What Do I Do If Facebook Gets Hacked ?
Because of all of the information that is contained in our social media profiles, maintaining their privacy is of the utmost importance. Here is what you should do if someone gains unauthorized access to your Facebook account.
There is a widespread prevalence of security breaches and hacking incidents in social media. If you use Facebook or any other social media network, there is an extremely high probability that the security of your personal information has been breached at some point.
Follow the steps below if your Facebook account gets hacked:
Are You Still Able To Log in
Visit the Settings > Security and Login menu if you are still able to log in.
Check the list of the most recent devices you’ve logged in from to see if there are any that are strange. You can also check the dates against each other to determine which of those log-ins did not belong to you.
If something seems fishy, you should click the button labeled Log Out of All Sessions.
Report To Facebook
If you are unable to log in, it indicates that the hacker changed your password, which indicates that they may have had malicious intent.
Even if you are unable to access your own Facebook account, you are still able to inform Facebook that it has been hacked by using the URL https://www.facebook.com/hacked/.
You will be asked to enter the phone number or email address that you used when you initially opened the account.
Facebook will assist you in regaining access to your account if you provide it with these details. Facebook will also inquire as to the manner in which you believe your account was compromised.
Facebook will “walk” you through the suggested security measures after analyzing your response and making recommendations.
Change Your Password
You will be reminded to do so by the Facebook Reporting tool; however, even if the hack is harmless, it is best to change your password just to be safe.
Log Out of All Sessions
After your password has been changed, you should probably log out of any active sessions, even if you haven’t done so already, because it’s probably a good idea. Any application in which you “logged in via Facebook” puts you at an increased risk.
Check Your Facebook Permissions
This holds true in either scenario, regardless of whether or not your passwords were altered behind your back without your permission. Visit the relevant apps to check on the people who have access to your account. You should disable the access to any applications that you are unsure of or that you are no longer using. You can find them by going to Settings and selecting Apps and Websites from the menu.
After you have deleted the apps, search through your timeline to find any posts that the apps had published on your behalf before they were deleted. You are free to delete them, but only if doing so causes you discomfort. It’s possible that the apps still have the data that they gathered in the past, but they won’t be able to get any more information from your account.
Secure Your LogIn Access
Facebook has recently implemented a feature called two-factor authentication. A code will be sent to your mobile phone whenever someone logs in to confirm that it was you who did so. However, this strategy will only be successful if the hacker does not also possess your mobile device. Facebook gives users the option to designate a friend on the social networking service to act as their proxy when requesting an authentication code.
Simply navigate to Setting > Security and Login > Two-Factor Authentication in order to turn on the two-step verification process. You also have the option of performing a security check. It will sign you out of all of your browsers simultaneously. Additionally, it will let you know if anyone logs in from a phone or computer that Facebook is unfamiliar with.
Let Your Friends and Family Know
You should definitely let your friends and followers know that your account was hacked. It’s possible that the hacker made use of their time in your account to communicate with your friends on Facebook. It’s possible that they pretended to be you in order to get personal information, passwords, or even cash from you.
This may sound far-fetched, but there have been documented instances of someone searching through your friends’ list for “dad, mom, spouse,” then messaging those people with something along the lines of “I forgot the bank PIN, LOL, please text me?” Or you could say, “I can’t find my wallet; I need money for a cab.”
Worse yet, the hacker may have used your account as a springboard to hack other people’s accounts by, for example, sending a phishing link in a private message to the victim, which infected their device. Warn them not to click on any links that “you” sent while you were being hacked and that they received from you. Encourage them to take precautions to protect their accounts as well.
Review Your Privacy Settings
It’s likely that you haven’t gone back and checked your privacy settings since you initially configured them. Reviewing the manner in which your data is being shared and the degree to which your information is available online is more important than ever before.
Try Stay Safe on Facebook
Because we are so accustomed to using social media, we rarely stop to consider the words that we type. The actions we take and the information we reveal can frequently put us in danger, and not just from cybercriminals but also from people who follow us in real life. Review the settings on your Facebook account to make it a little bit more difficult for other people to target you.
Before you go ahead and hit the Post button, give it some serious thought and make sure you aren’t accidentally creating a target on the back of that selfie. To continue on the subject of selfies, make sure the location stamp in the camera app on your phone is turned off unless you are running an influencer campaign! It is not worth risking your safety in order to earn bragging rights.