’ next to the app.

How do you keep your Facebook profile safe? Have you been the victim of any phishing attacks? How did you deal with it?

Let me know in your responses.


Comments (Page 5)
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on Feb 15, 2011

Set up secure browsing (https) and login alerts.
Secure Browsing (https)
Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) whenever possible


When a new computer or mobile device logs into this account:
Send me an email

Yow might consider a browser app which will "sandbox" facebook, JC.

http://www.ghacks.net/2010/08/18/spoon-adds-browser-sandbox-to-desktop-apps-web-launcher/

http://www.sandboxie.com/

http://google-chrome-browser.com/new-approach-browser-security-google-chrome-sandbox

 

 

on Feb 15, 2011

Doc I thought sandboxing was more for testing apps. How does sandboxing facebook make it more secure? You are after all going through a 3rd party application. I guess I need to know more about it but if it works I will certainly do it.

on May 30, 2011

Hi DrJBHL! These tips you got are of really great help! Intruders/attackers do make Facebook as a way to get in through their victims. It's important that we'd all be *spam removed* to the information we've shared online.

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