Social Network

Scenario- Profiling your identity and actions Surveillance Unauthorised Access

The very term - social network - implies socialising and not discreet conversation. However the Facebooks and Twitters out there have become such an essential part of information exchange between us that we inevitably begin to look for confidentiality and authenticity within our social circles. There are numerous vulnerabilities to consider and important steps to mitigating them are documented and require your action. In brief, you should:

• switch on 2 factor authentication for your account
• consider anonymity services when using the social network
• use a good password to protect your login
• configure your account's security and privacy settings (guide for Facebook and Twitter)

You help create the social graph of your friends and associates. This is useful information to companies and security services. By remaining constantly signed in on your social network account in the browser, you are also disclosing your browsing habits on the Internet in general, outside of their service.

There are alternative social networking services that are built with privacy in mind, including Diaspora, RetroShare, Gnu Social and a recently launched Minds for Android and iOS.