Tips for Staying Secure on Facebook

The safety staff at Facebook have been working overtime to improve security features on the social network and assist Facebook users with keeping themselves safe from harm.

There’s an increasing array of threats tailored to the social nature of the site which rely on users to trust updates from their friends to spread malware and fall victim to scams.

The following list of ‘top tips’ is reproduced under a Creative Commons licence from ‘A Guide to Facebook Security’ a handy PDF guidebook for anyone over the age of 13 who is looking for advice on staying safe and protected on Facebook.

If you have more tips leave a comment and we’d be pleased to hear them. Much of the common computer security advice also features in our animated NetBasics series.

Security advice for Facebook users

Only Friend people you know
Create a good password and use it only for Facebook.
Don’t share your password
Change your password on a regular basis
Share your personal information only with people and companies that need it
Log into Facebook only ONCE each session. If it looks like Facebook is asking you to log in a second time, skip the links and directly type www.facebook.com into your browser address bar
Use a one-time password when using someone else’s computer
Log out of Facebook after using someone else’s computer
Use secure browsing whenever possible
Only download Apps from sites you trust
Keep your anti-virus software updated
Keep your browser and other applications up to date
Don’t paste script (code) in your browser address bar
Use browser add-ons like Web of Trust and Firefox’s NoScript to keep your account from being hijacked
Beware of “goofy” posts from anyone – even Friends. If it looks like something your Friend wouldn’t post, don’t click on it
Scammers might hack your Friends’ accounts and send links from their accounts. Beware of enticing links coming from your Friends