Written by:
11/4/2010 9:36 AM 

I recently took a seminar called “Simple Self Defense for Women” with some friends and co-workers.  Instead of teaching me ways to fight off an attacker, it taught me four distinct ways to break someone's hold on me, and three bonus ways to get some distance if I forgot the first four in the heat of the moment.  As I looked around the room at the women who attended with me, I had an odd realization.

These same women—the ones who, at the end of class shelled out $20 apiece for a pink can of pepper spray—are the same ones who I have been warning over and over about cyber security—to no avail.  

The Huffington Post recently published an article titled “13 Things You Shouldn’t Tell Your Facebook Friends.” Why ever not, you ask? Why have friends if I can’t divulge my secrets, my heart-felt desires, my birthday, home address, kids’ names, and most embarrassing moments??

Simple: because many of us have Facebook “friends” who aren’t friends at all and, at worse, may be dangerous people who would want to take advantage of this information.

We take heed when we're told to be aware of our physical surroundings and the people who come near us.  We don't leave our purses on the front seats of our cars as we run in the grab some groceries.  We don't walk alone to our cars in dark parking lots.  We lock our doors.  We carry pepper spray.  Clearly, we are concerned with our safety.  We are not reckless, we are not flirting with disaster. 

But these same women that care so much about personal safety that they will give up a Saturday morning to take a course in it are the same women that share their password with whomever asks for it and who think nothing of posting personal information on their publicly accessible Facebook pages.  The same ones that don't lock or log out of their computers when they are away from their desks for a measurable time. And it isn't just women. 

Serial killings and child abductions have given us all a healthy dose of 'leery:’ not exactly paranoia (not everyone, anyway), but an innate awareness of possible dangers.  But how many cybercrimes will we have to witness before our instinct for self-preservation spills over into that realm?

Believe me, it is much easier to take precautions before a cyber attack happens than it is to try to repair the damage after.

To see the full list of 13 Don’ts, click here: http://tinyurl.com/255ajk8

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