I am not a big fan of social media sites. Hackers have compromised all of them at some point, and it’s just not worth the chance of exposing you and loved ones to identity thieves or stalkers to subscribe to these services. Facebook was recently breached, and the account details of over 50 million users were obtained. The attackers exploited a feature in Facebook’s code to gain access to user accounts and potentially take control of them. This kind of security risk isn’t something anyone would want to be involved with, and the best solution is to say no to signing up in the first place.

If you do decide that putting your personal information out on the internet is something you would like to do or already have these types of accounts, please observe some very simple precautions. Do not post vacation pictures while you’re on vacation; this is an open invitation to have your home robbed or vandalized. Turn off location services on your smartphone so that the images you save do not encode the physical location before you post them. Do not share birth dates, places of birth, home addresses, or any other personal information used in creating financial accounts. Do not flaunt your recent purchases of expensive items by discussing the purchase or posting pictures of them. Lastly, please do not post a cookie crumb trail of everywhere you go and when…such as I go to the gym every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 5:00 PM.

Think before you post, stay safe, and keep those you care about safe as well.