Safety First – Tips on Securing Your Data on Facebook

The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal has proved to us that the former knows a lot about us but so do other third-party apps and partners! From manipulating votes for the US President elections to Brexit, 2016 was a year full of data breach and how!

Following the break of this news, the hashtag #DeleteFacebook starting trending all over social media. It might seem like the right thing to do; giving up the application that betrayed your trust. But for some people this wasn’t an option as Facebook is the only way they’re in touch with their friends and families or for some others, like us whose work comprises to be on Facebook!

So, what if you don’t want to get rid of the app and only want to update your security through the platform? We list down some functions that would help you secure your personal information and data.

App settings:

Facebook’s ‘App Setting’ page is one of the social network’s most important privacy destinations. This page shows all the apps that are connected to your Facebook account. Here, you can remove all the apps that are connected to your profile; even if you connected with it a long time back.

We would advice you to remove all the apps that are either irrelevant or not being used by you currently. Remember, Cambridge Analytica’s app was legitimate on the surface. Third-party applications have access to your friend list, your photos or any information that you or your friends choose to share and make public.

Follow these steps to go to the ‘App Setting’ page:

Disable apps completely:

Instead of checking and disabling them one by one, you can completely disable the Facebook app platform. This means you won’t be able to use Facebook integrations on third-party apps or websites who access data through OAuth. Theoretically, you won’t be sharing as much data with the fraudsters.

“If you don’t want apps and websites to access other categories of information (like your friend list, gender or info you’ve made public), you can turn off all Platform Apps. But remember, you will not be able to use any games or apps yourself,” Facebook writes in a support document.

You can turn Platform off by going to Settings > Apps > Apps, Websites and Plugins > Edit > Disable Platform. You can repeat these steps for other options as well.

Follow the steps mentioned above for ‘App Setting’ and proceed with the following steps:

Control what your friends can see:

Controlling this information is equivalent to controlling what the third-party apps can see! To keep a tab on this, simply:

• Go to your App Setting
• Click ‘Edit’ below Apps Others Use
• Click to check the boxes next to the info you want your friends to see about you in the apps they use and click Save.

Other security tips

‘Security and Login’ page, here, you can see the location where your Facebook is logged in and from which device. This page also allows you to change your password, log in with a profile picture instead of password, enable/disable two-factor authentication, encrypted email notifications, and more.

On the ‘Privacy settings’ page you can choose who can see your Facebook profile information, including posts you share or those in which you’ve been tagged in. You can also check the mobile app permission details including storage access, camera, if the microphone can record audio or not, etc.

Browser Cookies:

Lastly, remember to always clear your cookies. This will restrict the information that you’re sending to Facebook to use in advertisements on yourself.

Customize these settings to your Facebook account and stay safe! Let the history NOT repeat itself henceforth!