Safety Matters – while Networking
March 18, 2018
Since Facebook started around 2004, it had 1.86 billion active users as of 2016 (Fiegerman S. 2016, February. Facebook is closing in on 20 billion users. CNN Tech. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/01/technology/facebook-earnings/index.html), and according to the statistics it continuously growing monthly. Although all the co-founder left, Mark Zuckerberg continue what he believes and finally in 2012, Facebook went in public.
With the Interesting stories behind the making of this giant social networking and how with all the previous before it like Friendster, Myspace etc. didn’t make the what FB did. When it comes to its user, the only question that probably people who are security paranoid is, how can Zuckerberg guarantee the users credentials safety?
Don’t worry Facebook got it all prepared for you.
Facebook created different ways to protect its users from all kind of attack thorough the website, from creating your first account to teaching you how to change your settings. Below are the few that I consider important for protecting ourselves from bad actor.
- Login Alerts this gives the user to keep an eye for any suspicious activity, and I consider this as phase one of their security, where before the intruder gain access to their account, the user/owner will receive an notifications, you have an option to choose what kind of alert you’ll be getting, either by email, Facebook notification, and through messenger. Additionally, once you choose to activate the notification, and received the someone tried to log in, you can immediately turn that activity down.
Pros: Receiving notification and messenger alert is great way to protect from criminals, this process include something the real owner have (existing Facebook that he or she is currently log in).
Cons: The only downside of getting email is, once the hacker get access to the user’s email then, the code that the Facebook is sending will be in his or her hand, and he or she can right away log in easily.
- Two-factor Authentication is another strong method for keeping the bad guys from accessing your Facebook account, the procedure need a key from the legit Facebook owner and other key will be generate from Facebook end.
When it comes to Privacy, Facebook had improve its security from the year it was first launch, I am the one those who right away embrace Facebook when it hits the social market, back then privacy isn’t that bad, we can post almost anything without worrying that someone might be spying on us or to our credentials, we can enjoy tagging all the people we have in that photo and even post right away whenever we travel to a new place, today, announcing where your heading or how long you’ll be gone is like giving away your main door key to criminals, so the Facebook team has evolve its security from lower/ weak into stronger, they started giving the option for the user if we want to be tag by our friends or not, who can see our post, and even starting adding in the “manage your account” page a chance for the user to know about how to protect themselves from criminals, but giving additional information from how to create strong password, how to unfriend and block someone, to how to recognize phishing, spam, and just recently, they added face recognition.
Another option in the Manage your privacy I like is the chance for me, to manage my friends list, having separate list from your family, friends, colleagues, people you meet, and even have restricted list where they are on still on your friend list but they won’t be able to see anything that is happening on your post or page knowing who your audience made me feel safe. And if your still concern about your privacy, by default our public and cover photo are public, and there is nothing you can do about it except change it to whatever you like.
Moreover, Facebook has dedicated to their client/users the privacy and security that we all need, especially in this era where the news never ends without discussing the topic about security and privacy, and how it can affect not just simple citizens life but can hugely impact the whole nations peace.
Other application, I always discourage my family and friends to link their ‘other’ application to their Facebook account, since most of the app can be subject to any malware, especially some senior or less knowledgeable when it comes to social media settings.
Transparency is the last principle that I admire in Facebook, although, not everyone may like the idea that the Facebook is sharing information to third- party, but one reason for us to continue using a free service is to learn how to give, after all, they (Facebook) ensures that the information that they share is only limited and not any sensitive data like emails, password, location, status, or anything that will identify us to the third party.
Part of our right is our privacy, and Facebook acknowledge that right, and I guess for now, there is nothing to be concern about what this huge company shares about us but rather, be concern about how the people that we have in our friend list’s negligence can expose all our sensitive information to scammers.