The winds of change are constantly blowing and things evolve. It wasn’t that long ago when people would only use an alias for email and chat, and simply shopping online was a scary proposition. Fast forward to today where people freely place all there information online at websites like Facebook, Myspace and others and share the smallest of details.

The come on to any of these services is they help you connect to people you haven’t seen in years and help you stay in closer contact with those you see regularly, share pictures and more. These websites encourage you to share more details so that you are easier found by friends. In the case of Facebook that was fine when they started, but they have repeatedly opened up your information accessibility to the world. Even though initially you may have set the access to private or friends only.

I point this out since many are under the assumption when they have set a privacy setting or interacted with a service such as this the settings are fixed. This is NOT the case, they can be changed or ignored via policy as is the case with Facebook. I use Facebook as an example but this could happen with any website. It is important to understand if you share anything even with a friend that doesn’t mean for example they can’t share it.

Social media has much to offer and as connectivity improves in the smart phone world you will see services and opportunities increase to interact with them. Televisions are being integrated with services so you will see IP in the TV allowing direct streaming of Podcasts and Internet TV as well as Netflix. It won’t be long you will viewing Facebook or the web directly on your TV. This is all good and decentralizes access and reliance on network and cable broadcasters.

Just know with certainty most information shared on the web via services is likely to be viewed by others. Take the approach when posting and sharing pictures and video that ANYONE can see it. As an example Government agencies and Employers are looking at content on the web when screening and considering candidates for positions.

Here are typical things you can do to protect yourself…

• Don’t share your status updates on walls or tweets while your doing them or in advance,  Share them AFTERWARD. Telling people you are not home is an invitation to be robbed.
• Do not share details online that are not easily located as part of public record.
• When making accounts at websites, don’t use real answers to security questions. For example mothers maiden name, high school, college mascot etc should be filled in with something totally ODD and unguessable. Much of the information like these questions are in public domain if people do the research they will find them easy enough.
• Don’t use your main email as part of your banking or secure site access. It is best to have a separate account for these which limits it use. It should also use HTTPS as a login such as Google Gmail does.
• Use password manager like LastPass.com to securely manage and generate secure passwords. NEVER have a web browser remember your log-ins or use a local password login manager. Make your passwords and usernames varied, include special characters and numbers.
• Be aware of location based services on your Smartphone that include location information when you post.
• Do not access banking or credit card websites from a public WIFI hotspot. It is simple for someone to scan for email log-in credentials thus starting a means of access. Use hotspots for simple browsing only.
• Always logout of your PC as well as place a PIN on you’re Smartphone. Many of the apps today on Smartphones will access your password managers, banks, social sites and other private information quite easily. Setting the PIN option will wipe the phone in the event someone tries to login repeatedly saving any potential loss. Your phone is easily restored if and when recovered.

The web is a fantastic resource but like anything you need to manage your information wisely and take simple precautions to protect you and your information. I am not paranoid just a realist and some people out there amaze me by not really looking at things and considering there impact. Keep sharing just share and access your in a smart way.