Remember computer security. An adversary won’t waste time on the “human factor” if they can go after the computer system directly through hacking, theft, or planted code, e.g. a virus or trojan horse.

Consider where you’re posting. Ask yourself: Who owns the company? Who are their partners? Where are they hosted? Who has access to the data? You may feel your data is in good hands, but it may be unclear how many different companies and services are involved in providing the social media website. The service may also be hosted in a foreign country.

Modify your visible profile. You can sometimes change the data that is visible when someone is searching for you. It’s possible that your name, photo, list of networks and groups, list of friends, age, sex and location may all be publicly visible.

Use reasonable suspicion. Some people may try to become your online friend to build rapport for a con or sale. Be wary when people seem a little too friendly or claim to have met you at a conference or event. Be especially cautious about dating sites.

Verify supposed “real” friends.  Remember, people can get data bout your from your yearbook, other websites, your profile, etc., and use it to attempt to befriend you.  Verify that someone is actually your friend before sharing more information with them.

Watch your friends. You might not have posted sensitive pictures of you and your kids, but your brother, wife, mother, or friend  may and this could put you at risk.

Treat links and files carefully. Would you follow a link in e-mail? Would you download and run an attachment? Then why do you do these things on SNSs? Verify before acting. Links and file downloads are just as dangerous on social media websites as they would be in an e-mail, but people often feel a false sense of security.

Avoid shortened URLs that hide the destination URLs. These create even more danger.