Technological Awareness for Teens and Young Adults

What is Social Networking?

• Social Networking is a social structure made of individuals who are tied by specific types of relationships.– Facebook– Myspace– Twitter– Flickr– Youtube

What Not to Share

• Anything you wouldn’t be comfortable having your family see– Inappropriate photos– Offensive comments or language– Personal Information

• Birth Date• Home Address• Vacation Plans• Favorite Activities• Information that could be used to answer security questions

10 things NOT to do on social networking sites

1. Post your full name

2. Post your date of birth

3. Post contact Information: phone, email or address

4. Post pictures you don’t want everyone to see

5. Assume any communication here is private

6. Post information about your school or work

7. Talk about places and times of where your going to be

8. Post information about new purchases

9. Add friends you don’t really know

10. DO enable privacy on your accounts

Who Does this Apply to?• Everybody

– Even if you don’t have a social networking account you can be impacted by what others post about you

• Student Athletes are in the spotlight more then average students– Held to a higher standard– Upheld to a student athlete code of conduct– Some colleges have added restrictions to social

networking in code of conduct contracts– Role models for other students

Consequences of Inappropriate Use

• College Admissions Decisions– 1 in 10 college admissions officers routinely

check applicants social networking pages• 38% found information that reflected poorly on the

students http://youngadults.about.com/od/legalissues/a/facebookcaveat.htm

• Employment Decisions– 34% of hiring managers have chosen not to

hire a candidate based on information in their social network profiles http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/worklife/11/05/cb.social.networking/index.html

Consequences of Inappropriate Use• Suspension/Expulsion of athletic privileges

– Two Nebraska wrestlers kicked off team over inappropriate photos http://www.nowpublic.com/sports/two-nebraska-wrestlers-kicked-team-over-nude-internet-photos

– Michael Phelps suspended from competition for 3 months over photos depicting illegal drug use http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=6816007

• Legal Consequences– Pictures from Facebook were used to cite violators of university alcohol

policy at North Carolina State University http://web.archive.org/web/20051031084848/http://www.wral.com/news/5204275/detail.html

– Murder suspect Dwayne Stancill of Oakland California was identified through a gangs MySpace web page http://mashable.com/2007/10/25/murder-suspect-caught-through-myspace/

• Higher risk of being robbed– Recent new article states that burglars use Twitter, MySpace and other

sites to case homes http://maribyrnong-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/burglars-use-facebook-twitter-to-target-empty-homes

Inappropriate Use of Electronic Communication

• Don’t assume text message and emails are private communication– Assume anything sent through these methods is permanent– Software can be installed on phones that alert a third party to

content being sent and received on the phone including photos and text messages http://www.icarecoalition.org/parentalcontrols.asp

• Most employers use software to monitor email and internet activity

• Chris Brown Rihanna incident started over a text message from another woman http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1625680/20091106/rihanna.jhtml

• UNM recently published email strings from the Locksley scandal www.kob.com

Text Messaging

• Sexting is sending nude pictures via text message– 20% of teenagers admit to engaging in sexting

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1390743/sexting_teens_charged_with_child_pornography.html

• Messages can be forwarded to unintended recipients

• Could be embarrassing if pictures were seen by unintended parties

• 6 Pennsylvania teenagers charged with child pornography as a result of sexting http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1390743/sexting_teens_charged_with_child_pornography.html

Online Information Protection

• Transition from high school to adult lives involves greater use of online accounts– Financial Information– Registering for College– Job Applications– Shopping

Password Selection

• Complex passwords are harder to crack– Include capital and lowercase letters– Include numbers– Include special characters

• Change passwords regularly

• Don’t share passwords with ANYONE

• Use different passwords for different accounts

Password Strength

• Most commonly used password: “password”– How long would it take to crack this 8 character

password that only uses lower case letters?• Approximately 348 minutes http://www.lockdown.co.uk/?pg=combi

• A better alternative: “P@ssw0rd”– How long would it take to crack this 8 character

password that uses lower and upper case letters, numbers, and special symbols?

• Approximately 23 years http://www.lockdown.co.uk/?pg=combi

Hacker Techniques

• Phishing– Emails asking you to verify account or personal

information for security• Banks and financial institutions will never ask you to

do this over the internet

– Social networking messages• Is that really you in this video?

– Text Messages• Your account has been compromised. Please call

(999)999-9999

Hacker Techniques

• Social Engineering– People can probe you for information that can

lead to your security being compromised• Be careful what information you give out to whom

– Mothers maiden name?– Where you were born?– What was your favorite pets name?

– Retrieving information from social networking profiles

Hacker Techniques

• Dictionary Attacks– Programs that check passwords against

commonly used passwords

• Spyware and Viruses– Programs that are installed on you computer

without your knowledge• Monitor keystrokes• Track internet activity• Compromise, corrupt, or destroy data

Computer and Document Protection

• Threats to your computer– Theft– Hardware Failure– Data Corruption– Virus/Spyware– User Access Controls

How to Protect your Computer

• Use and frequently update antivirus software

• Install software updates when they become available

• Only install reputable and licensed software

• Check the source of emails before downloading attachments

• Don’t follow links in emails. Instead use you internet browser to navigate to the site

• http://www.mgt.unm.edu/technology/security.asp

How to Protect your Computer• Avoid questionable websites

• Require password protection when starting computer

• Use Strong Passwords

• Lock the screen or logout when you walk away from your computer

• Don’t leave your computer unattended in public places

• Back up important files on external media• http://www.mgt.unm.edu/technology/security.asp

Best Practices

• Always use virus software on your PC• Don’t assume electronic communication is private• Use strong passwords and change them regularly• Don’t share your passwords• Use discretion on social networking sites• Be cautious when making purchases online• Only visit reputable websites • Back up important data in a second location• Don’t give out unnecessary personal information

Questions?