Tip 6 of The 12 Security Tips of Christmas

The sixth tip of our ‘The 12 Security Tips of Christmas’...

“Don’t discuss any holiday plans on any type of open forum i.e. Facebook. I’m sure you have all heard the horror stories where over a thousand people turned up to a party that had been made public on Facebook, it would be like that but a party for... burglars!”

According to online etiquette blog ‘Netmanners’ social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter are accessible by anyone although you are letting your ‘friends’ know what you are up to there is always the underlying issue that anyone can access your information and find out what you are up to i.e. burglars.

The rise of social media used for criminal purposes has become more evident in recent years especially when you look at cases such as the Hollywood burglaries that occurred from 2008 – 2009 by members of a burglary group known in the media as ‘The Bling Ring’. The activities of this group of seven teenage burglars led to the theft of over $3 million in cash and belongings stolen from the homes of well known celebrities, the majority of which was stolen from Paris Hilton on several occasions (Wikipedia). According to reports and the movie adaptation ‘The Bling Ring’ the teenagers used social media to find out the best opportunity to target each celebrity, one scene in the movie even shows one of the teens using Google street view to find a to break into Paris Hilton’s home.

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Paris Hilton herself has partially blamed the burglaries on the rise of social media...

In an interview with Piers Morgan the heiress said, “This could not have happened five, 10 years ago”. She continued: “There wasn’t a Twitter or Facebook or any of these things, so nowadays people know exactly where you are.” (Wetpaint) Since the burglaries the celebrity heiress    

   

An interactive Facebook App was developed in 2011 to highlight the dangers of posting too much personal information on the internet called ‘Take This Lollipop’. The short horror film takes personal information from your profile through the use of your pictures and messages and shows a ‘Facebook stalker’ typing on a computer with your personal information appearing on his screen and then eventually he uses Google maps to pinpoint your position then he is seen driving to your location, therefore demonstrating to you the dangers of sharing personal information on the internet.  

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Try it for yourself... www.takethislollipop.com/