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Social networking Web sites like MySpace, Facebook and Windows Live Spaces are services people can use to connect with others to share information like photos, videos and personal messages. These sites are very popular with young people and have started to take over emailing as a form of communication.
Name Web site location No. Members
MySpace http://www.myspace.com/ 253,000,000
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ 140,000,000
Windows Live Spaces http://spaces.live.com/ 120,000,000
Classmates.com http://www.classmates.com/ 50,000,000
Bebo (AOL) http://www.bebo.com/ 40,000,000
For a more comprehensive list go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites
Here you will find networking sites of various topics and interests.
Social networking is growing in popularity. As the popularity grows, so does the risk of using them. Are you revealing more than you know you are? Hackers, spammers, virus writers, identity thieves follow the social Web traffic very carefully. It is an area where they can glean info and you are not aware that you have given it to them. You can avoid these risks and enjoy social networking sites by following a few sensible guidelines.
Here are some tips to protect yourself:
Privacy Settings:
Facebook: On your homepage go to Settings (upper right of page) > privacy settings > profile. Here you can choose who can see your profile; friends, friends of friends, or customize and backlist certain people from seeing your information.
Also on your wall posts you can choose who sees your messages: friends of friends, only friends, only me, no one, or customize ( i.e. block)
There is also in your profile an area where you can give your credit card details which they say will make it easier to make purchases on the site. Highly unadvisable.
In the search settings there is a box that is ticked by default that says: Create a public search listing for me and submit it for search engine indexing. I would uncheck this box.
Other Tips:
Be on guard for phishing scams.
Use caution when you click links that you receive in messages from your friends on your social Web site. Treat links in messages on these sites as you would links in email messages.
Don’t trust that a message is really from who it says it’s from. Hackers can break into accounts and send messages that look like they’re from your friends but aren’t. If you suspect that a message is fraudulent, use an alternate method to contact your friend to find out. This includes invitations to join new social networks.
Avoid giving away email addresses of your friends, do not allow social networking services to scan your email address book. When you join a new social network, you might receive an offer to enter your email address and password to find out who else is on the network. The site might use this info to send email messages to everyone in your contact list or even everyone you’ve ever sent an email message to with that email address. Social networking sites should explain that they’re going to do this, but some do not.
Type the address of your social networking site directly into your browser or use your personal bookmarks or favorites. If you click a link to your site through email or another Web site, you might be entering your account name and password into a fake site where your personal information could be stolen.
Be selective about who you accept as a friend on a social network. Identity thieves might create fake profiles in order to get information from you. This is known as social engineering.
Choose your social network carefully. Evaluate the site that you plan to use and make sure you understand the privacy policy. Find out if the site monitors content that people post. You will be providing personal information to this Web site, so use the same criteria that you would to select a site where you enter your credit card.
Assume what you write on a social networking site is permanent. Even if you can delete your account, anyone on the Internet can easily print the information or save it to a computer.
Be careful about installing extra applications on your site. Many social networking sites allow you to download third-party applications that let you do more with your personal page. Criminals sometimes use these applications in order to steal your personal information. To download and use third-party applications safely, take the same safety precautions that you take with any other program or file you download from the Web.
Think twice before you use social networking sites at work. You could be compromising the safety and information of your company.
Talk to your children about social networking and inform them of the precautions they should be taking.
Uploading Photos to Web.
If you want to share your photos by uploading them to the Web but are concerned that they could be downloaded and printed without your permission, resize them so they have a resolution of 72 dpi, or 216 pixels wide (depth will automatically align to match). This size is perfectly viewable on the web but is not large enough to print out well.
Facebook:
Facebook is a social networking website that was originally designed for college students, but is now open to anyone 13 years of age or older. Facebook users can create and customize their own profiles with photos, videos, and information about themselves. Friends can browse the profiles of other friends and write messages on their pages.
Each Facebook profile has a "wall," where friends can post comments. Since the wall is viewable by all the user's friends, wall postings are basically a public conversation. Therefore, it is usually best not to write personal messages on your friends' walls. Instead, you can send a person a private message, which will show up in his or her private Inbox, similar to an e-mail message.
Facebook allows each user to set privacy settings, which by default are pretty strict. For example, if you have not added a certain person as a friend, that person will not be able to view your profile. However, you can adjust the privacy settings to allow users within your network (such as your college or the area you live) to view part or all of your profile. You can also create a "limited profile," which allows you to hide certain parts of your profile from a list of users that you select. If you don't want certain friends to be able to view your full profile, you can add them to your "limited profile" list.
Another feature of Facebook, which makes it different from MySpace, is the ability to add applications to your profile. Facebook applications are small programs developed specifically for Facebook profiles. Some examples include SuperPoke (which extends Facebook's "poke" function) and FunWall (which builds on the basic "wall" feature). Other applications are informational, such as news feeds and weather forecasts. There are also hundreds of video game applications that allow users to play small video games, such as Jetman or Tetris within their profiles. Since most game applications save high scores, friends can compete against each other or against millions of other Facebook users.
Facebook provides an easy way for friends to keep in touch and for individuals to have a presence on the Web without needing to build a website. Since Facebook makes it easy to upload pictures and videos, nearly anyone can publish a multimedia profile. Of course, if you are a Facebook member or decide to sign up one day, remember to use discretion in what you publish or what you post on other user's pages. After all, your information is only as public as you choose to make it!
How to use facebook click on link below:
http://www.facebook.com/help.php?tab=safety
When you first go onto the Facebook web site it may be displayed in a language other than English, if this happens click on the box at the top right of your screen and select “English”, then go to the registration.
For a full description of the history and special features of Facebook go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook
Facebook User Agreement:
The contents of the user agreement, which most people don't read, can be surprising. For example, when you put up your Facebook page, you pretty much give the company the right to do whatever they want with the info. According to the user agreement, Facebook can "use, copy, publicly display, publicly perform, reformat, excerpt and distribute it."
“Terms of Use” Date of Last Revision: June 7, 2008
(Taken from Facebook user agreement)
PLEASE READ THESE TERMS OF USE CAREFULLY AS THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS, REMEDIES AND OBLIGATIONS. THESE INCLUDE VARIOUS LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS, AND A DISPUTE RESOLUTION CLAUSE THAT GOVERNS HOW DISPUTES WILL BE RESOLVED.
Section 7, Paragraph 2
User Content Posted on the Site.
When you post User Content to the Site, you authorize and direct us to make such copies thereof as we deem necessary in order to facilitate the posting and storage of the User Content on the Site. By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to removeyour User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content. Facebook does not assert any ownership over your User Content; rather, as between us and you, subject to the rights granted to us in these Terms, you retain full ownership of all of your User Content and any intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights associated with your User Content.”
Please read user agreements and privacy terms before signing up to Social Networking Sites.
MySpace
When you first go to the MySpace website it will be displayed in the language of the country you are residing, i.e. Spanish if your computer is in Spain (This information is obtained by checking your computer IP address).
You will receive an email asking you to click on a link to confirm your registration. From then onwards whenever you go into MySpace the pages will be in English. You can:
For a full description of the history and special features of MySpace go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySpace
Learn about MySpace and help your teenagers use the site safely read:
MySpace®, MyKids: A Parent's Guide to Protecting Your Kids and Navigating MySpace.com by Jason Illian:
Windows Live Space
This site is owned by Microsoft, you can sign in if you have a Windows Live ID or if you have a Hotmail, Messenger, or Xbox LIVE account, you already have a Windows Live ID.
For a full description of the history and special features of Windows Live Space go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Live_Spaces
Classmates.com
This is a Names Database, it is a community of over thirty million members who can connect with each other through secure and private people search tools. These tools help members find and keep in touch with friends, family, schoolmates, and anyone else with whom they want to communicate.
It was originally a US based site for linking people who attended the same school or college or were in the military.
For a full description of the history and special features of Classmates go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classmates.com
Bebo
This web site does come up in English but contains Spanish information. You can sign in with an AOL or AIM Screen Name, if not click on the “SIGN UP” at the bottom right of the login box.
For a full description of the history and special features of Bebo go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebo
December 11, 2008
By SARAH PEREZ, ReadWriteWeb
"Koobface" is the name of the Trojan worm that's been making its way through the social networking site Facebook lately, but to the site's users, it's been simply known as "the Facebook virus." That name will soon become a misnomer, though, because the worm is now spreading outside of Facebook's walls to attack other social networks like Bebo, MySpace, Friendster, MyYearbook, and Blackplanet.
About Koobface
Once a computer has become infected with the Kooface worm, it spams the friends belonging to the owner of the computer by leaving comments on their profiles. Those comments appear to come from the infected user, saying things like "Are you sure this is your first acting experience?", "is it u there?", "impressive. i'm sure it's you on this video", "How can anyone get so busted by a spy camera?" and "You're the whole show! i'm admired with you." Save for that last one, whose bad English will likely raise a flag that all is not what it seems, the other comments appeal to people's vanity. They wonder: is that really a video of me? and then click through on the link provided.
The link actually takes them to an off-site page which pretends to offer a video download from "YuoTube," but then stalls saying that you'll need a new version of Adobe's Flash Player installed in order to continue. Of course, if you click the button to proceed with the install, you're infected. Infected users are then directed to even more contaminated web sites when they try to use search engines, which puts them at risk of identity theft, among other things. "Search terms are directed to find-www.net," said McAfee's Craig Schmugar, and that "enables ad hijacking and click fraud."
Social Networks Will Be the New Breeding Ground for Viruses
Koobface may not be the first bit of malware to hit the social networks, but it has become so widespread that it now accounts for one percent of ScanSafe's blocked malware, said ScanSafe senior security researcher Mary Landesman. (Facebook will not disclose how many members are infected.)
What's frightening about the spread of this Trojan is not the worm itself - it's really nothing new in terms of malware - but the way its being spread. Over the years people have learned to be suspicious of unknown links and attachments in their emails, so the virus writers turned to hit us where we're more vulnerable: on our social networks. Here, many people still have a feeling of comfort and security. They don't always have their guard up.
According to Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, "a key factor which helps social-networking spam and malware succeed is that people are more prepared to click on a link or message if they believe it is from someone they know. The average person is used to receiving unsolicited e-mails in their regular inbox, but believe messages have more credence when they arrive via Facebook. The message is clear -- people need to beware."
Cluley also warns that the situation is going to get worse next year. There will be more attacks and they will become more sophisticated. "It will probably take a long time before the general public begins to learn that hackers and scammers are using the system for their own ends."
How To Protect Yourself From Koobface
Besides doing the obvious - running an up-to-date antivirus, security patches, and firewalls - you should be on the look out for the following:
Spam messages:
You should also keep an eye on Facebook's security page (http://www.facebook.com/security) which warns of the latest threats.
If spam has been sent from your account:
If you've seen spam sent from a friend's account: