According to Marc Goodman, author of the new book Future Crimes: Everything is Connected, Everyone is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It, 160,000 Facebook accounts are compromised every day.

The thesis of Goodman’s book is an important one: as the Internet becomes a bigger part of people’s lives and also grows rapidly in size itself, we need to be prepared to protect ourselves from cyber threats.

“Our interconnected world is becoming an increasingly dangerous place, and the more we incorporate assailable technologies into our lives, the more vulnerable we become,” Goodman wrote. “Each of us now leaves a trail of digital exhaust through our day, an infinite stream of phone records, text messages, browser histories, GPS data and e-mail that will live on forever.”

Goodman is also critical of Facebook for loosening up its privacy rules each time the site updates its Terms of Service, enabling itself to gather more information on its users. However, he has two pieces of simple advice that can help mobile users stay safe on the web: create a password for your cell phone, and keep your software updated. These are easy, virtually effortless steps that can go a long way toward protecting your privacy online. With cyber crime on the rise, it’s more important than ever to safeguard your online identity.

Here are a few other tips to help keep your Facebook account safe from hackers:

• Make sure you password is strong, secure and unique to Facebook only (don’t reuse he same one on multiple sites)
• Use Facebook’s two-factor authentication feature called ‘Login Approvals‘.
• Always log out of Facebook after each session, especially if you are using a shared computer.

Recommended Resources

BitDefender Safego is a Facebook application you can install that will scan your News Feed and help keep you safe from scams on Facebook.

Blur is the first all-in-one solution that protects your passwords, payments, and privacy. It gives power back to people making it simple to choose what amount of their personal information they are OK providing to any website: no matter a) what they are doing- surfing, creating a new account, or shopping, or b) what device they are using – mobile phone, browser or tablet.

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