Some of the survey results were encouraging. The results clearly show that the vast majority of online users are considerably better educated about the online risks of identity theft and fraud. Out of those surveyed, 57% said that they were concerned with these issues. But there appears to be a disconnect between these users and they way that they use social networking services. 65% of those surveyed said that they were not worried about becoming identity theft victims due to their social networking activities.
As evidence of this, 83% of adults using social networking sites admitted to downloading content from other members’ pages, even though they didn’t know the people they were downloading from. This type of behavior leaves them exposed to hacking and malware; common tools of identity thieves. 31% of adults using these sites have responded to phishing e-mail messages.
The survey appears to shatter the myth that only teenagers use social networking websites. Surprisingly, 47% of users were between the ages of 18 and 34. But just as surprisingly, people within this age range were considerably more likely to give out personal information than their younger counterparts were. 83% of them do not restrict access to their profiles.
The difference between adults and children’s usage of these same websites may be due to parental monitoring. According to the study, 94% of parents have had discussions with their children about how to identify online predators. 72% have told their children not to download unknown software. And 64% have discussed how to avoid becoming victims of financial crimes.
Of the parents surveyed, 64% of children monitor their children’s online profiles and 49% restrict who can view their child’s profile.
The one thing that the study didn’t cover is that once someone puts information online, it is probably going to be there forever. People routinely post highly personal information on sites like MySpace, Xanga and Blogger. This information often includes full names, birth dates, e-mail and street addresses. This is enough information for any stalker or pedophile to track down you or your children. And it may be a good starting point for anyone intent on identity theft.
Many people think that when they post something to the internet, they can easily change or delete it. This is simply not the case. Google alone maintains a cache of archived information on most websites. Even more thorough archiving sites like Way Back Web allow users to see information as it was posted on specific dates. Want to see what your MySpace profile looked like two years ago? Chances are, that old profile is still available from a variety of services. This includes any highly personal information that you may have posted.
Those who use social networking sites for business purposes may have some difficulty in hiding their profiles. After all, having a presence on the web won’t bring in any new customers if they can’t find you. Even so there are some smart things you can do to protect yourself. These include setting up an e-mail address that you don’t use for any other purpose, and not revealing your home address information or date of birth. Most social networking sites don’t require this data, and most of them will let you hide the data that you don’t want or need to reveal.
How to Protect Yourself 
