The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Safety for Android
Facebook is an amazing website that has changed the lives of millions of people across the world. It’s so easy to connect with people, look up a business or service that you need and even socialize with your friends. It’s really made life much more convenient, but now it seems that it’s come at a certain price. Specifically, I’m talking about the security and privacy risk associated with using Facebook on your Android device, or on any other device, for that matter. There are a few things you need to know when signing into this social network, and none of them are very pretty when it comes to security.
Today we’ll be talking about why Facebook isn’t really as secure and private as it could/should be, as well as what you can do in order to enhance your own security and privacy so you don’t end up having any uncomfortable experiences.
Sharing Information
Facebook is a social network, and the very idea of a social network is to share things about yourself with others, which is a fine concept. The problem is that as the years go by, the amount of information that we share has exponentially increased. With the advance of smartphone technology, Facebook now gives you the ability to share your location, your current activity and even the music you’re currently listening to with everyone that can see your timeline.
While at first glance this does seem like a cute, harmless feature that’s just there for fun, it’s important to remember that you’re sharing this information with a large number of people. If you update your status while including your location information and make the post public, it means that anyone (not just the people on your friend’s list) will have the ability to see this status, and subsequently learn where you are – possibly even with whom you are.
The first step to being more private on Facebook is to stop sharing so much information about yourself. You don’t have to include your location in every status, better yet, turn your GPS off altogether unless you’re currently using it. If you linked your phone number with Facebook, be absolutely certain that it’s not displayed in your “About” information, even to your friends. This can all be done quite easily within the app itself, so make sure you do it.
App Permissions
In the last few years, Facebook has become rather invasive concerning the large number of permissions that it requests when you run its Android app. As of today, it requires your location, information about your wireless connection, control of your camera and microphone, your device ID, your contacts etc. While they do provide an explanation for all the information they request and claim that it’s in the utmost interest of the user, if you really care about security you’re bound to be at least a bit squeamish about the sheer number of things this app requires you to do.
Recently Facebook has even updated their app with a feature akin to the famous Shazam app that can pick up the song playing in the background and discover its title and artist. Apparently, Facebook has now come up with some sort of algorithm that does the same thing, and when you’re posting your status it will suggest putting this information in, so everyone knows what you’re listening to. And this not only works with songs, it’s actually capable of listening to your TV and figuring out which show you’re watching. I don’t know about you, but for me that’s pretty scary already. I definitely do not want everyone on my friend’s list to know what I’m doing at any given moment, and neither should you.
So what can you do about this? Well, a good VPN like NordVPN for Android can always make your online identity much more anonymous; by hiding your real IP and assuming a different one, Facebook won’t be able to pick up on so much data about you – data that you might not even know they’re picking up on. Additionally, it might be good to stop using the default Facebook app altogether and opt out for a different one. Tinfoil for Facebook is a great choice, and while it might not have all the latest features that the default app might have, at least you know that your privacy will be on a much higher level.
About the author:
Thomas Milva is 28 and has been in an Information Security Analyst for over four years. He loves his job, but he also loves spending his time in nature, because he’s working from home, which sometimes means not getting enough fresh air. He also regularly writes for wefollowtech.com, where he often comments on the latest web trends in his articles. Thomas currently lives in Baton Rouge with his dog, two fish and his girlfriend.
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