Security Tip Saturday

This morning, I got a phone call from a friend who reported that a mutual friend had gotten their house and garage robbed yesterday evening.  Security-minded person that I am, the first thing I thought of was the fact that our friend the robbery victim had posted something on Facebook yesterday evening about where they were and what they were doing. At the time I'm sure they thought it was impressive to let everyone on Facebook know that they were "checking in" at some fancy $$$ restaurant in Louisville. They let everyone know, all right - most likely even the robber.

I can't stress enough the importance of not saying where you are or where you are going on Facebook or daily blogs or at any site on the internet.  The friend that got their house and garage cleaned out last night is the 6th friend that has had their home robbed in the past two years - and each time all of them had posted something on Facebook about where they were and what they were doing.  Sure, here are privacy controls, and they work to an extent but with just a few minutes of patience, anyone can hack or use back door methods and see what you've written on your Facebook wall or on friends' walls. I can testify to that - I've personally watched an internet security expert reach a Facebook account that had privacy controls set so only "friends" could see what was posted.  And to do what he did, you did not need to a security expert - like I said, all it takes is some diligence and patience.

So please take this as a warning and don't advertise where you are.  I want all of my faithful readers to be safe and secure.