Don’t Answer those Facebook Games!!

Have you been browsing Facebook and come across one of those 20 question games answering all types of random questions? Have you seen the recent post your graduation photo? It is very easy to get sucked into replying as they are meant to be fun, and it can be fun to see your friend’s answers. However, resist all temptation to play along and move on! Think about websites you create login accounts like your bank, credit card, along with a number of other websites. Take a moment and remember some of the information you had to enter especially for password recovery options. Oftentimes you answer pre-selected questions that involve what was your high school mascot, who was your best friend growing up, along with many other similar questions. Now think of these Facebook games you see posted and how much of that information could people wanting to hack user accounts use from those games.

Many of these Facebook games are created by nefarious groups looking to collect as much information as possible. Combine two to three of those question posts and include a photo and you would be amazed how much they will know about you. SO I beg of you, skip these games and do not share these games. Let others know they need to skip these games. If you want to do something like that on your own then do it privately with your friends and family!

Now that is out of the way what should you do when creating an account and one of those questions is asked of you? First of all, use a password manager like LastPass, 1Password, Dashlane, or any of the others that are out there and set a really good password. When you have to select pre-created questions like what was your college mascot be creative and take advantage of your password managers. Most of the better password managers offer a notes section where you can create notes. When answering these questions use your password manager to create a unique password for each answer and then save them to a note. An example would be your bank account. First, create a great password and save it to your password manager then if they ask you to answer these pre-created questions, create a unique password for each answer and save them to a note for that site. That way if someone from one of these games is able to get a number of these generic question answers when they try to use them to recover a password to your account, there is no way any of the answers will work since created unique passwords for each answer.

Lastly, if a website allows two-factor authentication download an app called Authy and use that for your two-factor authentication. This will cover you on all fronts so your accounts will be as secure as possible. To finish, please do not play those Facebook games, they are fun, but created to be nefarious!