Imagine what it would feel like to be controlled by some unknown force that makes you do stuff you naturally wouldn’t do. It sounds terrifying, right? Well that’s exactly how it feels when you have your social media account hacked, and some faceless troll uses it to post horrible stuff you normally wouldn’t post.
If you’ve always been afraid of this happening to you, you don’t have to anymore; here are four tips to secure your social media account from being hacked.
Safeguard your email accounts
Any mails you receive from unknown sources with links that require you filling in sensitive information like means of identification and passwords should be ignored. Hackers have always used this method of disguising mails to look like they come from a friend or work colleague to gain access to your information which can also be used to hack your other accounts. To safeguard your email accounts you, have to follow up on the security updates sent to your mailbox.
An important step for creating most social media accounts is providing your email address which is then linked to your account. This shows how important your email account is, and making sure it is secured at all times also secures your social media accounts.
Create separate unique and strong passwords
Making use of weak passwords, anyone can easily guess opens your account to the danger of being hacked. The best thing to do is create a password with at least eight characters, which has a good mix of uppercase letters, lowercase letters as well as symbols and numbers. You might think it’s easier to use the same password for all your accounts; don’t do it. It’s a very bad idea because if the password to one account is compromised, then all your accounts are compromised. Take the time to create unique separate passwords for each account.
Most times passwords are created so you can easily remember them, and less attention is paid to making it as strong as an impenetrable wall guarding something of value. To avoid the pain of having your online identity hijacked you have to use stronger passwords, and never forget to avoid re-using the same passwords for other accounts.
Set up two-factor authentication
Setting up face recognition or finger print as another means of authentication apart from the usual email, username, passwords, and secret question gives you a second line of defence in case any hacker is successful in breaching the security of your accounts.
Two-factor authentication is very effective in safeguarding your account because it requires you to provide more evidence of being the owner of an account before you can gain access to the account. It is not a guarantee that you will never be hacked but it increases the safety of your account by a huge margin.
Use antivirus applications
Install antivirus applications that can easily scan your social media timeline for unsafe and malicious links and warn you of their potential threats before opening them. An example of such applications is Norton Safe Web for Facebook which scans your newsfeed for links which can be used to hack into your account.
Social media platforms like twitter, instagram, Facebook, snapchat, among many others, are used by so many people to share information, opinions on trending issues, as well as personal experiences through pictures, and videos; it is a hub where each account is an extension of the users’ personality so the security of these accounts should be a priority for each user.
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