How to Prevent Your Social Media Account from Being Hacked

If you've ever noticed any strange activities on your social media account such as unknown posts, messages or notifications? If so, then you may have been hacked. A small hack of your social media account may result in some embarrassing posts or photos that you disagree with but are primarily a joke. However, large attacks can be serious, potentially leading to the theft of personal and financial information or even identity theft.

Being hacked is a huge inconvenience. Although changing your password frequently may help protecting your account, it's often still not enough. There are more steps that you should be taking to ensure you regain full control of your accounts and prevent them from being hacked again. Luckily, this article will explain what to do if you do and how to recognize when your social media account has been hacked and how to prevent your account from being hacked in the future.

HOW DO I KNOW IF I'VE BEEN HACKED

It's not always obvious that you've been hacked right away, sometimes you may not be aware anything is wrong with your account until a friend contacts you about strange activity on your account. In more sophisticated instances, you may not notice anything at all.

There are some common giveaway signs that your social media account is being hacked:

• You get a notification stating that you've made changes to your account.
• You receive a notification stating that you've logged in from a different device.
• You've send or received messages that you were unaware of.
• You've made purchases using your account.
• You've friended/unfriended/followed/unfollowed anyone you don't know.

WHAT ARE THE RISKS OF BEING HACKED?

When one of your social media accounts gets hacked, they have gained access to everything on that account; personal, financial and login information included. You must recognize and assume that because they have access to one account, they may have accessed your other social media accounts. It is common for individuals to use the same email and password for each account due to laziness and the inability to remember multiple passwords.

Your social media accounts may also be linked to others in a web of ultimate accessibility. For example, your Facebook is connected to your Instagram and your Instagram is linked to your Snapchat resulting in an overabundance of information for the hacker to steal. By knowing this information, a thief can determine where you live, work and when you are most vulnerable.

Not only is your account information and passwords at risk, so are your finances. Any purchases you made using your account can be accessed and taken by the hacker. So the next time you want to purchase $60 worth of carrots on FarmVille, consider what can happen.

HOW TO PRETECT YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS?

• Practice secure password hygiene.
• Use multi-factor authentication or Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) where available.
• Close accounts that you no longer use.
• Try using a separate email account for your social media accounts to separate personal data exposure.