Weekend Take on Social Media. . . .

This may be a little bit of  a rant but, a few of these have just really irritated me lately.  The back story is I have joined this group on Facebook that is a financial motivational site.  I joined in the hopes of learning something new.  I am a firm believer in reading and listening to what others have to say because I just might learn something new.  I am also a member of a community watch group on Facebook so that I can keep up on the crime situation in my area.  I rarely post in these groups, I just like to stay informed.
Several months ago we had a group of people that were a little sketchy going through neighborhoods ringing door bells and knocking on doors.  If you did not answer the door they would sometimes proceed around the back and side of your home checking doors and windows.  One of my girlfriends had posted a similar situation on this crime watch site and I commented back to her about someone ringing our door bell that same week and that I had sent my hubby to the door.  I shared that comment directly to my friend but within that group.  If you do not know my hubby you would not understand the significance of sending him to the door.  He takes glee in aggravating sales people because that is what he does.  He pesters them with insane irrelevant questions about their products and then after he has worn them down he tells them he is not interested.  The telemarketers do not call anymore because of what he use to do to them on a routine basis.  I do love him though, he keeps me laughing.
So after I had made that comment on Facebook to my friend so man I do not know posts to me and says something in the way of; "how rude, not cool."  So I posted back to him; "Pardon??"  He never responded and I have not seen him post anything else in that group.
I shared all of this to pose this question. Why do people think it is ok to just post something nasty to people they do not know, about things they do not know?   I think it may be this whole anonymity thing, they feel like they can say what ever they want because they do not know you and probably will never see you.  I guess I was raised a little different, I would never speak to people they way some folks do whether I knew you or not.
I am just appalled sometimes by what I read others post on Facebook in comments to news or even personal Facebook pages.  This is where I believe the internet has failed us as a society, we use Facebook as a means to bully, slander, and in general be mean to others.  Why?  Why would someone feel the need to post something nasty or hateful to someone you do not even know.
Today, I was reading some of the posts this afternoon and they were talking about Dave Ramsey, and you all know how much I love him and that I follow his plan.  You know Dave hates credit cards and he does not think anyone should use them.  Someone had posted how they use theirs to get free points and all of the perks and that they pay theirs off every month so they do not pay interest.  Someone else in the group, a loyal Dave follower, responded pretty harshly about using credit cards.  They called this person stupid and how could they be so dumb.   I do not like credit cards but I would never tell someone I did not know that they were dumb for using one.  I do not think I would tell someone that I did know that they were stupid for anything.
I think the election and the news media are also partly to blame.  This past election has brought out the nasty on both sides and it does not seem to be dying down at all.
Why do people feel the need to be this way?  Do they behave this way in their face to face relationships?  Would they act this way to one of their friends?  I think Facebook has caused us to be less social.  They call it social media, I believe that is a misnomer, it is an anti-social media.  We do not have face to face interaction or write letters to anyone you just Facebook people.  I must admit I am guilty of that too sometimes.
My questions for the day:   No judgement here.
Have you posted something negative to someone you do not know on any social media site?

Did you feel bad after the fact and wish you did not post it?

Have you had someone that you did not know say something mean to you on social media?

How did you react?

I genuinely want to know your reaction so please feel free to comment negative or positive.

Email Scams and other Technology Scams

Have you ever gotten a friend request from someone that you are already friends with?  If you have, it was probably a scam.  Let's face it the Internet and all of our wonderful technology has opened up a whole new world for devious, scamming, and underhanded low lifes'.   Today that is what I would like to talk about.
With our great new technology, it is time for us to be just a bit more careful about everything.    There are some that will take the pictures of your friends and then use them to set up fake profiles as that friend on Facebook.  They will send out friend requests and some people will just accept whomever sends them friend requests whether they know the person or not.  Some will not think twice about the fact that they are already friends with that person.  We really need to be more diligent about who we accept friend requests from especially those we think we may have already accepted once before.  
There are always notices out there about the next virus or email scam.   There is a great website you can go to and check these out.  You can also use this website to check out other things too, like urban legends and hoaxes.  Check out www.snopes.com if you think something is a little fishy before you just fall for it.   Remember, not everything you read or hear on the Internet is true.
While I was writing this I went to snopes and they had listed the very Facebook scam I mentioned above.  They listed it as part true and part false.  I will tell you it happened to me with one of my friends from home and I did not friend her a second time and I shot her a private message to check it out.  It was not her that was sending me the second friend request.
Young people want to have the most friends on Facebook so they will friend just about anyone that sends them a request.   They do not look at things they way many older people do.  I am old school, if I do not have a face to face relationship with you I will not friend you on Facebook.  It is nothing personal but I am cautious about my private information.   I want you all to be safe as you enjoy our fabulous technology.   Be diligent about whom your kids are talking to on Facebook too, if they have a Facebook account.  My boys do not have an account and I do not plan on letting them anytime soon.  I just finished one of my criminal law classes and in our text it detailed how pedophiles attract their victims by using Facebook and other social media.  Please be aware of what your kids are doing, after all I have read with my law classes, there are a lot of sick people out there just waiting for their next victim.  It is important as a parent to stay up to date on the latest technology, you need to know at least as much as your kids.
I will be talking more about protecting the kiddos on computers and the Internet next week, so stay tuned.  If you have any questions please post them below, if I do not know the answer I will find it for you.   I do not know everything but I know where to go to get the answers.

Summer School is done . . .

Took my last test yesterday and class is done.  I did want to share something I found interesting with this class in security.  The last chapter dealt strictly with risk.  It even had one section for social networking, Facebook.  Here are some of the things you need to be aware of, as far as security goes, while using Facebook.  This next part is out of my book, Security + Guide to Network Security Fundamentals, by Mark Ciampa.

"Social Networking sites like Facebook, are popular with attackers for several reasons:"
They provide a treasure trove of personal data.  Your profiles contain employment history, where you have lived, birthdays, spouse and child information.
Users are generally trusting.  Someone joins the network and after several weeks you are sharing most everything with them, including when you are going out of town.  How many times have you seen people post things like, "On our way to the beach for a week, loving life."  I have to say that one I could figure out with out the book.  You think that only your friends can see what you post but, who ever your friends have friended can also see what you post.  I have had people comment on something I posted that I did not even know.
"Consider carefully who is accepted as a friend."  I do not accept people as friends if I do not know them face to face.  Sometimes this is bad because I have a terrible memory and people I went to high school with have tried to friend me and I have not done it because I don't recognize the name or their face.  Attackers pray on this in the hopes that you will think you know them and accept their friend request.  I have had this happen and I know I did not know this person.  I pulled up their profile and they had 3 friends that made me very suspicious so I did not accept the friend request and blocked that person from asking again.
"Disable options and then reopen them only as necessary.  Users should disable options until it becomes apparent that option is needed, instead of making everything accessible and restricting access after it is too late.  Many attackers engage in Facebook scraping by gathering personal information from a user's Facebook site that may appear to be harmless yet may be very valuable."  Here is a good example, if an attacker is trying to steal a password they could very easily find out your challenge password answer to the question, What high school did you attend?"   This course gave a lot to think about.
Per the book, you should limit who knows when you are online, who sees your profile, and pictures.
This is just the tip of the iceberg that we went over for this class but, I thought this needed to be shared.  I want everyone to be safe on the net.