A lot of people these days use social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter to stay in touch with family, friends and acquaintances. There are also people out there that are looking to learn enough information about you to be able to figure out how to access your personal information, passwords, financial information and steal your identity.

We’re frequently asked for tips on how to surf social networking sites safely. There is a risk that comes with this but even more so is what you post. The first thing we suggest is checking your security settings on the social media site. Assure they are adjusted appropriately and you have read and understand the sites privacy policies.

There are several do’s and don’ts using a social networking site. Understanding your audience is very important. You’re going to be sharing information with many people. Some of which you may feel are privileged to know more than others. The biggest considerations are sharing any pertinent personal or financial information, be cautious of using any third-party online games, quizzes and apps that can gain access to your profile information. We suggest searching for bogus profile accounts pretending to be you on occasion and be careful accepting friend requests from user profiles that have very little content and friends on their account. This is a red flag for a scammer. Know when you should post information publicly or privately and be cautious of donating or purchasing from businesses you are unfamiliar with.

We hope these online social networking site tips help you avoid identity theft. To give you an idea of how often identity theft occurs. Last year, there were 1,579 data breaches reported exposing nearly 179 million record which represents a 44% increase in the number of breaches and 389% increase in records exposed. The number of credit card numbers exposed was 14.2 million up 88% over the year before and 8 times more than the year before that. Adding to that nearly 158 million people last year had their social security numbers exposed. This is a growing problem and by taking certain precautions while using social networking sites you can help try to reduce these statistics.

Need further coaching utilizing social networking sites or security recommendations for your PC, Mac or mobile device? Contact Authority IT today and like our page if you want to receive more IT tips and hints.