Malware & Social Networking: Your Privacy is at Risk

BOULDER, Colo., July 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Attention Facebook and Twitter users: You're at risk. Last year, a survey from Internet Security experts at Webroot found that lots of people using social networking sites were taking the risk of financial loss, identity theft, and malware infection. Have things gotten any better? Well yes, but not by much.

The Webroot Survey revealed that more of you are choosing safe behaviors -- like blocking profiles from being visible through public search engines, but over 25 percent of you haven't changed your default privacy settings. And more than three quarters of survey respondents haven't placed any restrictions on who can see their recent activity.

This is cause for worry because you can't escape the fact that cybercriminals are always trying to extract details about you. They want access to anything that can help them break into your web mail accounts, get your credit card number or steal your identity.

And they'll do anything to get the info, from attacking you with malware, to tricking you into revealing passwords.

With that in mind, here are a few suggestions to help you protect yourself.

• Privacy Rules: Review your profiles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and any other social or business networking site you use. Pay attention to the way the profile lets you protect your personal details by, say, restricting access to only family members or colleagues.
• Take Advantage: Look over and take advantage of any enhanced security and privacy options offered by social networking sites, such as blocking messages from people you don't know.
• Knock Knock: People banging at your social networking door could be carrying a grab bag of malware to get access to your address book, or worse, your passwords. Be careful of e-mail and friend requests from people you don't know. Clicking on links can be risky too, because they can lead to nefarious sites.
• Potent Passwords: Use strong passwords, change them often, and never, ever use the same password twice.
• Security Barricades: It's essential you have software to protect you from viruses, spyware, and malware. Start by checking your PC with a free spyware scan to see if there are hidden viruses lurking. Also consider a security suite that includes antivirus, antispyware, and firewall technologies such as Webroot Internet Security Essentials.
• Get the Latest: Antivirus and anti-spyware software have to be regularly updated with the latest malware definitions; otherwise, you're not fully protected. But that's not enough: You need to update every critical application, including your operating system, Internet browsers, and other programs that are vulnerable to attacks. One word of caution: always update directly from the application Internet site; links in e-mail or from a social networking message might offer fake updates

SOURCE Webroot