Tech Tips: Facebook apps can lead to security breaches

Recently I was looking at my status updates on Facebook and I
noticed that a friend of mine had posted a rather “racy” link
regarding a beautiful woman losing her top. I did a key word search
of the woman’s name along with the word “Facebook” and sure enough
this was an “app scam.”

Here is what happens.

You see the link on your friend’s page. Curious you go to look at
the link and it asks for access to your Facebook account. Eager to
see the link you click the “OK” button.

And here is the problem:

n On a benign app, you have just given this specific app access to
your page.

n On a more aggressive app, it may then go through your address
book and post that app on all of your friend’s walls.

n On an evenly more aggressive app, it could be a “Trojan” virus
and by approving access, it can attach a file to your computer and
cause a host of other problems to your system.

When linking to any online application, be sure to consider who it
is from and what it does. As a general rule of thumb, I never
accept any Facebook requests to join games or answer trivia
questions – even flair buttons can be dangerous.

For a while, my wife loved flair buttons and would send them to her
friends. A flair button looks just like a button that people would
pin to their denim jacket back in the 1980s. They would then line
up on the side of your Facebook page and people could look through
them and get a good laugh. The problem with these types of apps is
that they are not Facebook approved or reviewed. To Facebook’s
credit they wanted to create an open forum for all people to use.
They have realized the error of this philosophy and now spend a
tremendous amount of time going through apps they receive
complaints on.

Let’s be clear, I love Facebook.

In fact, I will post a link to this article on my Facebook profile
the day after it hits the newsstands because it helps increase my
readership. But as a user, you need to be cautious what games and
other applications you use on it. There is generally no good reason
for any app to have access to your account.

But there are certainly plenty of bad reasons.

Use Facebook, have fun, but stay out of “appland,” no matter how
curious you are to test out your “obscure 1980s movie trivia”
skills.

Mike Shelah is an account manager for Quantum
Telecommunications, Inc. He can be reached at 410-982-0045
mikeshelah@yahoo.com or on Twitter @mistertelecom. For more
information about the Tech Council, go to
www.carrolltechcouncil.org.

 

© 2011 Carroll County Times. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Share and Enjoy

10 Awesome Ways To Hack Facebook Status Updates

There is more than one way to share a Facebook status. Avoid the mundane and try something new with our top 10 tips and tricks. Learn how to tag friends, add symbols and toggle the language options. Use apps to add a dislike button or schedule status updates. The possibilities are endless. Find out how to build a better Facebook status below.

1. Tag Others In Your Status Update

Type “@” before someone or something’s name in the status bar. An auto-generated drop-down list of those in your social circle starting with that letter will appear. It works with people, pages, events, brands and companies. Click the name you want, finish the update and hit share. The name becomes a hyperlink and the status shows up on that person’s wall, too.

2. Hide Status Updates From Certain People

On the other side of the coin, you can control who can read your status updates with Facebook’s privacy settings. Click on the padlock next to the “share” button and you can select whether your status update can be seen by everyone, friends of friends, or only friends. Or you can customize it with specific friend lists or individual people, which can be useful for work, special interest groups or if you’re planning a surprise party.

3. Add Symbols

Facebook chat allows for emoticons like the well-known yellow smiley but the status bar does not. The only symbol you can make with shortcut keys is a heart by typing in 3. Instead, you can copy and past universal symbols or Windows users can input various alt + number combinations on a numerical keypad (it doesn’t work on the top row of numbers).

4. Change Your Language

Facebook is offered in many different languages but did you know you can change your Facebook display to “pirate” or upside down English? Pirate makes your status your “plank,” where you can share or “blabber t’ yer mates.” What you type in the status bar won’t become pirate or turn upside down with these options. Just the display will change.

5. Add A Dislike Button

You can’t go anywhere now without seeing a “like” button, but apps like Status Magic can add some more variety to what you think of statuses. You can add a “dislike” button or other emotions such as “disagree,” “love,” “hate” or “LOLs” to any status updates posted with the app.

6. Schedule Status Updates

Social media services like TweetDeck, HootSuite, SocialOomph, Sendible and Later Bro offer a free way to schedule your status updates. Each one is a little different but all require you to sign in with Facebook Connect. Just select your time zone, type your status, set the time of when you want to post and you’re ready.

7. See Worldwide Status Updates

OpenBook allows you to see Facebook status updates of users from around the world, by collecting posts from those whose privacy levels are set to everyone. You can search by gender and keywords on a given topic.

8. Check Your Stats

Status Statistics lets you know how many times you have updated your Facebook status and much, much more. It analyzes your updates and provides a list of how many statuses you have written, the average word count and how many times per day you post. It creates a graph to show what time and what days you normally update and allows you to search for old statuses without having to scroll down your history.

9. Turn Your Status Updates Into A Word Cloud

Status Analyzer 3D takes your status updates and makes a word cloud. It generates a list of words you commonly used and creates a colorful visual.

10. Update Through Firefox

FireStatus allows you to update your status among other features for multiple social networks like Facebook through a Firefox extension. It displays updates from the social networks through notification pop-ups on your desktop.

Readers, do you or will you use any of these tips and tricks?

Share and Enjoy