Account security for your Facebook account! The following tips will enable you to secure your Facebook account.
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Tag Archives: Social Media
Do you stand by all your tweets?
A wise man once said: “You should never share anything on the internet unless you are ready for it to be seen by the whole world”. This is certainly something you should keep in mind especially if in fear of judgment… This is also something to be careful about if you are a business owner and you want to turn your dream of a company IPO into reality. Hey, you should even watch out for your posts if you are a recent graduate looking for your next employment opportunity.
Twitter made it easy for you to search their feeds and some tweets are now even indexed on Google. Your thoughts are now visible to the whole world and this is something you need to consider every time you make your thoughts public. We have seen so many stories of people whose lives have been turned around due to a single tweet. Today’s world is not what it used to be and individuals and businesses alike need to adapt and care for their reputation. It’s a common misconception that only a live tweet could damage your reputation, tweets from years ago may be just as harmful as the ones you send out on a Friday night.
Years ago when Twitter was on the rise, many people created profiles tweeting things they wouldn’t necessarily agree with today. You would be surprised of the things people would say when under the soft blanket of internet anonymity. However, today’s internet is not as anonymous as it used to be. The toddler Twitter, which was just making its first steps into the world about ten years ago, grew up big and strong enough to place everything you said within reach of whoever is interested in digging for it.
The importance of managing your digital prints
Panda Security suggests you may want to do some research into your Twitter feed yourself. Get your hands dirty, do some digging of your own. Twitter history can reveal a lot of things for your personality which you may not necessarily want to share with the whole world, i.e. your mother’s maiden name, DOB, PayPal email address as well as your physical one, or the primary school you went to. Staying on top of your digital prints has never been as important as it is now.
However it is not all gloom and doom, there is a way out! It’s not an easy task to search through thousands of tweets but luckily, Twitter has an option for you to request your personal archive. You can go to ‘Settings’ and hit the ‘Request your archive’ option. You will get an email containing a zip file that includes all of your tweets since the beginning of time… or well the beginning of Twitter. The email usually takes a few working days to receive but once you get it, you will have the opportunity to search through all of your Twitter history in an easy way, mimicking the real interface of Twitter.
If you don’t want to wait for a few days just go to your Advanced Search option and search through your tweets. In the ‘From These Accounts’ field, enter your username, and in the ‘Words’ fields the key-words you are trying to find. Once you get the result you were looking for, you can delete the unwanted content. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!
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Regain your privacy: Facebook’s new (creepy) ad system
Running a service as large as Facebook is extremely expensive. So rather than charge users like you and me a fee for accessing the social network, Facebook use our profiles to sell adverts. The more they know about us and our preferences, the more advertisers are willing to pay to show us online ads that match our tastes.
For most people, a few targeted ads in their Facebook timeline is a more than fair swap for the entertainment they get in return. However a new development in the Facebook advertising model may not be quite so agreeable.
All your advertisement profile data in one place
Claiming they want to “enhance” the online advertising experience for their users, Facebook has announced a new partnership with four data brokers, Datalogix, Epsilon, Acxiom and BlueKai. These businesses also create profiles based on our shopping and dining habits (among other factors), giving Facebook a way to link up our on- and off-line lives.
Combining all of these profiles gives Facebook an incredibly detailed insight into every detail of our lives – and means that they can target adverts at us even more accurately. They will also be showing us adverts outside the confines of the Facebook site and apps. We will start to see highly targeted ads everywhere as we surf the web.
For anyone concerned about retaining even the smallest degree of privacy, this is a concerning development. So what can you do about it?
1. Check your Facebook advertising settings
Facebook does provide you with a (limited) selection of account controls. You can find out more in this blog post here.
2. Install ad-blocker and security software
Many of the systems used by online advertisers and data brokers are incredibly similar to the malware used by cybercriminals. Panda Gold Protection provides tools designed to protect your data on social networks (or elsewhere on the web) for instance.
A second tool, like AdBlock or Ghostery allows you to block specific trackers used by advertisers for an additional layer of privacy. These tools are especially effective for preventing BlueKai from collecting your web browsing data.
We highly recommend non Panda users to download and use our Panda Cloud Cleaner to check if their computer is free of malware and Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs).
3. Opt out from the brokers
Three of Facebook’s data broker partners allow you to opt out of their data collection routines. Although relatively straightforward, you have to do the hard work to make it happen.
The instructions below will help you opt out:
• Acxiom (complete the form, and click the confirmation link in the email that follows): https://isapps.acxiom.com/optout/optout.aspx
• Datalogix (simple – just click this link): https://www.datalogix.com/privacy/rel-opt-out-confirmation/
• Epsilom (click the “Choose all companies” button on the AdChoices website to opt out): http://www.aboutads.info/choices/
What happens when you opt out?
Following these steps will somewhat limit the tracking habits of these companies, but it won’t stop them entirely. After all, everything you share on Facebook is fed into their advertising algorithms.
You will also find that the adverts you do see online may have no relevance to your interests at all. So you need to weigh up the importance of relevant advertising to your web browsing experience.
Ready to improve your online privacy? Start your free Panda Protection Service trial today.
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Twitter frauds: the blue bird with the power to verify your business
What separates Twitter commoners from Twitter royalty? A blue badge indicating who has a special account verified by Twitter. Beware of the cybercriminals who are taking advantage of this.
Get rid of these undesirable ‘friends’ on major social network
In celebration of the International Day of Friendship, we want to help you spot undesirable ‘friends’ on Facebook.
The post Get rid of these undesirable ‘friends’ on major social network appeared first on We Live Security.
Social Media, Ranked as One of the Top Threats Aimed at Companies
Long ago, the term “goods” referred to necessities like wheat, milk, sugar, and petroleum, but our necessities have changed. Now “goods” can refer to broad band or smartphones or computers or–cybercrime?
As seen in the RSA’s report about the Current State of Cybercrime, experts confirm what we already know: malware and the tools cybercriminals use are evolving. Although malware comes from different places, they have identical capabilities and continue to procreate. The amount of stolen information continues to grow, and cybercriminals are capitalizing on it. The stolen information acquired by cybercriminals has joined the other goods available in our competitive market.
The internet and its on-growing innovations keep us adapting. Next time you buy gourmet-pasta-on-a-Tuesday-and-eat-it-on-a-Wednesday, remember that cybercriminals could be capitalizing on the private information you divulge for such”conveniences”. While you are checking your email, they may be stealing and selling your log-in information for your email accounts, social media sites, and favorite online shops. Even very detailed information like medical histories from hospital patients are highly demanded and can be bought online, in bulk.
Every kind of personal information is online and has diverse buyers and sellers
But cybercriminals aren’t stooping to the deep-dark-web anymore, now they use public and open communication channels, like social media sites, for these illegal sales transactions. In fact, results from the six-month long study show that the RSA discovered more than 500 groups dedicated to fraud on social media, with an estimated 220,000 total members, and more than 60% (133,000 members), found each other on Facebook.
Financial information circulates within these online communities, including credit card information with access codes and authorization numbers, tutorials for how to perform a cyberattack, malware tools, and even zoomed-in conversations that teach users how to move money without being detected.
It is important for businesses to set aside sufficient resources to detect threats, attacks and frauds that now exist on multiple channels (Windows, Android, iOS, Mac, etc.). Since the variants can multiply and tailor themselves to the malware, prevention and protection efforts should also increase.
The post Social Media, Ranked as One of the Top Threats Aimed at Companies appeared first on Panda Security Mediacenter.
How to secure your social media accounts
Social media platforms are increasingly being targeted, as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg found out earlier this month. Here, we look at how to keep your accounts secure.
The post How to secure your social media accounts appeared first on We Live Security.
Traveling to US? Agencies want to Spy on your Social Media activities right from Airport
Hey! Welcome to the United States. May we have your Twitter handle, please?
That’s exactly what you’ll likely be asked by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the airport prior to entering U.S. soil.
Yes, your Twitter handle may soon be part of the US Visa process as U.S. Customs and Border Protection has entered a new proposal into the federal register, suggesting a new field in which
That no-good-Tinder-match wants to steal your money!
Millions of people have been virtually stood-up by a potential partner that swiped left on the dating service, Tinder. To swipe left or swipe right—a decision made in an instant—is love in the times of the Smartphone…or so we think.
There is something that we didn’t take into account while using Tinder to find our future soulmates: many of our matches, and potential hook-ups, are actually robots that want to take us for all we’re worth. And unfortunately, these scammers are getting better and better at what they do.
Once they have established contact with their victim, the scammers use Tinder’s chat service to message their victim a link that will lead them outside of the app, usually to a premium service that takes users to a payment area (or any area where they may have to submit credit card credentials).
A seemingly less-dangerous variant of this scam encourages the victim to download some type of software, so that the bot’s creator can pocket some change for every visitor they deceive. In the worst cases, the download will contain a malicious code that might infect the victim’s phone.
Your “match” will lead you to a premium service area where you will have to pass through a payment page.
How can I detect them?
You will be able to recognize these scammers by the type of actions they attempt to carry out, like asking you to exit the app to an external private chat, tempt you with a better “glimpse of them” by asking you to pay for “their” videos or photos, or even try to play a game with you to see if you can beat them. They might attempt the classic “Nigerian Prince” illusion, and ask for a money transfer so they can buy a ticket to come see you, since they are so far away.
You can recognize these robots by the appealing yet limited phrases they use
You can also recognize the Tinder bots by their profile photos. The scammers use photos of models and actors from the internet, sometimes from pornographic pages, to attract their victims. If the procedure is automated, the language used will be very limited…whatever you say, the response will be similar. If you find anything like this, be suspicious!
The post That no-good-Tinder-match wants to steal your money! appeared first on Panda Security Mediacenter.
100M ‘Russian Facebook’ Credentials For Sale
Hackers infiltrated the European social network VK.com at some point over the last several years and made off with credentials for 100 million of its users.