How safe is Orkut, or for that matter, any other socializing website?

The latest “in” thing at MS in the present date is Web 2.0, Web 2.0 and… well, Web 2.0!! This morning I was pondering over the ways in which this technology has become such an inevitable part of our lives that we don’t even realize we are a part of it. Take Orkut for example. It is the rage these days, especially among the young crowd. No doubt it has shrunk thousands of miles between loved ones, be it across the seven seas, but somehow today, the only thing that is flashing across my mind’s eye is the stories revolving around murders and conspiracies ignited by Orkut that were on TV some time back.

As an Orkut user, I want to know the do’s and don’ts of it. And I’m sure numerous others like me are concerned all over the world. So, here’s an attempt at answering my own question in the comment posted to the article below.

The Crime Scene

Orkut is a highly popular socializing portal today. Naturally, it has gradually become a target for anti-social entities in the like of hackers, spammers and freaks. The current scenario is such that the number of cases of information theft, cloned and fake profiles is on the rise.

To save ourselves from being ignorant victims, there are certain things we should know.

Orkut is offering an array of functionalities:

• Personal Profile wherein a part of information can be made public or kept private.
• Profile Photo which is viewable by public.
• Photo Album which is viewable by public.
• Scrapbook with messages written by others for you. This is viewable to public.
• Testimonials which your friends write for you. This is also readable to public.
• Friends’ network which are available to public.
• Communities which are also available to public.

Orkut doesn’t offer:

• Protection of your profile from anonymous visitors.
• Protection of your scrapbook from anonymous visitors and scraps.
• Protection of your photographs from anonymous viewing/ downloading.
• Protection of your friends’ network and communities from anonymous visitors.

In a nutshell, your openly available personal information provides ample scope of misuse by others.

What attackers can do?

• Phone numbers can be misused for a number of purposes.
• Email ids can be hacked or spammed.
• Photographs can be misused.
• Personal data can be used to clone profiles.

Tips on protecting yourself from being a victim:

• Do not write your personal phone numbers anywhere on Orkut.
• If you have to send your personal details like phone numbers and email ids, use messages (these are personal) instead of scraps.
• Do not upload personal photographs in the album.
• If you have to upload your photos, use photos that have a long shot instead of close-ups.
• Never ever put your passport size photo as it can be easily forged.
• Be careful while adding a stranger to your friends’ network.
• Accept testimonials from people you know in real life.
• Go through a testimonial carefully before approving it.
• You can even delete a testimonial after having accepted it.
• Keep deleting scraps from your scrapbook that have personal information about you or your friends.
• Join a community only if you need it.
• Do not run after increasing the number of friends in your list or the number of scraps in your scrapbook. More the number, more insecure you are.
• Do not provide your pin code to public. It is very easy to locate you from this information.
• Never discuss intimate details about your family and friends anywhere on Orkut.

Always Remember: Technology per se is not good or bad, it is users themselves who make it so.