Facebook is in a bit of hot water, again. The social media behemoth has just provided a security update regarding an issue that has impacted 50 million users.

The update, indicates that on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 25, the Facebook engineering team discovered a security issue affecting almost 50 million accounts. While their investigation is still in its early stages, it’s clear that attackers exploited a vulnerability in Facebook’s code that impacted the “View As”, a feature that lets people see what their own profile looks like to someone else. This allowed attackers to steal Facebook access tokens which they could then use to take over people’s accounts. Access tokens are the equivalent of digital keys that keep people logged in to Facebook so they don’t need to re-enter their password every time they use the app.

Here are ten tips that aren’t foolproof, but which may help prevent your digital information from being used without your consent.

1. Share with care. What you put on the web can last a lifetime. So before you post about yourself with others, think about how it will be perceived now and in the future.
2. Decide how private you want to be. Set your privacy settings to a level that you are comfortable with. If you are happy with one of the preset privacy settings, ok. If you are not, customize your privacy settings.. You can also Uncheck the “Let friends of people tagged in my photos and posts see them” box. This ensures that only your friends are able to see posts and photos that you tag.
3. Spring clean. The same way you spring clean your house, the same needs to be done for your computer. Look at all your apps. Ask what they are trying to find out about you. Get rid of the apps you aren’t using.
4. Turn off or limit access for third-party apps. Adjust the how much and exactly what data your apps can use. Some of the data is in the “required” category others can be “turned off”.
5. Secure devices. Use facial recognition or complex passwords with special characters that are hard to crack, but also hard to remember.
6. Make a certain piece of information visible to only a couple people. To do so, click Customize from the drop-down menu. From the next drop-down menu, choose Specific People…Then, type in the name of the people you want to be able to see the info. As long as your networks are unchecked, only those to whom you grant permission will be able to see that piece of information.
7. Use two-step verification. Your most important sites, like banking and health apps, should have a code or fingerprint after the passcodes.
8. Ask why you’re giving certain information. Be careful if you feel uncomfortable disclosing info to certain questions. Vendors can be putting together a profile on you based on the info you give.
9. Hide certain people or networks from seeing your information. To do so, click Customize from the drop-down menu. Then, choose “Friends Only,” uncheck any networks you don’t want to see your photos (remember that when this is checked it means that anyone in the network can see that piece of information, not just your friends in the network), and type in the names of any person on your friends list you don’t want to see your info.
10. Talk to you kids (and parents). Make sure they understand the issues and take the steps to protect themselves.

If you would like more information on protecting your identify in social media (or coverage for identity theft), or if you have any questions on your home or auto insurance, please contact Munn Insurance at 855-726-8627 today.