Burnsville, Minnesota – April 22, 2016
– Spring has sprung and it’s a great time to wipe the slate clean and
start fresh. While it’s important to securely dispose of physical
documents that contain sensitive information in order to protect your
identity, Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota ® (BBB)
also recommends adding social media cleaning to your spring cleaning
regimen.
“Your
digital footprint is something identity thieves keep track of,” said
Dana Badgerow, president and CEO of BBB of Minnesota and North Dakota.
“They bank on people oversharing information that they can potentially
use to steal your identity.”
Taking
steps to guard your identity online is just as important as taking
steps to protect it offline. Identity theft is an issue which could
potentially affect anyone, particularly those who are active on social
media. The information you share through those channels can pile up
quickly, especially if you’re a regular user.
Not sure where to start? Here are some basic social media spring cleaning tips to keep in mind:
Be careful what you share. Social
media serves as a vehicle to stay in touch with friends and family, but
it’s important to keep track of what you share and who can see those
updates. If you’re not sure who can access your information, carefully
review privacy and security settings to ensure that your information
doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Take advantage of Facebook’s security
checkup feature to manage who sees your Facebook posts, the
applications you agree to share your information with, and the personal
detail you provide on your profile. In Facebook, you can hide your
information – including posts and photos – from people you don’t know by
managing your privacy settings.
Personal information. If
possible, try to eliminate any personal information in your profile
such as your address, phone number, email address, your birthday, or any
other information that identity thieves can use to their advantage.
Scammers are sometimes able to use this information to crack security
questions and gain access to accounts you control.
Clean up your passwords. If
you haven’t changed your passwords in recent memory, it might be time
to do so. The more complex your passwords are, the safer your sensitive
information will be. It’s a good idea to use a different password for
each account. Also, never store your passwords on your computer.
Apps and quizzes.
In Facebook and Twitter, you can manage which external apps you share
your information with. If you choose to utilize an application through
social media sites, take a minute to review the permissions to learn
more about what personal or account information they’ll have access to
and how it will be used. In addition, it’s also important to avoid
suspect quizzes. Though Facebook quizzes can be entertaining, it’s
important to understand the potential dangers of providing your personal
information to unfamiliar third party websites, including the
possibility of exposing your device to malware.
