There's no better place to talk about protecting your online identity than a blog, right?
There's no better place to talk about protecting your online identity than a blog, right? Before I really start blogging, it isn't a bad idea to take a minute to remind myself that information I share on online (such as through blogging) could put me at risk for online identity theft.
Take a peek at this article and you'll understand what I mean:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=anatomy-of-a-social-hack&sc=rss
To recap, the article goes through how Herbert Thompson, a college professor, essentially “stole” an acquaintance’s online and actual identity by using information that is readily available and in many cases, was freely supplied by the user by doing things such as blogging (gave up personal information about her pet’s and grandparents’ names) or through a Google search.
This article made me think of how much information about myself I allow others to see online. I can't even count how many social networking sites, forums, and photo sharing sites are a virtual treasure-trove full of my personal information...or not so personal information. While I may not be navigating to Facebook as fast as I can to try to wipe my account of everything personal (which is actually really, really hard to do- so think before you post), I will reconsider how much information I allow others to see from here on out.
The funny thing is, my dog’s Facebook profile (yes, my dog has a Facebook profile) is more secure than mine. It doesn’t list her full name, birthday, or anything more personal than her favorite movies and music (Lady and the Tramp and Snoop Dogg if you were curious) and that her favorite quote is by Snoopy. As far as I can see, her identity is safe, but then again, who wants to steal the identity of someone without credit cards, bank accounts, or opposable thumbs for that matter?
Posted: August 21, 2008 2:48 pm | 0 comments
Tags: blog, online identity, protecting personal information
