What I mean by getting too comfortable is in regards to being online.  We tend to stay in our own little cyber world if you will.  We find our friends and pretty much stay inside that circle forgetting that those outside that circle can still see what we share with our closest online friends via twitter, facebook or any other means of social media.

I see it all the time, people stating what they are doing and where they are, if they are out of town or at home alone with a spouse out of town.  It just gives me chills every time I read those messages.  Call me paranoid but there are just too many people lurking online just watching for info and sadly it’s just too easy to find.  People fall victim to cyber crimes all the time. Children get lured into situations they shouldn’t, people fall victim to emails all the time.  It just takes one time, one second of putting our guard down and it could be at that very second we become to comfortable and slip up and become a victim.

I try and catch TheOnlineMom weekly twitter chat and a lot of the discussions revolve around internet security (not just for our computers but for our family and financial safety) and some of the facts that get shared are actually a little scary to think about.  Last night it was mentioned that conferences held by cyber-criminals take place.  You wouldn’t normally think cyber-criminal conferences would be allowed to take place but I guess they are.  People use info about shared travel plans to commit crimes.  Keep things like that in mind when posting on social networking sites.  Don’t set yourself up.  I fell victim to a cyber crime once and I guess since then I’ve just been a little more paranoid so while it was a bad thing maybe the entire situation actually made me more aware now which is a good thing.