Oct 11 2009

You are a sitting duck when it comes to security

If you have a small or  home business and you’re active on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace  you are a sitting duck when it comes to password security.

Why, because you’ve probably put the answer to your password reset verification questions in your social network profiles. Usually the password reset verification questions are thinks like the town you were born in, your favorite pet, where you were married, etc. Frequently this information is in a profile, or other post you’ve created. You mother’s maiden name, your wedding date, and your kids names may be on that family tree site you site or application you use. The list goes on…

So what should you do?

1. Think about those verification questions
2  Sanitize your social networking profiles and remove or obscure that information, so it can’t be used against you
3. Or better yet, change your verification questions, to information you have never published,  since once information is  on the Internet old copies are stored all over the place.

Remember most of the information put put on social networking sites are searchable somehow, so don’t risk your security–think about what you put out there and how it can be used.
I know of a documented and publicized case where a hacker used social networking to get answers to verification questions as part of network break-in.

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