Online Auditor of Social Networking Sites Part-I

Dont's on Social Networks:

• Never make the year of your birth public. Keep it private not to conceal your age but for your online security.
• Reason : One can get your vital information about you by knowing your Name, Father's Name and Date of Birth. Such vital information can be used to track your financial data. For example in India you can Know your PAN providing the above information.
• Always use Trusted email services like Gmail providing 2-Step Security with back up phone number and alternative email ID for recovering your mail account.
• Reason : In case you loose password to your profile on Social Network or any other Shopping , commercial or Web Question Answers site then you can use 'Forget Password' option so as to get the reset password in your mail ID. But don't allow mail account to be hacked in the absence of 2-Step Security.
• It is advisable to have separate email ID's for Private use and use on Social Networking sites.
• Reason: As per newspaper reports Security Software maker Symantec had advised the Internet Users to use separate email ID's for Financial or Private transactions AND Social Net Working Sites like Facebook, Twitter so as to prevent stealing of vital information like credit card information by Cyber attackers.
• Use only personal PC, Laptop, I Pad, Mobile device as a Trusted PC so that any attempt to Hijack or Hack your Identities are thwarted by the automated Google Robots.
• Reason : Public, Shared devices might have Malware, Spyware and Save Password options activated leading to unauthorized access to your Profiles.

Sometimes the online websites provide the social sign in facility to sign with Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin or Yahoo. More and more options are available for signing in for any site. When the users sign in with applications then the applications seek your permission to enable them to :

• see your email ID
• see your contacts
• see your chat history
• see your interests
• post on your behalf to Facebook
• prepare tweets and post the tweets on your behalf

Now tweets can be retweeted and facebook posts can be shared and such retweets or shares may have moneymultiplier effect and soon become viral on the web on the basis of tweets and posts posted on your behalf without your immediate knowledge. Such retweets and shares or reshares are not making any benefit to you but the application websites draw direct benefit from your brand name as your friends and contacts, believing it to be your tweet or post, may circulate such tweets and posts further. If at a later stage it is found that such tweets and posts tailored by the applications on your behalf had some illegal contents or violated the law of any country then law enforcing agencies may interrogate you. When you refuse to own the tweet or facebook posts, such websites will show your permission to them to post of your behalf. The onus will lie upon you as granted permission unconditionally without getting the "Terms and Conditions Apply" signed as is being done by most of the application sites to make them liability free and the users just check in the box without reading the Terms and Conditions.

Analyze each and every permission sought by these applications and its far reaching consequences before accepting the association of these applications. You are, though at liberty to opt out of or revoke the access anytime you like through Google Dashboard.