Facebook is still not the biggest threat to online privacy–you are. A study by Consumer Reports illustrates that users are really their own worst enemy when it comes to online privacy.
An estimated 5.4 million online consumers submitted personal information to e-mail (phishing) scammers during the past two years.
Among adult social network users, 38 percent had posted their full birth date, including year. Forty-five percent of those with children had posted their children’s photos. And 8% had posted their own street address.
More importantly, users should be educated to raise awareness that seemingly innocuous information shared on the Web can still compromise security. For example, if you post on Facebook that you’re astrology sign is Virgo, then you send out a Tweet about how you were born the same year that JFK was assassinated, then share a comment online that 28 is your lucky number because it’s the date of your birthday, it is possible to combine all of those tidbits and derive that your birth date is August 28, 1963.