Tips To Protect Yourself from Hackers in Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and Orkut

Social networking has a very important part to play in our lives now. Be it Facebook or Myspace or Orkut or Twitter - these sites are proving to be beneficial for both personal and professional purposes. We can not just ignore the fact that with each passing day, we are becoming addicted to these social networking services. So, is it bad? No way. But we must keep in mind that our sensitive personal and professional information are there inside our profile. In this world of prying eyes and ears, we need to take care of our profiles. So here are 8 very useful tips (better to call reminders) maintaining which can at least make you safe from your side.

Tips

1. Do not put sensitive information in your profile. Even if you make your profile private, there is no need to write down your sensitive personal information in your profile. There are numerous ways to find a fault in the privacy set by these social networking sites and then your information can be in the wrong hands. Better to be safe than sorry.
2. Do not click on any suspicious link. You never know what these links can lead to. From remote installation of a keylogger that can record your keystrokes to send you a DoS attack, every thing is possible through a seemingly harmless link. So don't click on it unless absolutely sure.
3. Do not Download any file Unless You are Sure. Do not download a file (esp. a .exe or .zip file) unless you are sure about the content. Make sure that you have good anti-virus and anti-spyware software to guard you against any kind of attack, if happens. Do not trust a suspicious downloadble file even if it comes from a friend. He may never know that he has sent it.
4. Do not Run a Javascript in your Browser. A javascript can do a hell lot of things which are not funny. Usally people play with javascripts to make visual changes but believe me, without going into the details of cookie stealing and various such techniques, Javascript can harm you even before you will ever know.
5. Do Not Keep a Weak Password. Make sure that your password is strong enough. Do not use only numbers or only letters. Use both as a combination in random. A weak password which is easily tracable is the easiest way to hack your profile. I don't prefer to have even personal information inside a password. Your close friends can get a way out with the things they know.
   
6. Do not Install Third party applications Unless Fully sure. Live without some cool features but don't download widgets or tools (say for Facebook or Myspace or Twitter) you are not sure of and doesn't come from the parent site itself.
7. Beware of user-generated spam. Social networks like Facebook rely on users to enrich the experience by posting content such as pictures and video (as well as links) and then sharing the content with their contacts. Spam-based social networkers will go to other people's comment threads, for instance, and chime in with links that, if clicked on, will install malware. So beware of that too.
8. Keep Yourself Updated with Latest Security Software. A real time anti-virus scanner is very important to have if you are using internet, along with a good anti-spyware and firewall software. They can be your friends in more ways than you can think of. And yes, juice them well with regular updates.