Like Facebook, VKontakte is a godsend for busybodies who enjoy snooping on other people’s lives. Therefore, protecting your account from prying eyes is vital. The names and locations of specific options may vary, but the general principles do not change. So that’s what we’ll take a look at. The basic recommendations are basically the same as for Facebook: enable two-factor authentication and do not add random people as friends.
With that in mind, let’s go for a rummage in the settings.
Profile type
Your profile contains personal data that you don’t want just anyone to be able to see? Then make your profile private, so only friends can view it.
Your page
Content from your page can appear in search results online. If you don’t want this, restrict access to your profile only to VKontakte users.
Concerned about unpleasant or overly explicit posts on your page? Decide who you want to let write on your wall and comment on your posts. At the same time, you can specify who can see other people’s posts and comments: from the democratic Everyone to the paranoid Only Me.
Photos and location
More photos = more popular? Yes, but also more privacy risks — especially if they are geotagged.
We recommend making location tags (including for photos in which you’ve been tagged by someone else) visible either to friends or only to you. It’s also worth setting who can see your saved photos and pictures with you tagged.
If using a mobile app, deny it access to location data.
Your gifts and voice recordings
Sure, not the most top-secret information, but still someone could extract something from it if they so wished. For example, find out your tastes, then send ads. There’s nothing to be lost by hiding it all from prying eyes.
Your friends and groups
Don’t fancy revealing that you’re friends with some person or a member of some group? Remove everything you don’t want the world to see from the list of visible friends and groups.
We also advise restricting the list of people able to invite you to join communities or try out apps so as to avoid being buried in spam from die-hard social game players who earn in-game currency through refer-a-friend promotions.
Who can contact you
Third parties, such as online stores where you bought stuff, can find your account by your phone number. Prefer not to see their promotional messages? Disable the continuous contacts upload feature in the settings. And block companies from sending messages to your phone number.
Two-factor authentication
To safeguard your account against hacking, use two-factor authentication. And in case your phone is ever unavailable, create backup codes. Just take care not to lose the piece of paper you write them down on!
Double check
After configuring everything, check the result. VKontakte allows you to view your page as seen by outsiders or friends. Better that you spot something amiss and correct it now than let others catch sight of it.
How do you make your VKontakte profile visible only to friends?