An approach is provided in which a risk assessment is performed that accesses the risk to a user of an information handling system due to the user's link to a social network contact. Risky action values is received with the values corresponding to the social network contact. A risk level is calculated with the risk level corresponding to one or more of the risky action values. A preventative security action is then performed based on the calculated risk level. In another embodiment, an approach is provided in which the potential risks posed by a user are transmitted to the user's social network contacts. In this approach, potentially risky actions that are performed by the user are detected. Risky action values are identified that correspond to the detected potentially risky actions. The risky action values are then transmitted to the user's social network contacts over a computer network.