Key steps to staying secure on social networking sites|

I’ve snagged this summary from F-Secure:

Tips for safer social networking

1. ALWAYS have separate and secure passwords for your e-mail and social networking sites.
2. If you become aware of a Facebook security problem, post about it on your Wall so the community can take preventive action.
3. Pick your friends wisely and have a security guru among your friends!
4. If you are on Facebook, Fan the “F-Secure” page to get the latest news

…I especially like 3. about having a security guru: make sure you choose someone who has some level of skill in this area if at all possible, so that you can be confident that they actually know what they’re talking about 🙂

The bottom line is: don’t be lazy (espcially with respect to email accounts used  & email passwords).

How many email addresses should you have? At least two – a personal & a primary business email. If you’re a domain-a-holic like me,  if possible have a separate email account for each domain you host.

How secure should the email passwords be?  There’s a simple answer: as secure as you can possibly remember.

If this all seems too much

• Use a password-storing tool on your home computer to store all your passwords
• Make the master password VERY obscure so that even if your computer is taken over by a password-cracking trojan, it will take a long time to crack the master password.
• Since the password is obscure, unless you’re a nerd like me (who remembers very random sequences just for fun), write that pasword down somewhere & keep it somewhere safe.