Please read if you use Facebook

[RoloAddict]

So this week we had a new IT manager start in our department at work. Met him for the first time yesterday.. Today was called into a meeting with him along with other staff. He then proceeded to reveal that he'd taken a look at each of our Facebook profiles the previous evening. What he revealed about mine was shocking . By using my Facebook profile and nothing else but good old Google (he proved this by showing us how he did it) he had managed to find out..

My full address including house number!
My DHs full name
My maiden name
Our wedding date
My Dd's names, dates of birth and the sports club they attend.
My stepdaughters name and the school she attended
That I have a stepson.

Needless to say I was horrified. This man was a virtual stranger. We had no mutual friends and I'd never met him until yesterday. I've obviously changed my privacy settings entirely since then. Before I just assumed they were set so that only friends could view them. Can I PLEASE remind and encourage all of you (plus family and friends) to check your settings throughly. We were lucky this time that the person in question didn't mean us harm but it's been a huge wake up call.

Still a logic fail, but if you can't get it I'm not going to bother explaining it to you.

please don't be so blasé

I'm not blasé. I've had my credit card cloned twice!

You have been a victim despite not even having fb.

No I don't get it. Anyone can find out anything if you know someones name! It's easy, not rocket science and not life threatening.

Noone has bothered to explain why having details in the local paper and on the local paper website is fine but fb not.

The IT man was certainly NOT being a dick.
Social media is very widely misused. Lots of people don't understand the ramifications of putting certain things on the internet.
Employers are resorting more and more to checking out potential employees social media accounts before offering employment. You may be the best qualified for the job, but if your facebook/instagram/twitter is open and full of contentious stuff (drunken pictures, a million duck-lip selfies ((they make you look stupid and needy ladies)), shared political posts from the likes of Britain's First etc) you ain't getting that job. I'm sure many of you will have seen several news articles where people have lost their jobs because of stuff like this as well.
My employer makes everyone take an online course at least once a year on things like social media phising and online security. They also suggested people locked down social media accounts, and they WILL check. At the end of the day you represent their company image and if they think you damaging this image it's "bye, bye".

So if you don't care about what you put on the internet, more fool you. One day it will come back and bite you on the arse.

To make everything (apart from your current cover photo) go to your privacy settings and limit old posts.

My profile is all private and if I see a friend has a public profile I don't comment on their stuff.

The new IT manager might be very nosey and every other pejorative adjective on this thread, but he's only doing what possibly hundreds of other people have done with the OP's FB profile.

I guarantee that other non-friends have looked at her open profile. The others just didn't say anything afterwards.

What's worse: snooping on an open profile, or snooping on an open profile and then warning them about their settings?

I can't believe people put so much info on there, I have a nickname and fake birthday, no-one has questioned why I am over 100 though

So if you don't care about what you put on the internet, more fool you. One day it will come back and bite you on the arse.

I do care what is on there. I am in my fifties and hopefully will never have to find an employer again. I don't do drunk posts, trout pouts, Britain first. I don't share stupid snopes worthy scams. I don't even share lost dogs or kids. I do put films I've seen, music I've listened to, pictures of my kids and pets. Most of it is friends only. You can't tag me in anything without me seeing it first. If some pisher decided to make an example of me in front of my work colleagues I'd be extremely unimpressed.

DH and DS1 are in the armed forces and get regular briefs on internet security.

You wouldn’t find any of that out about any of us from Fb or Instagram. Everything is completely locked down. I don’t have any photos set to public, nothing related to the forces either. Unless you’re friends with me you can’t see anything but my profile and cover photo. That’s it.

We’re not on 192.com , or any of those sorts of sites, or the public electoral role either.

I’m an admin of a Fb group and it never ceases to amaze me just how lax some people are with their personal information.

You really don't have to be that tight lipped about it. Jesus. It doesn't make people morally superior to have a shrub and a rainbow as their fb profile!

You don't have to be a shrub on Facebook

Quote of the day. These words should be laid over a picture of a sunset and then shared on an 'Inspirational Memes' Facebook page!

I am another one struggling to see how what this IT guy did comes under the remit of his role? Yes, sure on a personal level it's handy to know, but unless there is stuff on there bringing the company into disrepute, then how is an IT manage giving a 'big reveal' of all the personal info he was able to glean from Facebook relevant to his job role? I agree it sounds like a 'party trick' that he brings to each new workplace to impress people, it sounds a little bit David Brent.

It's also problematic if someone on your Friends list has their FB hacked. Especially if it takes them days to actually notify the people on their list.

Employers are resorting more and more to checking out potential employees social media accounts before offering employment. You may be the best qualified for the job, but if your facebook/instagram/twitter is open and full of contentious stuff (drunken pictures, a million duck-lip selfies ((they make you look stupid and needy ladies)), shared political posts from the likes of Britain's First etc) you ain't getting that job. I'm sure many of you will have seen several news articles where people have lost their jobs because of stuff like this as well.

Yes, but this IT blokes 'thing' wasn't to dig up picture of you pissed in a nightclub, it was to scare people about how much personal info he was able to find on them, info which could potentially be used by hackers to breach personal security etc. I don't get how that is relevant to his role? And a big reveal in front of everyone sounds totally inappropriate as well, I would be really cross about that!

The IT manager was doing his job. And bloody well done to him. If anyone finds themselves feeling angry about it, imagine how much more angry they'd be if he'd actually been a criminal intent on stealing your bank balances or committing identity fraud.

I'm glad the op has started a thread on it too. These issues need to be more widely known and faced.

It's been known for a long time that information can be collated and that privacy is non-existent in an age of social media. Far too many people are wilfully ignorant about the amount of information they are putting out.

You should also bear in mind that no amount of settings on Facebook are safe. Information you put on there is always controlled and owned by Facebook.

How can someone steal my bank balance by looking at my Facebook account?

People often use very poor password protections, and clues to those passwords can usually be found in their social media profiles.

For further info, if you must use online banking, make sure it's 2-factor authentication. Banks are catching on slowly.

Im surprised you are surpised - surely most people know this already?

I cannot believe some of the ignorant comments on this thread. The IT manager was not a dick; he was doing his job; he would have had the full approval of HR and the company; he was trying to warn everyone just how easy it is for people to gather information about others; the OP benefited from the knowledge she gained.

What, exactly are (some) people getting so het up about? If you know all about privacy settings - great. If you don't, learn.

This was a great initiative by the company and the IT manager, both acting proactively and responsibly, to make everyone aware that they might be leaving themselves vulnerable to scammers and identity theft.

The IT manager was doing his job. And bloody well done to him. If anyone finds themselves feeling angry about it, imagine how much more angry they'd be if he'd actually been a criminal intent on stealing your bank balances or committing identity fraud.

But how is having a personal bank account hacked any business of your employer really? How is that part of his IT manager role within the company?

If he, or anyone else I worked with or knew in real life, messaged me and spoke to me personally and said 'I saw your Facebook yesterday and I'm not sure if you realise but loads of your stuff is visible and I was able to find out lots of info about you, I can give you a hand with making it more secure if you like' then that would be fine and I would appreciate it.

Calling everyone in to a 'meeting' and then revealing with a fanfare all the information he was able to get, in front of everyone else, not so much. It's inappropriate.

You are supposed to use your proper name on Facebook, if you use a nickname they can ask you to prove it's your real name and if you can't they can delete your account. They have done this to some people I know..

Well done to the IT manager. I wouldn’t have a problem with it if he’d done this to me.

You are supposed to use your proper name on Facebook, if you use a nickname they can ask you to prove it's your real name and if you can't they can delete your account. They have done this to some people I know..

They’ve done it to me even though I have never ever used a fake name. I had to email them a copy of my passport I think. It was a couple of years ago now.

They’ve done it to me even though I have never ever used a fake name. I had to email them a copy of my passport I think. It was a couple of years ago now.

You sent Facebook a copy of your passport? How did you know it was actually Facebook contacting you?

I have just deleted my linked in account for similar reasons. You can basically write a cv off that thing and impersonate anyone I can quite securely lock down my Facebook account (and v careful about profile picture). It’s easy to google anyone’s address - you can do something on electrol role which helps limit this.