Don’t lose your iPhone, Android or Blackberry!
iPhone 4s (Apple Corp.)
Message systems will show more than you want to the person who finds your phone, like your email accounts, your contacts and your message conversations. That’s been a problem for a people whose phones have been stolen. Same goes for laptops, the “found laptop” can show not only your personal information but confidential information about your business or company.
Solution – on laptops use encryption and complex passwords. There are complex solutions your IT department can implement to protect smartphones such as “MobileIron, Sybase Afaria, AirWatch, Tangoe and even RIM’s recently announced BlackBerry Mobile Fusion. Each offers a specific set of supported platforms, features, and enterprise systems integration tools. ” ComputerWorld.
Don’t share your Facebook photos
Restrict your Facebook friends to people you actually know and trust. Then restrict your sharing on Facebook to “Friends Only.” Unless you are in sad need of Friends, “Friends of Friends” is too wide an audience for your personal vacation and party pictures.
Pew Research found that 2nd level relationships on Facebook are far too broad for people concerned about privacy.
“In our sample, the reach at 2-degrees of separation is estimated to be as high as 7,821,772 people (for a Facebook user that had a very large friends list that was not very interconnected). Facebook users from our sample on average can reach 156,569 other Facebook users through their friends of friends. The median user can reach 31,170 people through friends of friends.” Pew
Unless your are a rock musician or self-publishing writer using Facebook for marketing, that is far too many people with access to your private life.
Keep personal emails off work computers
Employers routinely check internet traffic for obvious signs of porn surfing, sharing of company secrets and other unauthorized use of the company equipment. There is some presumption of privacy at work; however, that will be cold comfort when you are sending your résumé around looking for a new job.
Emails, tweets, or Facebook posts that bash the boss or company, disclose confidential information or otherwise disparage your employer or their customers can get you dismissed. Think twice about the “Bored At Work Syndrome.” Leave personal chatting for home time or use your own personal email account or smartphone.