Be Carefull on Facebook! Stolen Identity/Happy Leap Day

Social networking dangers have been discussed before. About a month ago I noticed on my nephews Facebook page that he post a picture of his dog tags (he is a PFC in the 82nd). It was a close up of them. Name and SSN right there for the world to see. To make matters worse all a BG has to do is go to his friends and family list and now he has figured out parents names, dates of births (or b-days), mothers maiden name. Well, I had my wife call her brother (nephews dad)and let him know what his son did. Very nice people and I love her side of the family just like I do mine but they are not the brightest stars in TX. He said not to worry and that he should be proud of being in the army and so on and there is nothing wrong with proudly displaying his dog tags.. Well, him and his 19 yr old pregnant bride went to get a loan for their first home and guess what? Identity theft. BG (s) took out loads of credits cards and lines of credit and jacked them up. They are devasted. It can be fixed but in the mean time they will likely miss out on this house.

Some BG's make a living off of social networks to do this.

Oh, Happy Leap Day!

Genealogy sites can make one's personal information very vulnerable, as well.

I left the 'world of facebook' about a month ago....totally deleted all of my photos and then deleted my account. I was just tired of how much it expected of me. I don't miss it one bit.

I deal with enough people on a daily basis as it is.

7 more years until I fully retire, and then I'm off the grid.

I have a facebook account I hardly ever go into,I'm always getting emails about new friend requests and all the other BS.I'm about ready to delete my account,It's turning everybody into couch potatoes worse than ever,with Farmville and Mafia Wars,and all the other crap people try to get me to sign up for

Yes facebook and Isuppose the other sites are full of pitfalls if you don't watch where you are going. I'm all for being proud of being in the Armed Forces and by the way, thank your nephew for his service, but criminals have no respect and if they can grab a SS # they wouldn't care if it was their own dying mother.

I do Facebook but there are things I do not reveal:
-my affinity for firearms/any firearms I own (except to trusted ones who already know about my gun ownership/hobbies
-my military rate or MOS, particularly if it requires Top Secret Clearance
-my hometown/residence
-any pictures of myself in or near my residence (anyone can simply google a digital picture to get directions)
-any gun related organizations
-who I am in a relationship with
-my relatives or next of kin
-any gun related or 2nd Amendment discussions (if I communicate with a friend who is also into firearms, I keep it limited to just in a message box)
-my SSN

PS: Anything anyone wants to add any suggestions, please feel free to do so since I have been on Facebook for only 2 weeks. Much appreciated.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-Limit the amount of friends and family. If you haven't heard from them in a year, de friend them. I only have about 25.
-Be careful what you share on your wall. Your friends can share that info also and then it is out of your control
-FB for me is easier than a mass email. We would post his hockey teams score or what colleges he got accepted to
-I don't share anything political or religious. I have family with strong differing views and it would offend some and start an uneccesary debate that ends up in no resolution. Just like we do here LOL!

Somebody put together a blog dedicated to web fraud. Occasionally interesting stuff:

Web Fraud Security

I think we are mostly just vulnerable no matter what. One has to think of lots of angles and drop off the modern world to stay safe on the net.

As bad luck would have it, a brand new iMac has been acting goofy and I had to bring it in for repairs. My entire life is on there.
(As my son said, I know lots of mac users and who ever got a mac lemon?)

Sure, I could have used encryption, but didn't. I might have stored the sensitive stuff on flash drives, but I didn't.

I am of the belief that the repair person will not steal any private info, but you never know what happens.

These machines are wonderful but they have truly opened millions of people if not billions of people around the world to the mercies of a few criminals. And rather obviously, even large companies and governments can not protect themselves from the malicious. IT needs to be treated as a priority NATIONAL SECURITY matter. There has to be a better way.