How to secure yourself on Facebook
Today, Facebook is the largest social network in the world in terms of the number of users. We trust her with your personal data and confidential information. Many users link to their Facebook profile credit cards or payment service accounts (for example, PayPal) for online purchases. That is why this social network becomes the object of attention of cybercriminals. In this article, we want to give some practical tips on how to ensure the safety of their personal data by excluding them from falling into the wrong hands.
Use privacy settings
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While working on Facebook, a user can set various privacy settings or “visibility” of the information he publishes to different people or lists. Thus, he will be sure that this information will be available, selectively, for certain people, or not available to anyone other than him. This is a very good feature that distinguishes Facebook from other social networks and allows the user to decide who can see the information published by him and who can not.
Such settings can be applied to personal profile data (such as date of birth, contacts, interests, etc.), as well as to chronicle information (user publications, stamps). The visibility settings of your profile information are best checked immediately after registering with your social network account (you can also do this later at any time) - to do this, go to your profile info page.
Fig. one.
Figure 1 shows the editing profile. The red icons indicate the privacy settings for a specific type of profile information. Depending on your preferences, you can leave each block open to all users, restrict visibility to your friends, or hide this data for everyone except yourself. It also provides the ability to flexibly configure access at the level of lists, or individual users.
Fig. 2
Similarly, you can configure the information that is published on your wall (Fig. 2). Notice that the privacy settings available through the Facebook panel are valid for future posts. To change the visibility of an already published record, go to the chronicle page and click on the access control icon next to the publication of interest (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3
The social network allows you to customize the visibility of third-party publications in which other users mention you. Regardless of their privacy settings, you can set your own settings for displaying such publications in your chronicle (Fig. 4). Note that your privacy settings do not affect the settings of the user who mentions you. This means that you cannot control the appearance of such information in the chronicle or on the wall of another person who mentions you (the visibility of such information is given by his own privacy settings, for his chronicle).
Fig. four.
In order to more clearly control the availability of personal information, you can use the “View As” function - to do this, click on the privacy icon on the Facebook panel and select the corresponding item (Fig. 5).
Fig. five.
You will find yourself in the “For all” view mode, i.e. this is how all users of the social network see your profile (a mode with a minimum level of privacy). To view your page on behalf of one of your friends, enter his name in the special field (Fig. 6).
Fig. 6
Confidentiality of your contacts
Social network allows you to store your contact information, including phone number and email address. Moreover, Facebook users can also find you using this data. Please note that your profile may be visible to search engines such as Google. Facebook allows you to choose other people's access levels to this information. In order to configure access to information about your contacts, go to the profile page and then "Contact Information" (as mentioned above, it is better to do this immediately after registering an account), see Figure 7.
Fig. 7
Changing the privacy policy regarding who can find you from the outside is done using the settings in Figure 8.
Fig. eight.
You can set the visibility of your profile for search engines (Fig. 9).
Fig. 9.
Manage those who can find you on the social network via your phone and e-mail.
Fig. ten.
Notice that you have a Facebook mailbox whose address consists of the username and [at] facebook.com - username [at] facebook.com. You can control which users can send you messages. For this, a special filter is used, see Figure 11. Messages that arrive on your Facebook e-mail are delivered to your chat if you find it online and are placed in your Inbox if you are not online.
Fig. eleven.
The filtering level determines which messages will be placed in the Inbox folder, and which ones in the Other folder. With enhanced filtering, only messages from your friends will appear in the Inbox, and all others will appear in the Other folder.
Manage installed applications, they have access to your personal information. A list of such applications can be found in your account settings. In particular, applications have access to some of your profile information, a list of friends, and your publicly available information.
Fig. 12.
Use https
Today, many services use https, Facebook is no exception. If you still have not turned on this mode of operation, it's time to do it. To do this, go to Account Settings -> Security (Fig. 13).
Fig. 13
Using https you can be sure that you work with Facebook , and not with any other source or server, besides this, the active connection to the social network will be encrypted . From the moment this feature is activated, you can always be sure that you are working with Facebook by checking the data of the encrypted connection and the server certificate. Pay attention to this, because connecting to fake Facebook pages containing web forms to steal your sensitive data uses a simple http mode .
Fig. 14.
Account security
Please note that if your account was somehow compromised, for example, if your username and password fell into the hands of intruders, then the privacy settings will not be able to help you protect against this situation. Privacy settings control the visibility of information, but they are powerless if someone other than you can log into your account. However, Facebook has a number of features or preventive measures that will help mitigate the consequences of a case where your username and password become known to someone else.
Facebook requests confirmation or re-entry of a password for some critical operations. At the very least, this can guarantee that the account accessed by the attackers will not be completely under their control.
Fig. 15.
Please note that by confirming your Facebook password you are not redirected to any phishing site - you are still using facebook.com in https mode.
Consider using a two-factor authentication mechanism. It uses the login confirmation for your account if the login attempt was made from an unfamiliar browser (i.e., a browser that you didn’t add to the "trusted" list). In case you are using Android or iOS, a confirmation code can be obtained through the code generator in your Facebook mobile application. If you want to send you a text SMS with a confirmation code, select "Other" when you activate the ability to confirm the input. Note that in order to receive SMS, your phone number must be activated in the profile. If you use a code generator on your Android or iOS, it must also be activated on your smartphone.
Fig. sixteen.
Be careful when opening links in text messages received from unfamiliar people. Attackers often resort to phishing and social engineering in order to compromise your account. In the event that you notice that your account has been compromised, for example, spam is being sent on your behalf, use this Facebook feature, which will allow you to regain access to your account.
be secure.
Use privacy settings
')
While working on Facebook, a user can set various privacy settings or “visibility” of the information he publishes to different people or lists. Thus, he will be sure that this information will be available, selectively, for certain people, or not available to anyone other than him. This is a very good feature that distinguishes Facebook from other social networks and allows the user to decide who can see the information published by him and who can not.
Such settings can be applied to personal profile data (such as date of birth, contacts, interests, etc.), as well as to chronicle information (user publications, stamps). The visibility settings of your profile information are best checked immediately after registering with your social network account (you can also do this later at any time) - to do this, go to your profile info page.
Fig. one.
Figure 1 shows the editing profile. The red icons indicate the privacy settings for a specific type of profile information. Depending on your preferences, you can leave each block open to all users, restrict visibility to your friends, or hide this data for everyone except yourself. It also provides the ability to flexibly configure access at the level of lists, or individual users.
Fig. 2
Similarly, you can configure the information that is published on your wall (Fig. 2). Notice that the privacy settings available through the Facebook panel are valid for future posts. To change the visibility of an already published record, go to the chronicle page and click on the access control icon next to the publication of interest (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3
The social network allows you to customize the visibility of third-party publications in which other users mention you. Regardless of their privacy settings, you can set your own settings for displaying such publications in your chronicle (Fig. 4). Note that your privacy settings do not affect the settings of the user who mentions you. This means that you cannot control the appearance of such information in the chronicle or on the wall of another person who mentions you (the visibility of such information is given by his own privacy settings, for his chronicle).
Fig. four.
In order to more clearly control the availability of personal information, you can use the “View As” function - to do this, click on the privacy icon on the Facebook panel and select the corresponding item (Fig. 5).
Fig. five.
You will find yourself in the “For all” view mode, i.e. this is how all users of the social network see your profile (a mode with a minimum level of privacy). To view your page on behalf of one of your friends, enter his name in the special field (Fig. 6).
Fig. 6
Confidentiality of your contacts
Social network allows you to store your contact information, including phone number and email address. Moreover, Facebook users can also find you using this data. Please note that your profile may be visible to search engines such as Google. Facebook allows you to choose other people's access levels to this information. In order to configure access to information about your contacts, go to the profile page and then "Contact Information" (as mentioned above, it is better to do this immediately after registering an account), see Figure 7.
Fig. 7
Changing the privacy policy regarding who can find you from the outside is done using the settings in Figure 8.
Fig. eight.
You can set the visibility of your profile for search engines (Fig. 9).
Fig. 9.
Manage those who can find you on the social network via your phone and e-mail.
Fig. ten.
Notice that you have a Facebook mailbox whose address consists of the username and [at] facebook.com - username [at] facebook.com. You can control which users can send you messages. For this, a special filter is used, see Figure 11. Messages that arrive on your Facebook e-mail are delivered to your chat if you find it online and are placed in your Inbox if you are not online.
Fig. eleven.
The filtering level determines which messages will be placed in the Inbox folder, and which ones in the Other folder. With enhanced filtering, only messages from your friends will appear in the Inbox, and all others will appear in the Other folder.
Manage installed applications, they have access to your personal information. A list of such applications can be found in your account settings. In particular, applications have access to some of your profile information, a list of friends, and your publicly available information.
Fig. 12.
Use https
Today, many services use https, Facebook is no exception. If you still have not turned on this mode of operation, it's time to do it. To do this, go to Account Settings -> Security (Fig. 13).
Fig. 13
Using https you can be sure that you work with Facebook , and not with any other source or server, besides this, the active connection to the social network will be encrypted . From the moment this feature is activated, you can always be sure that you are working with Facebook by checking the data of the encrypted connection and the server certificate. Pay attention to this, because connecting to fake Facebook pages containing web forms to steal your sensitive data uses a simple http mode .
Fig. 14.
Account security
Please note that if your account was somehow compromised, for example, if your username and password fell into the hands of intruders, then the privacy settings will not be able to help you protect against this situation. Privacy settings control the visibility of information, but they are powerless if someone other than you can log into your account. However, Facebook has a number of features or preventive measures that will help mitigate the consequences of a case where your username and password become known to someone else.
Facebook requests confirmation or re-entry of a password for some critical operations. At the very least, this can guarantee that the account accessed by the attackers will not be completely under their control.
Fig. 15.
Please note that by confirming your Facebook password you are not redirected to any phishing site - you are still using facebook.com in https mode.
Consider using a two-factor authentication mechanism. It uses the login confirmation for your account if the login attempt was made from an unfamiliar browser (i.e., a browser that you didn’t add to the "trusted" list). In case you are using Android or iOS, a confirmation code can be obtained through the code generator in your Facebook mobile application. If you want to send you a text SMS with a confirmation code, select "Other" when you activate the ability to confirm the input. Note that in order to receive SMS, your phone number must be activated in the profile. If you use a code generator on your Android or iOS, it must also be activated on your smartphone.
Fig. sixteen.
Be careful when opening links in text messages received from unfamiliar people. Attackers often resort to phishing and social engineering in order to compromise your account. In the event that you notice that your account has been compromised, for example, spam is being sent on your behalf, use this Facebook feature, which will allow you to regain access to your account.
be secure.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/169953/
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