a word of advice and warning, Facebook is a toxic wasteland of security risks

127.0.0.1

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 4, 2012
Messages
1,000
Location
/etc/hosts
the #1 greatest threat to individual and corporate network security are threats
that originate from Facebook activity. Please be ultra cautious with anything and everything
you do, or click in or on, with any Facebook account, app, or shared link.

same goes for any other social network site: twitter or other

I work for a 'pretty big deal' company that helps other 'insert big deal here' organizations deal
with security, and the latest gigantic attacks (massive credit card loss, massive data breach,
defense contractor vulnerabilities)....all have had some roots in phishing that originated from something
spawned on Facebook. (my CEO reports directly to Congress for updates on these type of attacks, so
we at this company know quite a bit about what I am saying here about facebook being a wasteland of risk.)

facebook is hugely popular and it that is the reason it is the #1 vector for attacks. every jamoke
wants to haul in Facebook clicks 'like this' and 'like that' and 'check this out on facebook'....N-A-S-T-Y
stuff if you just use Facebook and other websites and assume it is safe. Always assume everything is unsafe
until proven otherwise.


And also let it be known that. At any given microsecond there are well over 40,000 paid government
employees of (insert bad guy government here) who work 24x7 grabbing every last bit of seemingly unimportant
data about users and will work for YEARS on gaining any type of small foothold. These are not driveby attacks,
this is cool, calm, calculated efforts at gathering and collecting data. So if you work for a big company and
think you might have assets worth stealing (you work for government, defense, banking...etc)

do NOT mix your 'work internet life' with your 'facebook internet life' unless you exercise extreme caution and
diligence. and still, just don't do it. this also applies to anything else on the 'net, but good god you should see
the crap that corporations are dealing with due to employees getting phished and then BAM, someone has
hooks into the company network....

a) someone finds out that a person works at bank XYZ
b) badguys start mining the whole world for info on this person
c) badguys find out this person is someone of significance at bank XYZ
d) badguys step up and start to attempt phishing everything, phone, snail mail,
recruitment offers, you name it. anything to collect more data, info, what their kid
or cats name is...new running shoes offer, what car do they drive, have an oil change coupon,
whatever it might take....and will spend 1, 2 , 3 years doing it to get any nugget of added info
e) like a giant spiderweb, the database grows about bank XYZ and it's employees of significance
f) multiply a-e by 40,000+...cracks will be found, these badguy mooks are PAID to do it.

quite nasty stuff and staying on top of these problems gives a certain collection
of mathematicians and statisticians at MIT, and spooks at the CIA, nightmares...

the only good thing about it, is it keeps me employed, and this security business isn't shrinking whatsoever
 
Last edited:

TEEJ

Flashaholic
Joined
Jan 12, 2012
Messages
7,490
Location
NJ
I can't hear you, the aluminum foil around my head is too tight
 

nbp

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 16, 2007
Messages
10,970
Location
Wisconsin
I guess I'm one of the few young adults left with no ties to Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, or any other social networking site with the exception of three forums, this being the only one I frequently visit, and the MP.

Every day I'm more and more glad I've steered clear.
 

Canuke

Enlightened
Joined
Aug 31, 2002
Messages
823
Location
Stuck in California again
I guess I'm one of the few young adults left with no ties to Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, or any other social networking site with the exception of three forums, this being the only one I frequently visit, and the MP.

Every day I'm more and more glad I've steered clear.

You aren't the only one.

Oh wait, you said *young* adult. nevermind. :)
 

ffemt6263

Enlightened
Joined
Jun 7, 2011
Messages
266
I too am a "young" adult. Everyone (well lets say 98%) of the people i talk to on a normal basis think im insane for thinking this way. Glad im not the only one that sees this. I wish you could convince my other half of this, ive tried, she too thinks im paranoid. On a much simpler level facebook and other social sites are also a great way to ruin relationships and get into alot of trouble with your employer and co workers. I see it all the time. Thanks for this well written and educated post. I only wish more people realized the real risks of what they do and say on the internet.
 

mvyrmnd

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 4, 2009
Messages
3,391
Location
Australia
I use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn. I've yet to find any of them cause any problems in my real or online life.

I do, however, use these with my eyes open, and don't click any old link that comes my way.

Most people fail to heed the first cardinal rule of Social Media: "If you wouldn't want to stand on a street corner and shout it through a megaphone, you wouldn't want to post it on facebook"

Followed by the other important internet rule: "Any information on the internet is as reliable as the scribblings of a drunk man on the back of a pub's toilet door"
 
Joined
Mar 12, 2010
Messages
10,207
Location
Pacific N.W.
Whenever I'm asked to "Friend" someone, I thank them and send two or three links to articles describing the troubles associated with being a member of Facebook, letting them know this is why I'm not on Facebook.

This current issue of Consumer Reports (June 2012) devotes nine and a half pages to protecting your privacy & Facebook. Some of the paragraph headings: Facebook collects more data than you may imagine. Your data is shared more widely than you may wish. Legal protections are spotty. And problems are on the rise. Facebook apps can pose privacy risks even if you don't use them. Employers, insurers, and the IRS mine posts on social networks.

Yeah, you had me at, Facebook is a toxic wasteland of security leaks.

~ Chance
 

bansuri

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 28, 2009
Messages
886
May I copy the text of your post and send it on to friends and family? (with credit to your local host username)
 

HotWire

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
1,651
I avoid social media because of the risks described above. I had a couple of surprises recently. My bank called and described some "suspicious behavior" on my bank card. Someone got the number and was using Skype to call the world at my expense. I have a new card now. The other day I clicked on an article in the Los Angeles Times and got directed to a Facebook warning page. FB? I clicked back to LATimes and it was from there I was connected to FB. I checked my cookies and found 26 cookies set by Facebook--and I never read the LATimes article. (I like your avatar, Chauncey Gardener!)
 

OCD

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 5, 2010
Messages
687
Location
St. Louis, MO
I guess I'm one of the few young adults left with no ties to Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, or any other social networking site with the exception of three forums, this being the only one I frequently visit, and the MP.

Every day I'm more and more glad I've steered clear.

You're not alone and I'm glad to here I'm not either. I'm not a member of any type of social media networks (just CPF!) and can honestly say I'm the only one in my social circle (outside of people such as my parents who are not computer savy) that isn't on FB or something else. One less thing in my life to worry about.
 

Ualnosaj

Enlightened
Joined
Feb 9, 2012
Messages
807
My peeve on sites... "Log in with your Facebook account"... Uh no thank you!


___________
Posted from my phone.
 

orbital

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 8, 2007
Messages
4,256
Location
WI
+

I'v been on Facebook 4 times in my life,..all from links done by accident.
Total amount of time, less than 1 minute total for those 4 accidental links.

You will never, ever hear that I'v twittered/tweeted, or whatever the %^^*&((++
you call it!!

{if I say what I really want to say,,, I'll be banned from the interweb...:lolsign:}
 
Last edited:

nbp

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 16, 2007
Messages
10,970
Location
Wisconsin
OCD said:
You're not alone and I'm glad to here I'm not either. I'm not a member of any type of social media networks (just CPF!) and can honestly say I'm the only one in my social circle (outside of people such as my parents who are not computer savy) that isn't on FB or something else. One less thing in my life to worry about.

Oops, I just remembered I have a LinkedIn account. (Shows how often I visit it hey?). I've never actually used it to contact or communicate with anyone; I only created it in case some company is looking for someone just like me, and wants to contact me with an offer for lots of money in exchange for my skillz. ;) My page is pretty simple: education, current job, skills. I think I set every possible privacy option available, but who knows. I don't suppose that is a particularly malicious site?
 

Incidentalist

Enlightened
Joined
Jun 5, 2008
Messages
571
Location
St. Louis
You're not alone and I'm glad to here I'm not either. I'm not a member of any type of social media networks (just CPF!) and can honestly say I'm the only one in my social circle (outside of people such as my parents who are not computer savy) that isn't on FB or something else. One less thing in my life to worry about.

You're not even alone in the St. Louis metro area. No social media outlets for me either. My life's hectic enough, I don't need to add anything else.
 

eh4

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
1,999
I figure that social media is here to stay, I use it with all apps disabled to promote ideas and watch ideas spread.
I don't use it to post personal stuff so much, mostly I spread news stories, comment on stories, etc. it's a like a BBS crossed with a chat room, and then inbred... I prefer BBS and can't stand chat rooms. When someone that I don't know "friends" me I figure that they might be anyone, sock puppet/spook possibly, I just treat them as a subscriber.
No cross over with work, it's all social engineering to me and I try to use it for dialogue about uncomfortable social/political realities, along with what I find innovative, inspiring, interesting. I can only hope that spooks are listening to me, if they can make any money doing it I'll be impressed.
 

JemR

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Mar 21, 2012
Messages
126
Location
Where? Here!
Most people fail to heed the first cardinal rule of Social Media: "If you wouldn't want to stand on a street corner and shout it through a megaphone, you wouldn't want to post it on facebook"

THE TRUTH !!! This should be in the mind of everyone using social media.

Followed by the other important internet rule: "Any information on the internet is as reliable as the scribblings of a drunk man on the back of a pub's toilet door"

Well, yes maybe anything I write, mvyrmnd, you may think. But here I go.



I'm not really sure that facebook is the root of ALL evil, however. My smartphone has the facebook app preloaded by the service provider when I got the phone. I can't get rid of it, it can not be deleted and I do not use it. It sits there, in the apps list, using up battery, memory and screen space. Annoying me particularly because it's icon, in the A to Z list, is next to gallery which I do use a lot, but miss with my thumb occasionally & start up facebook!!!!. I have a growing dislike for facebook.
 
Last edited:
Top