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How To Stay Safe on Facebook

Do you think all your Facebook security settings are so watertight, even a private investigator couldn’t learn anything about you? Think again. If you ever feel complacent on Facebook, you shouldn’t.

Facebook recently altered its default privacy settings to allow your information to be viewed publicly. This means that when an update is made – which happens every few months or more regularly –your settings are returned to the default. That being, public.

While this sounds like Facebook isn’t helping with cyber-security at all, they do make some attempts to over privacy. If you go to your Settings page, then the Security tab, you’ll see several options to help protect your login. There’s also an option for app passwords, so those apps you love playing on your phone that connect to Facebook (Candy Crush anyone?) will require passwords to login. While this may seem a nuisance, it’s worth it if anyone has access to your phone, or if your phone gets stolen. You can also enable the login approvals function, which will add an extra layer of security each time you log in by sending you a unique security code on a selected device.

Also, while your future posts can only be seen by friends, it is likely that your past posts can be viewed by anyone. This little quirk is very handy for a private investigator Sydney/Melbourne who wants to look you up, but if you don’t want everything you’ve shared in the past to be visible to anyone, go to your Settings page, to the Privacy tab, then click “Limit Past Posts”.

The bottom line? We’re not all private detectives, so we’re not all extremely suspicious people, and that’s okay. However, many of us really should be more suspicious of Facebook.

So, a few simple things to do right now:

1. Check your settings!

As mentioned above, go to your Settings page and check what people can see.

2. Change your password.

No really, do it. And don’t use your birthday, your pet’s name, or your partner’s name! The more obscure and complicated, the better. Sure, make it something you’ll remember, but try to think creatively. Or better yet, close your eyes, hit some keys, then memorise the gibberish that comes out!

3. Now, remove your email address and phone number, and any other private information. Do your Facebook friends really need that information? Your actual friends will have it, and if your Facebook friends want your phone number, well then they can email you and ask for it!

Trust us, a private detective Sydney/Melbourne will love you for putting your address, email and mobile number on your Facebook profile. If you have one of us monitoring you, true, you might have other things to worry about, like the fact that if you’ve been up to anything naughty, you’ll soon be caught out. However, there are much worse people out there to share your details with, like online stalkers, online scammers and cyber criminals.

4. Think about what you share in the future.

It’s alarming how many of the things we typically do on Facebook endanger our security. Such as posting about an upcoming holiday or work trip. This information means people will know when you’re not at home, and what better time to steal your 55inch flat screen? The personal information we share on Facebook can easily end up in the wrong hands. Mostly, this won’t come back to bite us. But when it does, it will hurt!

Consider the everyday stuff you share, like the names of your pets or children, since that is the kind of information that people typically use in their passwords. Sharing this information is a good way to make a password cracker’s job much easier.

If you really want to stay safe on Facebook, it’s worth glancing over their privacy updates, which are linked at the bottom of every page.

So, the take home message: you never know who is lurking around trying to gather information about you. It could be Sydney/Melbourne investigators, it could be someone planning to lift your valuables, or it could be an ex who hopes to discover you’re single and fat. Regardless of who’s looking, you don’t want to make your information easily available. Protect yourself on Facebook, and give the private investigators out there a bit of a challenge!