social media scams: 5 tips to stay safe while you Share -
How social media scams work?
Some of the scams you see are harmless, such as chain letters that claim Bill Gates will donate $ 1 to charity for each share or retweet. You run the risk of aggravating your friends through these long, but that is usually where it stops. However, other social media scams are really a threat. Links that install malware or viruses on your computer or phishing emails that you trap by giving sensitive information is everywhere. Many of these scams rely on laziness of the average user of social media. They hope that you click a link first and think about what you do later.
What can I do to protect myself?
1. Always look carefully the URL of a page before you connect. Some scams work by sending an e-mail that prompts you to log into your social media account for one reason or another. It could mean that someone posted incriminating photos of you on Facebook or claim you need to check your Twitter account because of a security problem. These emails are designed to look like those sent by official accounts social media messaging. Often, careful analysis of the e-mail itself reveal to be false - misspellings, email address of the sender fish. However, if you are deluded by the email and open the link, and a habit of checking the URL before entering any information can be your saving grace.
A real URL to Facebook or Twitter include "www.facebook.com" or "www.twitter.com." If you have been asked to sign in to your account through a link in an email, it's good to be on your guard. Remember, you can always close the window, retype the correct URL and log in to your account in this way to see if you have messages or notifications. Doing this ensures you connect to the right website.
2. Beware of shortened URLs. Generally used on Twitter, shortened URLs are a great way to get into the 140 character limit. However, it is impossible to say without clicking the actual link will be. This means you can click on a link thinking you'll be directed to a news story, and instead end up on a malicious Web site. Prevention is better than cure, so if you do not absolutely trust the person or company to share the position, do not click.
3. Strengthen your privacy settings. Facebook collects all kinds of information on its users, from your hometown to your birthday. If you leave your profile completely open for everyone to see, you run the risk of being the target of crooks and thieves. Facebook allows you to set privacy of your data, messages and pictures. You can control who can see what you share in two different ways. At the top of the page is a lock icon that you can click to view your privacy settings. Facebook has worked to make this interactive section to guide you as you manage your settings.
Who can see my stuff? opens a menu where you can change your overall privacy settings - that is, set a minimum security setting for all future posts. If this is now set to Public , then everything you post is visible to everyone if they have a Facebook account or not. It is recommended to change this setting to Friends so that the people on your friends list can see what you post. If you want to limit more, you can even create custom lists of people on your friends list to share with (or not). You can also change the settings of past messages, which is handy privacy if you have a profile for some time with many public positions dating back to a few years or even all the way to 2004.
You can also change individual settings for posts and sections information on your profile. You may want your family members and some close friends to see your address and contact information, but it's not the kind of information you want Joe coffee - or strangers -. To see
Furthermore, privacy settings Twitter are not as deep, but you can choose to include your location with messages, people you block find through your phone number or email address, and even password protect all your tweets to keep private.
4. Think before you click. The introduction of games and applications on Facebook made its users direct targets for scams and attacks through these channels. A popular method to trick people into clicking on a malicious link is to create a fake application that promises to add features that do not exist in your profile. Unlike Twitter and other popular social networking sites, Facebook does not allow you to change the color of your background profile. Beware of any application that says it can do this or something similar. Almost always, trying to install it on your profile will result in a virus or even outright theft of your account by a crook. Twitter users are also at risk for add-ons and plugins scammy that promise something big, but offer something sinister instead.
When installing applications or games to your Facebook account, it is also important to take note of the information the app wants to access. Some of these applications request permission to use, access or store some profile information that you might otherwise lock down through your privacy settings. If you do not want to give friends access to your friends photos, why would you leave access to the haphazard application themselves? Additionally, most applications and games require permission to display your name - which means, if it is a scam, you just give it free reign to spam your friends RSS news with a scam
5.. Install security software. Not only suites of Internet security software block and remove viruses and malware attacking your computer, but many these days also have special companion apps for use with social media. Bitdefender Safego app analyzes your Facebook News Feed for malicious links and helps keep track of your privacy settings - to inform you if vital information is left unprotected. Looking for a Twitter protection? A good option is social media scanner Trend Micro, which connects to your Twitter profiles, Facebook and Google+ to monitor privacy settings and scans for bad links on almost all social media sites out there. Taking a step further, many Internet security software suites are also equipped with a mobile protection so you can use social media safely on the road.
A little care goes a long way online
The most important thing to remember about social media is that it is never private. Unless you keep a profile and friends without the strictest privacy settings, you share information with other people in one direction or another. That's the point! So it is to you to do what you can to protect yourself online, just as we take care to stay safe in the real world. Part of it is attention to privacy settings and think before you click on links. However, using a reputable Internet security software is also a great way to stay one step ahead of spammers and scammers. Visit our review page of Internet security software for more information on what different programs have to offer.
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