How To Protect Your Social Media Accounts From Hackers?

How To Protect Your Social Media Accounts From Hackers? Now a days, social media plays a very important role in our life. Social media websites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. are the most commonly and widely used to communicate and share photos and videos around the world. There are over more than 4 billion social media users, and this makes these platforms a perfect place for identity thefts. With extremely vast user database of personal information, it is the sole responsibility of social media company owners to keep these private data safe.

Last year, hundreds of millions of Facebook account passwords were under vulnerability because the tech gaint company Facebook stored the data in their servers unencrypted. All the credentials were stored in plain text which were easily accessible by thousands of in house employees.

Also recently, the twitter account of CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey’s account got hacked and some anonymous and hateful tweets were shared from his account. There are many such cases where tons of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts were hacked and data leaked and those data were sold in dark web.

So now the question arises that How To Protect Your Social Media Accounts From Hackers?

In this article, I’m going to give you some important tips and methods using which you can protect your social media accounts from hacking and make it extremely hard for hackers to hack your personal data present in these platforms.

1. Use Strong Password & Password Manager

Nearly 80% of cyber attacks and account hacking takes place only because of weak or similar password.

People use multiple social media accounts, thus they find it difficult to remember complicated and different passwords. So they use similar or weak password in all of their accounts to remember them easily. And here they make a very big mistake. If anyhow any one of your account gets hacked, then your all other accounts security may be compromised.

If you password is weak, then it becomes very easy for hackers to crack your password simply by doing a brute force attack. Hence make sure to create a unique and strong password for every account you use.

Here’s how to create a strong password:

• Password must contain at least six characters.
• Should be a combination of numbers, symbols, and letters (@, #, $, %, etc.).
• Should have a lowercase and a uppercase.

For example: Pass@21#12%

The more strong the password is, the hard is for the hacker to crack it. Frequently change your password at least once in a month. Always make different passwords for different accounts.

But these type of complicated passwords are very hard to remember.

So what is the solution for this?

The best solution is to write it down in a physical book and keep it in a safe place or use a trusted password manager such as LastPass, Dashlane or any other trusted one.

Also Read: Want To Protect Your Mobile From Hackers, Then Follow These Tips

2. Use Two-Factor Authentication

Using two factor authentication or 2FA is one of the best way to keep your accounts super safe. Also two factor authentication adds an extra layer of security which protects your social media account from hackers.

If someone logs in to your account from a new location, device or browser , then you will get unique time bound PIN or Passcode through text message or call, in your registered mobile number, that needs to entered for logging into your account. That means every time you log in, you will be asked to enter the unique code received.

Many people think that this process is time consuming, but seriously if you are concerned about your account data and privacy, then you need to enable and use this two factor authentication in all of your social media accounts.

3. Don’t Click On Strange Links

There are many cases where people’s social media accounts were hacked upon clicking on some unknown links sent to them in there message box or email.

There is a type of hacking attack called Phishing attack where the hacker sends you a message through chat or email that contains an attachment or a hyperlink. Once you click on that link or open the attachment, then there is a huge chance that your account data and credentials may be compromised.

Also on clicking on those links, you will land on a website or page that will look like an original Facebook login page, and once you entered your username and password, all your important information will be sent to the hacker.

So always be careful when clicking on unknown links and check the message regarding any suspicious behavior.

4.  Always Use Email Instead of Phone Number

If you are using your mobile number as a primary address to log in to your social media accounts, then I would recommend you to use an email to log in instead of phone number.

This is because if however anyone gets access to your mobile number, then he/she can easily manipulate your log in credentials by simply requesting a recovery password by entering your mobile number.

This may happen because not all the time you can protect your mobile phone because smartphones are frequently lost or stolen.

However, if you are using your email as primary login address, then no one can grant your recovery code as he/she needs to log in to your email account, which requires a password.

Also Read: 6 Ways To Make Your Facebook Account More Secure

5. Have a Separate Email for Social Media Accounts

Always try to make a separate email for all of your social media account.

For example, if your social media account got hacked and the hackers tampered with your email. If you are using a separate email for social media, then hackers will not be able to easily access your personal information like banking details, personal email, etc. and hence you will be able to protect these important data.

6. Regularly Check Email For Suspicious Login Attempts

You must have noticed that whenever you are trying to login into your social media account from another location, browser or device, an email is sent to your registered email address about the login attempt.

Also if you are changing your account password or other credentials, then warning message is sent to your email regarding password change. The mail depicts that if you are the person who changed the password, then ignore the mail otherwise take action against it. So, always keep a habit of frequently checking your emails.

Many people ignore emails from twitter, Facebook or other social media accounts thinking that it might be a notification from their friends. But it could be a login attempt by the hacker who is trying to log into your account.

So, next time if you receive any suspicious email or login attempt to your account, change your password as soon as possible.

Thanks For Reading!