Featured article by Amy Fischer
One of the most prevalent cybercrimes is hacking social media accounts. This can leave both businesses and individuals in a frustrating and stressful situation.
For businesses, it usually means that the hard work they did over time to, say, gain TikTok followers and grow their brand and profits may go to waste. They may have to create account from scratch, which is akin to lost revenue.
Individuals may be left vulnerable since all their personal and confidential information is handed over to cyber perpetrators, who can misuse it for defamation, identity theft, or scamming.
Hence, we have jotted down five ways to secure your social media accounts against hackers. Keep reading this article to learn!
1. Create Strong Passwords
Creating easy-to-guess and short passwords for your social media accounts leaves you vulnerable to cybercriminals. You simply become an easy target to them. Moreover, you should never set up passwords related to your date of birth or your pet’s name.
It’s recommended to keep your passwords 12 to 16 characters long with a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers. In addition, you should set a unique password for every social media site. Otherwise, hacking one account will set off a chain reaction, and you will lose other accounts too.
2. Set Up Two-Factor Authentication
Most social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram offer two-factor authentication to provide an additional layer of protection to your accounts in case a hacker cracks your password.
Even if a hacker guesses your social media account’s password, having two-factor authentication activated will send a PIN code to your phone number or ask a security question to finally gain access to your account. Therefore, you should enable two-factor authentication through your account settings and save yourself from trouble down the road.
3. Be Careful With Public Wi-Fi Networks
You should be extra cautious when using public Wi-Fi since they aren’t secure. It’s even better not to use them at all. However, if you have no other option, you should use a VPN to mask your IP address and make it almost impossible for cybercriminals to hack your social media accounts.
Hackers sometimes fake the network’s name to lure you into connecting with it and hack your phone/laptop. For example, if you’re sitting near McDonald’s, a hacker might use a fake name like “McDonald’s guests” to trick you.
4. Install Antivirus Software
It’s better to be safe than sorry. Therefore, you should prevent your social media accounts from getting hacked in the first place by installing efficient and robust antivirus software.
This way, you won’t have to constantly fret about viruses entering your system and leaving you vulnerable to cyber perpetrators. Antivirus software will keep scanning your computer or phone regularly and recommend that you take appropriate action to keep you safe.
5. Give Access to Your Account to People You Know
You may feel an urge to boost the number of friends on Facebook or followers on Instagram just to feel extra special. However, blindly accepting every friend/follower request will pose a greater risk to you of getting hacked.
Make sure you 100% know the person you’re adding. Their bio, profile picture, and follower-to-following ratio can tell if an account is legitimate. Otherwise, by accepting random friend or follow requests, you will pave the way for hackers to steal your personal information and use it against you.
