Protecting Facebook Accounts from Online Threats

Your Facebook account is a useful commodity for online criminals. Not only can they potentially access your personal information -- your full name, location, details about your life -- but your Facebook friends' as well. Your account can also be used to spread spam and malware to other users, compromising their security. To gain access they may use malicious software, rogue applications and social engineering. Protect your account by following sensible guidelines.

If someone obtains your login information, he can access your account anytime he wants. Choose strong passwords -- at least eight characters, containing letters and numbers. Single words, even long words, are too easy to guess. Don't leave your Facebook account logged in on a shared computer or public terminal. Anyone could commandeer your account. Don't leave your Facebook password lying around or give it to anyone else.

If the email you use with your Facebook gets hacked, you may lose control of your Facebook account too. Your email login information is valuable and you should look after it. Follow the same guidelines as for your Facebook password: pick a strong password, don't leave your email account logged in where someone else could access it and don't give away your password.

Malware -- malicious software -- is another tool that a hacker can use to take over your Facebook account. Keyloggers are programs that record everything you type into your computer. The person controlling the keylogger then has access to your login information. Other forms of spyware can steal information from your computer that may give someone else access to your Facebook account.

You can use applications, also known as apps, to give your Facebook new features, play games or answer quizzes. Unfortunately, not all apps are what they pretend to be. Rogue apps ask for posting access to your Facebook account. If you give them access, they can post spam to your account or your friends' walls and send messages via Facebook's private message system or instant messenger. Some rogue apps and links can even infect your computer with malware; an example is the Koobface worm that places malware on your system and hijacks your account to post spam. Be very careful what links you click on Facebook and don't give too much access to any application.

Instead of high-tech attacks, social engineering relies on confidence tricks to steal your data. In the case of Facebook, this is generally done by "phishing." You receive an email that looks as if it came from Facebook. It seems real but this email comes from a scammer. It will often have an urgent tone, for example telling you that your account will be shut down if you don't respond with your password or log in via a link in the email. If you do either of these, your login information will be stolen. Avoid phishing mails by setting your spam filter to block junk mail. Always log into Facebook via your bookmarks or by typing Facebook.com into your browser -- that way you know you are on the real Facebook site, not a counterfeit operated by phishers.