Category Social Media

Securing and hardening your Facebook account and controlling fraudulent game and friend activity involves a combination of privacy settings, activity monitoring, and reporting mechanisms. Here’s an eight-step guide to Facebook Safety.

Basic Security Measures

• Use a Strong Password: Ensure your password is complex and unique. Don’t reuse passwords from other sites. Use a password manager to create and store your passwords.
• Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Go to Settings > Security and Login > Use two-factor authentication.

Control Game and App Permissions

• Review Game/App Permissions: Go to Settings > Apps and Websites. Review the apps/games you’ve allowed and remove any you don’t recognize or no longer use.
• Turn Off Game/App Notifications: Navigate to Settings > Notifications > Apps and adjust the settings to your preference.

Friend Activity & Requests

• Review Friend Requests Carefully: Only accept friend requests from people you know. Scammers often create fake profiles to gain access to information.
• Normally, if you receive a friend request from someone that you’re already FB friends with, it means their account has been compromised, and you should alert them and, to be safe, unfriend their main account until remediated. There are exceptions to this, such as someone wanting to create a new account for keeping interests and friends separate, like separating your band’s posts from cybersecurity posts in subpages.
• Limit Who Can Send Friend Requests: Go to Settings > Privacy > Who can send you friend requests? Select Friends of Friends.

Monitor Your Activity Log

• Regularly review your activity log to identify any unfamiliar activity. Go to your profile and click on Activity Log.

Be Careful about What Information You Share

• Facebook is a great way to stay connected with friends and family, but be careful about what information you share on the platform. Avoid sharing personal information like your address, phone number, or date of birth. You should also be careful about what photos and videos you share.

Reporting Suspicious Activity

• Report Fake Accounts: Go to the profile of the account you want to report, click on the … on their cover photo, and select Find support or report profile.
• Report Game/App Issues: Go to the game or app’s page, click … under the cover photo, and choose Find support or report page. Follow the on-screen instructions.
• Use the Report Tool: For specific posts, comments, or other content that seems fraudulent or malicious, click on the … in the top right corner of the content and choose the appropriate reporting option.

Shore Up the Human Risk

• Beware of Phishing Attempts: Don’t click on suspicious links, even from friends. Always verify with them through another channel.
• Educate Yourself: Periodically, check Facebook’s Help Center and Security Tips page for updates on security best practices.

Additional Hardening

• Regularly Review Login Locations: In Settings > Security and Login, check Where You’re Logged In and log out of unfamiliar locations.
• Limit Profile Visibility: In Privacy Settings, adjust who can see your profile info, friends list, and posts to Friends or custom settings to increase privacy.
• Ensure your computer and mobile devices are running the latest operating systems and security software versions. This will help to protect you from known vulnerabilities that cybercriminals may try to exploit.

By being proactive with these measures, you can significantly reduce the risk of fraudulent activity and ensure a safer Facebook experience. You can read more about this topic on Facebook. Our article on avoiding social engineer attacks may also be of interest.

Games and third-party applications that you permit to access your social media accounts, like Facebook, can compromise your account’s security and privacy in various ways:

Data Access and Collection: When you grant permissions, you often allow these apps to access personal information, such as your name, profile picture, email, and friend list. This data can be stored, analyzed, and potentially sold by the third-party application or used for targeted advertising.

Post on Your Behalf: Some apps may gain permission to post content on your behalf, which means they can share posts, images, or updates without your direct intervention, potentially misleading or spamming your friends.

Data Sharing and Selling: Once these apps collect your data, there’s no guarantee of its security. If the app’s company decides to sell or share data with another party, your information may be disseminated more widely than you realize.

Malicious Applications: Not every game or app is developed with good intentions. Some might be malicious software in disguise, aiming to gather more than just basic information. This might include login credentials, which can be used to compromise your account or, worse, financial information if connected.

Expanded Attack Surface: Every third-party app connected to your social media account represents another potential vulnerability. If the third-party app has weak security or gets compromised, attackers might exploit that weakness to get deeper into your account or extract more sensitive information.

Excessive Permissions: Sometimes, apps request more permissions than they actually need for functionality. For instance, a basic quiz game might not need access to your entire friends list or your location, but if granted, it increases unnecessary exposure.

Long-Term Access: Many users forget about the apps they’ve connected to their accounts. Over time, these allowances accumulate, and users might not even remember what apps have access to, leaving them vulnerable to breaches from services they no longer use.

Location Sharing: Some apps might request access to your real-time location, which, if misused or accessed by malicious parties, can compromise your physical safety.

Prevention and Best Practices

• Regularly Review Permissions: Check the list of apps and websites with access to your social media accounts. Remove any that are no longer used or seem unnecessary.
• Limit Permissions: Only grant essential permissions. If an app requests access that doesn’t seem relevant to its functionality, it’s a red flag.
• Use Trusted Apps: Only connect apps or play games from reputable developers. Look for reviews or news about the app to ensure its legitimacy.
• Be Wary of Freebies: If an app promises too-good-to-be-true rewards, such as significant amounts of in-game currency, for linking it to your social media, be cautious.

By being discerning about what apps you allow and regularly reviewing permissions, you can enjoy games and third-party apps without compromising the security of your social media accounts.

Learn how to detect malware on your machine in this article. You can learn how to adjust the settings on your devices in this article.