Personal Dangers of SNS
According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 75% of adult Internet users between the ages of 18-24 and 57% of adult Internet users between the ages of 25-34 have a profile on a Social Networking Site. Of those users, more than half (51%) have more than one profile on a Social Networking Site.
Of adult SNS users, 60% of users restrict their online profiles to their "friends" while 36% of adult Social Networking Site users allow anyone to view their online profiles. Even those who restrict online profiles to their friends fail to realize the dangers of imposters who may obtain access to personal data by "friending" users using another person's name and or photograph.
This 1 minute video highlights how fast social networking information can spread throughout the internet.
Did you know that 85% of Americans can be uniquely identified from their date of birth, their five-digit zip code and their gender? Consider what websites you may have shared those three pieces of information with.
Take a look at the following screenshot taken from a well known site's signup page. In order to obtain an ID from this site, you must provide your name, date of birth and postal code. You must have an ID from this particular site in order to use a popular online photo sharing site.
Signing up for a SNS account on other sites requires your name and a birth date. If you opt to enter more personal information, such as your hometown, you're basically giving away the three pieces of information that can uniquely identify you.
So what?
"When a person's hometown is known, the window of the first three digits of [their] SSN can be identified with probability decreasing with the home state's population. When that person's birthday is also known, and an attacker has access to SSNs of other people with the same birth date in the same state as the target (for example obtained from the SSN death index or from stolen SSNs), it is possible to pin down a window of values in which the middle two digits are likely to fall".Consequently, indiscriminately releasing little bits of personal information can make you susceptible to substantial risk of identity theft or other forms of exploitation.
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