Facebook is an extremely popular social networking website with more than 500 million active users of different age groups. Your account may have been hacked if you see unusual activity in your account. This may mean posts that you never made, messages you did not send and stuff like that. In some cases, you may not be able to log into your account. Getting hacked is really like letting a cyberspace mugger to steal your personal identity, and destroy your credit by committing fraud in your name. By hacking your account someone can make use of your identity not only in petty theft but even to state-sponsored terrorism. So here is everything you need to know about hacked facebook account :
How your facebook account gets hacked:
1.Email address hack :
Do you know your facebook account can be easily hacked by a hacker because all he needs to know is just your name!!! If someone types your name your email id will be appearing immediately,This way anyone can get all the information associated with your email id.
2.Phishing:
Phishing is the way a hacker most commonly use for tricking users.This is mostly done in following ways-
He designs a web page that is very similar to the facebook homepage, Now the hackers asks someone to login into the fake page.
Once victim logs in, Hacker stores all the credentials.Hackers can even send you fake emails notifying you that someone of your friends have tagged you on Facebook in the same format as Facebook and giving a link below to the phishing website and this case of hacking is very difficult to detect.
Even spam facebook apps or facebook look-alike widgets are used to steal the credentials of a facebook user.
3.Social Engineering:
Do you get to see a screen specifying that you need to allow it permission when you install a facebook game or add any app? It can be a trick to fool you into making yourself vulnerable to exploits. This way a hacker collects maximum information about the victim like his birthdate, pet’s name, anniversaries etc to find possible combinations of passwords that the victim might make.
4.keylogging:
Keylogging is a kind of computer virus , through this, a hacker can track the keystrokes and can record all the activity going inside the victim’s computer.
Preventing your account from getting hacked:
- Prevent your account from phishing attack:
Make sure your browsing activity within Facebook is safe, For that just turn on the Secure browsing option.This will automatically prevent all external applications that are integrated with Facebook from accessing your personal information without your knowledge or approval.
To activate secure browsing just follow these simple steps :
click on the drop down menu from the top right corner of your Facebook account and go to Account Settings.
Select Security from the left menu.
At the Secure Browsing section, click on the Edit link at the right.
The option panel will appear, ‘check’ the box Browse Facebook on a secure connection then click on the Save Changes button.
There are other factors you must be careful to,
1. Never click on suspicious links even if it came from your friends.
2. If you receive a link, always take the extra step of asking your friend what the link is to confirm that they had sent it.
3. Usually,these links are ‘sent’ without the sender’s knowledge. This includes all links that appear in your Facebook Chat, Messages, friend’s status post or even from your email.
4. Messages asking for your personal information such as your credit card info, driver’s license, social insurance, number, date of birth, etc.
5.Always double check the address in the URL. Make sure it is https://www.facebook.com/ and not https://www.facebookie.com/ or https://www.facetbook.com/
Use Google Chrome browser as Chrome can detect phishing pages.
Use antivirus in your computer.
Never click on links given by strangers or untrustworthy sources.
2.Prevent you account from getting hacked by email:
Use strong password for the mail account that acts as the primary mail for your Facebook account:
1. Always create a long and complicated password, Keep in mind the more your password is difficult to guess ,the less are the chances for you of getting hacked.
2. Always avoid common things from including in your password like- your name,Pet’s name,birthdate etc.
3. A strong password will be at least 8 characters in length and should contain at least one of each of the following characters: lower-case letters, upper-case letters, numbers, and special characters.
To find more about email account safety just go through this blog > https://techyuga.com/gmail-security-tips/ You may find it very usefull for the security of your account.
4.Enable the 2 Step Verification process for your account:
Adding your number in your account is very useful as confirming your mobile number enhances the security of your facebook account.
To add your mobile number, go to Account Settings > Mobile and click on Add a Phone.
Select your country and set the mobile carrier before clicking Next.
This way your mobile phone can get registered with Facebook, The advantage is even when you lose or forget your password, Facebook will be able to send you a new one via SMS.
3.Prevent social engineering attack:
There should be different and unique password for each website you use.
Don’t use same password with different number combination (eg., password1, password2 …
Again Never use personal information to form your passwords.
Always try to use pass phrases instead of passwords.
If you are running out of password ideas you can also use online code(password) generator apps.
To remember all your passwords there are many good password managers available that will encrypt and safely store your passwords.
Change your passwords once in every four months.
4.Prevent from keylogging :
Avoid using the “remember password” feature on web browsers.
When you are not using your own computer. When the “remember password” prompt comes up and you are not at your own computer, click on the “not now” button.
set a master password for your browser.
ensure that a master password is in effect by checking your browser preferences.
Remove previous sessions:
Facebook lets you store your previous active sessions, where you login from, and what devices you used to access your Facebook account but it is important to disconnect previous session
Now to make sure your account is safe, from the Account Settings > Security page, look for ‘Active Sessions‘ and click on Edit.
here all previous sessions will be listed, together with the current active session, Click on the link ‘End Activity‘ to kill the activities from other devices.
Set up Login Alerts.
Login Alerts send you an alert when someone logs into your account from a new device or browser.
You can choose to get login alerts via Facebook notifications, email, or text messages.
To activate these alerts, click on “Edit” to the right of “Login Alerts,” choose where you want the alerts sent (you’ll need your mobile phone number for text alerts), and click on “Save Changes.
Activate Login Approvals:
Login Approvals gives your account an extra level of security by requesting a security code when you log in from an unknown browser.
To set up Login Approvals, click on the word “Edit” to the right of “Login Approvals,” then click on “Get Started” to begin the setup wizard.
The most common way to access login codes is through your phone — either by text message or the Facebook app.
If you anticipate that you might need login codes when you do not have your phone nearby, you can get 10 codes ahead of time from Facebook.
To do this, open the “Login Approvals” section, click on “Get codes,” enter your Facebook password, and click “Submit.”
3.Choose Trusted Contacts:
Your “Trusted Contacts” are friends that Facebook enables to securely help you if you ever have trouble accessing your account.
To add Trusted Contacts, click on “Edit” to the right of “Trusted Contacts,”
Then click on the words “Choose trusted contacts” (in blue).
This will open a new window. Click on the “Choose Trusted Contacts” button to continue,
Enter your Facebook friends’ names into the text box, and hit “Confirm.”
This will open a new window. Click on the “Choose Trusted Contacts” button to continue, enter your Facebook friends’ names into the text box, and hit “Confirm.”
Review Your Browsers and Apps.
Click on “Edit” to the right of “Your Browsers and Apps” to see which browsers you have saved as ones that you often use.
If you see something on that list that doesn’t belong, click “Remove,” then “Save Changes.”
See Where You’re Logged In:
Click on “Edit” to the right of “See Where You’re Logged In” to view all of the sessions that you are currently logged into. You should see apps (eg., Facebook for desktop, Messenger, Facebook for iPhone), access dates, and locations. If you see anything that doesn’t make sense, click on “End Activity” to the right of the session.
If you’ve had a security scare, consider clicking on “End All Activity” (at the top of the “See Where You’re Logged In” window) just to be extra safe.
This is also a great option if you’re unsure of whether you logged out after using Facebook on someone else’s computer. To end your session, simply access your Security Settings, and select See Where You’re Logged In, then scroll to the session in question and click on “End Activity” to close it remotely.
Enable private browsing :
Another way to prevent another person from accessing your account is by activating the ‘Private Browsing’ option from your browsers.
1.Safari: If you are using the Safari Browser on Mac, activate Private Browsing from the menu with Safari > Private Browsing.
2.Firefox : For Firefox, go to Tools > Start Private Browsing.
3.Chrome: If you are using Chrome, there’s an option to browse using the Incognito window, it’s a version of Chrome window where all browsing activity will not be logged .To open this window, go to File > New Incognito Window.
There are few more things you have to check regularly while using your account
Do not accept friend requests from unknown people : The person sending you request can be a scammer.
Limit who can see your posts by adjusting your privacy setting
Be careful about the posts you are sharing in public.
Review your account purchases regularly.
Always report spam and suspicious content.
Log out each time you close your facebook account.
Hacked facebook account? Things to do immediately.
Here what you should be doing :
First detect hacking: If a hacker managed to get into your account it will be listed under > Home (top right corner) > Account Settings > Security > Active Sessions (click edit). Here you can end the activity of suspicious sessions.
1.Change Your Password
In many cases during hacking password gets changed you should update your password. Be sure to end any suspicious active sessions first,
Then go to > Home > Account Settings > General and click > Password to confirm your current password and then enter a new password.
Reset Password :
To reset your password there is a > Forgot your password? link underneath the Facebook login. You can either enter the email address you registered to Facebook with or any other secondary email address you added, as well as your phone number and username.
Report compromised account:
If your account wasn’t simply hacked, but is sending out ads and spam to your friends, you must report it as compromised.
Remove suspicious links:
To remove suspicious applications, go to > Home >Account Settings > Apps and go through the list. Click the > X next to any application you wish to remove or click > Edit to change what the app can do.
The damage control
just in case the hacker has abused or currently is abusing your account. If you presently can’t access your account, contact your Facebook friends through other social networks, by email, or have a mutual friend inform them via Facebook.Inform them that your account was hacked.
Never open your Facebook account from other computers.
Make sure you have a good anti-virus software set up in your system.
Think twice before downloading free softwares.
Scan pen drives before using.
Now Read:
13 AWESOME FACEBOOK TIPS YOU SHOULD KNOW (2016)
