precautions while using websites

Do not log on to your social network page from public computers such as internet caf?s where someone might have installed a key logger and would later get access to your credentials.

Do not automatically trust that posts are from who they claim they are; if your workmate sends you a private message asking for some confidential information first verify that he/she did really send you that message as their account might have been compromised.

Do not send confidential information through a social networking site even if someone who has legitimate access to that information asks you to.

Beware of what links you click and what software you download and install. Do not trust links/software sent by your friends implicitly as they themselves might not be aware it includes malware or their account might have been compromised.

Always be sceptical and wary. If someone asks to be friends on a social networking site and the profile appears to match a work mate, check personally with that person before accepting him as he could be an imposter. Also be sceptical of any offers or prizes you might have been told you won, they might actually be phishing attacks.

Social networking sites rely on connections and communication, so they encourage you to provide a certain amount of personal information. When deciding how much information to reveal, people may not exercise the same amount of caution as they would when meeting someone in person because.

Only post information you are comfortable with anyone seeing. This includes information and photos in your profile and in blogs and other forums. Also, once you post information online, you can t retract it. Even if you remove the information from a site, saved or cached versions may still exist on other people s machines.

The internet makes it easy for people to misrepresent their identities and motives. Consider limiting the people who are allowed to contact you on these sites. If you interact with people you do not know, be cautious about the amount of information you reveal or agreeing to meet them in person.

Take advantage of a site s privacy settings. The default settings for some sites may allow anyone to see your profile. You can customize your settings to restrict access to only certain people. However, there is a risk that even this private information could be exposed, so don t post anything that you wouldn t want the public to see. Also, be cautious when deciding which applications to enable, and check your settings to see what information the applications will be able to access.

Protect your account with passwords that cannot easily be guessed. If your password is compromised, someone else may be able to access your account and pretend to be you.