Protecting yourself requires some awareness of how cyber crimi-nals use the system against you. Here are a few things you need to know:
- Keep your firewall’s security and anti-virus software up-to-date.
- Never log in from public hotspots. Social networking sites generally do not have secure logins available (that’s the https with the lock icon in the search bar). That means your username and password can be swiped at any time. Log in only from trusted wireless networks.
- Use strong passwords that contain a mix of upper- and low-ercase letters, symbols and numbers.
- Remember the golden rule: If you wouldn’t do it or say it on a public street, don’t post it online.
- Be wary of all links and files. Hackers often post links in comments to try and trick you into downloading an “update,” “security patch” or “game.”
- Keep an eye on what your friends post about you. Many people have been fired or lost an important client be-cause of online pictures and content.
- Be careful who you ‘friend.’ Yeah, it feels great to have hundreds (or thousands!) of friends, but the reality is, you really know only a fraction of those people.
- Be wary of all add-ons. Many of the games and plug-ins are written by third-party companies, not the social net-work itself.
- Do a search on yourself. You might be surprised at just how much information comes up! If it’s more than you feel comfortable with, restrict your profile online.
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