This content was created by Robert Siciliano. This content was uploaded by Robert Siciliano. This is a YouTube news segment titled "Burglars Use Social Media to Rob Homes" (posted Nov 10, 2015) featuring Fox 25 reporter John Monaghan and security expert Robert Siciliano. The clip explains how burglars use social media and tools like Google Street View to select targets (citing a survey of ex-burglars with stats such as 78% using social media, 74% using Google Street View, 54% noting location/status risk) and offers practical safety tips (disable GPS/location tags on photos, avoid posting in real time, wait until you return from vacation to share photos).
Chapters
Where we are, what we're doing, a lot of us are posting it on social media.
Ah, but thieves are keeping close watch, and there are ways to keep yourself from becoming a target. Our John Monaghan is here to share them. John?
Well, we all do it. Posting on social media is now part of nearly everything we do, but that information can be an open invitation to burglars who also use social media to plan housebreaks. Social media. We post vacation pictures, say where we are and where we aren't, all of it available to anyone.
Today, for whatever reason, we have thousands of friends that we don't even know who they are, and those friends could easily be our enemies.
If you're going on vacation, a big mistake many people make is posting pictures of their trip online, alerting thieves your way. And that's only the tip of the iceberg. A new study now shows that thieves are using social media to an astonishing rate. To select their next target.
They can derive as much information as they need to commit whatever crime based on our online presence.
The survey of ex-burglars shows 78% of burglars use social media to select targets. 74% touted virtues of Google Street View, and 54% revealed how risky it is for users to post location and status. Robert Siciliano is a security expert. He's showing us social media missteps.
He's showing his hotel room, meaning that he's just not home at all. This guy is headed to work. And he's telling the world, you know, this is how I'm going to work today with his fun hat.
And check out what burglars can learn from Google Maps. This is the back door, right? This neighbor has got a big tree right here. Siciliano says this should be a wake-up call to watch what we post.
There are bad people out there doing bad things, and they can use our own information against us.
Now here are a couple of simple tips to keep burglars at bay. The camera on your phone, turn off the GPS. It tags your location and the time you took the picture. So if you're not home, thieves will know. And posting, it's fine, but try not to do that in real time. Post a day later or when you are home so thieves won't know you're not. I'm John Monaghan, Fox 25 News.
