Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is defined as information that can be used to confirm a person’s identity, including, name, address, phone number, date of birth, social security number, IP address, location details, and other physical or digital identifying data. Cybercriminals use PII to identify or locate individuals or to compromise online accounts.
In a world where social media is an open door to your personal life, you should be cautious about the information you post online. Facebook often encourages people to express ‘what’s on their minds?’. Therefore users cannot help but to express their personal and perhaps deepest thoughts over social media.
When dealing with personally identifiable information online, we recommend that you:
- Exercise a degree of restraint and provide the bare minimum information about yourself on social media.
- Review your privacy settings on social media sites, especially on Facebook.
Publishing your home address, birthday or other PPI significantly increases your chances of cybercriminals taking advantage of this knowledge and using it to compromise your online accounts or reputation!
Check privacy settings on Facebook. Click settings and privacy, settings, privacy.
