In today’s day and age it seems like if you don’t have a Facebook profile, 
you must be out of touch with technology and not to mention the world around you. The explosive social networking site has become a household name to many and a staple in the social life of all who use it. Some may even call it a right of passage, but perhaps those who opt out of jumping on the Facebook band wagon along with the other social network junkies have valid reasoning besides simply boycotting it because “everyone has a Facebook account”
These “rebel users” may just be exercising caution when it comes to social networking websites, and with good reason!
There are countless dangers lurking on every website these days, if it’s not spam it’s a Trojan, if it’s not that then it’s a worm. You’re computer can be susceptible to a lot of viruses and hackers if you’re not careful and click on anything unsafe.
But with social networking sites the danger is a little different. Due to the term networking, it makes sense to put some personal information on your profile so that others who stop by to take a look at your page get a quick snippet of what you’re about.
Unfortunately, many take this feature on Facebook to the extreme, with putting all kinds of personal information up on the site like their exact date of birth, their recent vacation. This doesn’t give criminals a challenge when they’re looking to steal people’s identities by hacking into a user’s Facebook login using malicious code such as worms or rogue applications.
According to CBC news, there’s even a more recent warning concerning applications the public are downloading on the social networking site, stating that “In the past week, several new variants of the Koobface worm, which targets Facebook users, and a number of “rogue applications” have been reported on the site” The article also goes on to discuss how malicious applications are disguising themselves as Facebook warnings, that you’ve violated the terms and service agreement.
Besides the issue of too much disclosure of personal information on the site, there is also the recent trend of companies starting background checks through Facebook. Yes, you read correctly; background checks. Many companies are deciding to use the social networking site to their advantage, by screening their future employees.
According to the University of Austin Texas, in 2007 Facebook enabled user profiles to become searchable through its new Public Search Listings, this means if you have a profile posted on Facebook, your name and profile picture can be indexed by one of the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN Search. This allows virtually anyone with an Internet connection to access to your personal information.
So that means every incriminating photo that is posted in one of your albums from Tuesday night’s wild party could be what prevented you from getting the job of your dreams over the person sitting next you.
With today’s power of technology the possibilities seem endless, but so are the dangers. Therefore it is important not to give out all your personal information, be mysterious! Everyone loves a little mystery. It is also important to make sure that you enable or disable any features that allow you to limit your profile. Your future and personal identity could depend on it.
For more information about the recent Facebook security issue visit, as well as tips to stay safe on Facebook visit:
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/03/03/tech-facebook-security.html?ref=rss
