It Is Past Time to Lock Up Facebook

A couple of issues here.  One is the security of Facebook as a web site.  I recently saw some fishing messages to someone.  There was more than one.  Each message was from a different person she knew was on Facebook.  In other words, someone was fishing Facebook for situations where the Facebook user did not have their friends list and their personal information locked down.  They would use that information to spam those on the friends list.

The security issue is that the Facebook users allowed access to their friends list by people not on their friends list.

So, I have two programs/applications to recommend to every Facebook user to evaluate the security of their Facebook information.

One is PrivacyFix.  This is a plugin to Chrome or Firefox browsers that evaluates several web application environments for security problems; among these is Facebook.  You can get the plugin for Chrome while inside the browser at https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/avg-privacyfix/pmejhjjecaldkllonlokhkglbdbkdcni?hl=en.  Firefox would be similar; click on the AddOns under Settings.

In the picture below, the orange person outline is the PrivacyFix icon.  Click on it and the dropdown in the picture displays.   You can see a general evaluation of your internet privacy within that browser.

For much more information, click on the "Dashboard" link in the upper right corner of the dropdown.  You will get a large web page.  Scroll down to find the Facebook app.  Note that it gives evaluation information and links to "Fix" any issue.  

The second application is actually associated with Facebook.  It is ZoneAlarm SocialGuard Privacy Scan.  You can run it at:  https://apps.facebook.com/sgprivacy/.   The GUI interface Zonealarm's SocialGuardPrivacyScan is a Facebook app.  If you launch it, the following evaluation is displayed.

To fix issues, click on the green background "Score higher and gain more privacy."  The following dialog appears.  Note that there are many links that will send you to places in Facebook to fix security issues.  There is corresponding help on what the various settings do.

I urge everyone who has a Facebook account to secure the account.  Only let friends see anything.

The second issue is that Facebook is trying to persuade/pushing everyone toward a new phone app for its messaging, called Messenger.  There is a lot of concern that Messenger will be used to extract information about everything you do.  See the discussion here:  http://www.kxly.com/news/spokane-news/working-4-you-will-facebooks-messenger-app-invade-my-privacy/27388462.  Follow the links in that article for more information.

Please send a link to this blog entry to everyone on your Facebook friends list.  If you don't use Facebook but you know friends who do, and they have your email address, send the link to this page to them.  The link to this blog page is: http://leetlinktips.blogspot.com/2014/09/it-is-past-time-to-lock-up-facebook.html .  Swipe this with your mouse, Ctrl C the marked area, and paste it into an email to send to folks, or , if you have a facebook account, insert this link into a Facebook message and add it to your Facebook page.