Yet another reason to be cautious on Facebook

This is a post that will hopefully make you think twice about what type of information you divulge about your online self.

Facebook is a cool website that lets you keep in touch with friends, both new and old. I enjoy talking with friends who I haven't heard from in years. But there are some things that my friends (those to whom I talk regularly and the other ones that I don't really know too well) don't need to know. I'm talking about privacy and personal information and what can be learned about just about anybody out there.

Facebook likes you to take surveys to see how many people know 43 things about you.
What is my mother's maiden name
What street did I grow up on
What is my shoe size
What color are my eyes
What was my high school mascot
What is the name of my favorite pet

Now, exactly why should I care if my friends know these things about me? Should I lose sleep if you don't know that my favorite food is Turkish Bulgarian, or that my dream job is to be an underwater basket weaver in the Arabian Sea?

Take a look at the above questions. What's interesting is the similarity between these questions and the ones you'll find on your bank's website when it asks you to create a security question. If you forgot your bank's password, just tell us the name of your favorite movie and we'll let you reset your password and log right in.

So, what you're saying is, if one of my Facebook friends knows that I have all my money at the Bank of New Zealand, they can use the information from my Facebook profile to try and login to my bank account. Not sure what my password is? It doesn't matter because you can look at my Facebook profile and guess what the answers are to my security questions and gain access to my personal bank accounts.

Pretty scaringly slick. Not everybody is as nice as you think they are.

Need a hundred bucks? Just tell me how many kids in your family wear blue jeans, and I'll upload the money to your Facebook account.