How to protect your data on Facebook

Is it time to delete your Facebook account? That’s a question some users are asking themselves.

If your answer is no, how can you protect yourself?

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now outlining steps to protect user data .

While that is good news for some, for others it’s not good enough.

Nils Desmet is a Borderland cybersecurity specialist who made the decision to delete his Facebook account.

“Facebook is asking for forgiveness when they should have asked for permission,” Desmet said.
While deleting Facebook seems like an obvious option, there are other things you can do to protect your information.

Have you every signed into an app by using your Facebook log in, rather than using a separate username and password? It’s convenient, but is also shares personal data with those third-party apps.

“I don’t think we realize what the security risks are that come with that. Because it becomes only one point of failure and once you have that one key, you have the keys to the kingdom,” Desmet said.

CNN reports: To do some spring cleaning, you’ll want to visit Facebook’s App page under the Settings menu to see how many apps you have connected to your account.

You can select which services you want to remove at the top of the page or disable all of them via Apps, Website and Plugins > Edit.

However, you won’t be able to log into apps like Instagram or Spotify using your Facebook account anymore. Instead, you’ll need to sign up for the service directly with a unique log in.

Keep in mind apps you’ve already installed could still have your shared information even after disabling the feature. You’ll have to contact the app individually and ask for your data to be removed. Facebook doesn’t give instructions on how to best reach out the app.

Another thing you may not know: People on Facebook who can see your information can bring it with them when they use apps such as games. By selecting Settings > Apps > Apps Others Use, uncheck the boxes you don’t want those apps to access, such as your birthday, hometown, and political views.

Another way to protect your personal data is to permanently delete your account.

Facebook has a dedicated page to walk you through the steps. But you won’t be able to reactivate your account or access any of the content or information you’ve shared, if you change your mind.

Third-party apps will still have access to any personal data they stored, even after your Facebook account has been permanently deleted.

Facebook users can also opt to deactivate accounts in case they want to access them again. The deactivation option can be found in the Settings menu under Manage Account > Edit.

Desmet doesn’t believe Facebook is going away– but he advises users to take another look at their pages and make sure to read the fine print.

“They have basically created this massively addictive engine that you can’t get rid of in your life anymore and you are willing to say yes to all just to keep on giving you that buzz, Oh I got a like, oh someone viewed my stuff. So, they are using what we do wrong as humans, they are using it against ourselves,” Desmet said.