Facebook

Privacy & Security Guide | Presented by SocialMediaSecurity.com

WARNING!
Social network websites can be hazardous if you don’t change the default settings!

Instructions: Start with the “5 Tips” below then configure your Facebook account with the suggested Privacy and Security
settings in this guide. These settings should be your “baseline”. Adjust them based on your own needs and level of risk.

Please read this guide and pass it on to friends and family members!

5 Tips for Using any Social Network Apps and Websites

1) Set appropriate privacy and security defaults and choose Select Edit Settings under Apps and Websites under the
Privacy Settings page. These settings apply to applications,
a complex/unique password for your account.
games and websites.
2) Be careful installing third-party applications. Don’t install
Apps you use
applications from sources you don’t trust.
This section shows applications you have installed and when
3) Only accept friend requests from people you know you last used them. You can also remove specific
directly. applications or remove yourself from all applications
completely. This is the Turn off all platform apps setting.
4) Read the privacy policy and terms of service carefully. Note: If you turn off Platform, you'll be disconnected from
Limit personal information you share. all applications and websites you have authorized. This will
also remove all of your application data and settings related
5) Be careful what you post. Consider all information and to those applications.
pictures you post as public!
What applications can access: Facebook applications by
default can access anything you share as Everyone
Control Your Default Privacy
including all of your default “public” information. Public
information on Facebook is defined as your name, profile
These settings can be found by clicking the arrow on the top picture, gender, networks, username and user id
right then click Privacy Settings. This should be set to (account number).
Friends and will apply to status updates and photos you
How people bring your info to apps they use
post to your profile.
Facebook applications your friends install can view your
public Facebook information and anything you have set to
How You Connect Everyone. In addition, anything you select in this section
will be viewable by your friend’s applications. We suggest
The following settings are under How You Connect then you uncheck all of these boxes.
by selecting Edit Settings:
Instant personalization
Who can look up your profile by name? – Everyone*
Who can send you friend requests? – Everyone Under Instant Personalization you should uncheck the
Send you Facebook messages? – Everyone box to Enable instant personalization on partner
Who can post on your Wall? – Friends websites. This allows your public information to be
* You can limit who can find you while still being social if
automatically shared with certain third-party websites. To
you set this to Friends of Friends.
prevent your friends from sharing any of your information
with an instant personalization partner, you also need to
How Tags Work
block the applications: Microsoft Docs.com, Pandora,
Yelp, Bing, TripAdvisor, Rotten Tomatoes, Clicker,
Click on How Tags Work and select the following settings: Scribd.
See https://www.facebook.com/help/?page=1188 for links
Profile Review – Set to On
to each of these applications. At the application screen click
Tag Review – Set to On
Maximum Profile Visibility – Friends the “Block Application” link on the left side of the page.
Tag Suggestions – Set to Off
Friends Can Check You Into Places – Set to Off

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License
Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc. – Questions? [email protected] v3.0
 Facebook
Privacy & Security Guide | Presented by SocialMediaSecurity.com

Public Search You can make these exclusions under How You Connect
Deselect the checkbox under Public Search. Enabling this -> Who can see Wall posts by others on your
setting allows anyone to search for your profile and any profile under the main privacy page.
information you have set to Everyone with an Internet
search engine like Google. To create Lists, go to Account -> Edit Friends then
select All Connections on the left side.
Important note about your searchable information!

Regardless of this setting your default public information Profile Information

name, profile picture, gender, networks, username
and user id (account number) and status updates you Your profile information is set by clicking on Profile near
set to Everyone can also be searched through the the upper right side of the main Facebook page then
Facebook Graph API. What is the Graph API? Visit: clicking on the Info tab, and finally Edit Information.
http://youropenbook.org/ for an eye opening demonstration. Note: Facebook now links your personal interests to
Facebook Community Pages. Be careful, this means
Other Important Settings your interests are automatically public once you become a
fan of that page!
Limit the Audience for Old Posts on Your Profile
This is a kill switch to change all past public posts to Use caution when setting your profile information!
Friends. Only use this if you feel you need to.
We recommend that when putting information in your
Facebook Ads shown by third party applications profile you consider the following:
This controls how your information can interact with ads
shown by third-party advertisers on Facebook. We 1) Don’t show your real birthday. Use a fake birthday
recommend removing yourself from both of these options. instead. Birthdays are sometimes used as a means to
These settings are located under Account Settings -> verify your identity and could be used against you.
Facebook Ads Tab. Set both of these settings to No 2) Use extreme caution when posting your phone
one. numbers, address and work information. Even
Enable Secure Browsing (https) and Login Notifications something as simple as political or religious views could
Account Settings-> Security-> Enable Secure be used against you or in a way you didn’t approve of.
Browsing (check the box) and the box for Login For example, what if a future employer found your
Notifications. For additional security check the box for Facebook profile and didn’t like your views on a particular
Login Approvals and enter your mobile number. subject? What if your current employer found your
Facebook will send a SMS code to your phone that you profile? What would they think?
use when signing-in in addition to your password.
3) Watch the pictures that you post! Sure, those
Set a Security Question for added security under pictures of you drunk at that awesome party were cool
Security Settings as well. but think about if those pictures made their way out to
the entire Internet? Remember, your friends can still
Blocking and Creating Friend Lists copy your photos and save them outside of Facebook.

4) We advise not posting information about your

Blocking is a nice feature in Facebook if you need to prevent current employer. However, several factors should
someone from trying to communicate with you. Be careful, if influence this decision:
the person you are blocking has an application installed, that
Your risk level, the business you are in, and how your
application could potentially pull private information about employer might perceive you and other employees letting
you to the person you blocked! Be sure to review your the world know you work for them. Consult your employer
applications settings. You can select people you want to and any social media policies that your employer may
block under Privacy Settings and Blocked People and have for more information.
Apps. Finally, treat everything you post as public
information!
Creating lists and putting your friends into specific groups or
categories is also great idea to limit some of your Even with the privacy settings in this guide all
information you post and pictures you upload can
information. For example, you could have co-workers in one
find it’s way outside of Facebook or used for a
group and family members in another. Once you have lists
purpose you didn’t approve of!
created you can exclude those lists from viewing certain
things in your profile.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License
Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc. – Questions? [email protected] v3.0