Most of my nearest and dearest know I'm not a fan of "Fuckerberg" and his social experiment: "The Facebook."

(Hey, I'm a "Myspace" girl! Don't judge me)

Even though I do have a Facebook account, I rarely ever use it except for party notifications, and to wish friends a "happy birthday" every now and then.

Don't get me wrong, "ZuckerNerd" is obviously a great business man and "supposed humanitarian" and all that, but I still have zero respect for how "The Facebook" is ran and how much it compromises the security of its users.

Whats even more infuriating is that internally "The Facebook" is protected 8 ways from Sunday, but, it's our accounts, "THE USERS," that are left vulnerable.

The thing that puzzles the ever living shit out of me?

I work in Network Security, so I know the lengths most companies go through to protect themselves against "cyber attacks." "The Facebook" for some reason does not have even the basic encryption that a small start-up would have.

Ok, It's not as easy as making it. There are things you do have to know. The average "Joe" or "Josephine" probably wouldn't be able to crack... anything, but for somebody with just even a little know-how, it's really not that difficult.

I guess if I'm bringing this shit up, I should probably give you guys some useful things to look out for to protect to protect your own ass right?

There's a few ways those wily keyboard bandits can get into your account:

(NOTE: I'm obviously writing towards the "average" user here. So I promise not to get too "techie" on you guys.)

The two most common are:

1. Social Engineering
2. And Email Phishing

SOCIAL ENGINEERING

For all you comic geeks out there, (hey, I did say I was going to keep it simple right?)

Remember that Superman villain: "Mr. Mmxyzptlk?"

The powerful little imp from the 5th dimension that Superman could only beat by outsmarting him and getting him to say his name backwards?

This is social engineering. It's the "Jedi mind trick" of the hacking world. It's way of getting you to give up your own password willfully.

This can be done by something as simple as calling you and pretending they are from a company you use and getting you give up the goods that way.

Simple as that! Well, not completely simple, but simple for enough for those who know what they're doing.

So that leads us to...

EMAIL PHISHING

This is one is lot more sneakier! The mustache twirling grifters will send you an email telling you your "The Facebook" account is in danger of... something, and send you a link to a fake page where you will enter your username and password!

Here's some advice guys and gals:

Always check the URL of the page that you are on! Make sure it is the correct address and that there is nothing fishy about it!

ALSO...

NEVER CLICK LINKS ABOUT YOUR ACCOUNTS IN EMAILS! EVER!.... EVER!

No good ever comes of this! 90% of these links are fake! And all you're doing is making it easier for your attacker!

OTHER ATTACKS?

There are more "sophisticated" ways of hacking your "The Facebook" account:

• Expensive hacking software (Would give examples, but don't want to tempt you!)
• Keylogging (It's a whole "thing")
• Linux based programs (This is a lot more involved)

I wouldn't worry so much about these cause for most people (including hackers) it's more work than it's really worth!

YOUR OPTIONS?

We live in "the future" my pets! Every sci-fi movie in the 80s that warned us about the machines is true! So we need to be a lot more "on guard" about our cyber lives.

I joke, but this is pretty serious, and it doesn't just pertain to "The Facebook." If you're like most "everyday folk," you have bank accounts, credit cards, 401ks, etc. You need to be hyper aware anytime you login into any account you have!

"WATCH YOUR ASS MY FRIENDS, CAUSE OTHERS ARE TOO!"