How To Prevent Social Media Account Hacking

In the world of marketing, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media sites have been a crucial part of our daily lives as well as our careers. Social media has been an effective marketing tool lately, however since our private information is linked to these sites, we must be careful.

I’ve listed below some social media tips to help protect you and your family from being victims of cyber-crime:

Learn how to use the privacy and security settings

Always maximise the use the privacy and security settings on social media. They are there to help you monitor who can gain access to see or react to your posts.

Everything you post stays on the internet

What you post on social media stay online. Think really hard before saying anything or post pictures you wouldn’t want your clients, parents or future employers to see. Do you know that in this digital age, job recruiters or prospective clients reject candidates based on online information?

Keep your online image and reputation spotless

Keep in mind that recruiters respond to a positive personal online image. Be smart, be thoughtful and be cautious when posting online

Beware of cyberbullying

If someone posts something about you that makes you that you feel violated, confront them about it. Don’t let yourself be cyberbullied. Nowadays, even your reputation may be affected by social media.

Always keep yourself safe at all times

If someone is harassing you, sending explicit or indecent messages and pictures, or threatening you, block them and report them to the admin of the social media site.

Always keep your security software current

An updated security system or anti-virus software is your best line of defense against viruses and other online hazards.

Antivirus software is used to safeguard your smartphones, gadgets and computer from malware viruses, computer and Trojan horses. Antivirus software may also delete or safeguard against malware. Free software only scans your computer using signature-based detection checking for patterns of already identified viruses or malware. Paid antivirus software may check even unfamiliar threats and watch what they do to see if they are up to something malicious.

Create a strong password for your accounts

A strong password should be at least 12 characters long. Make it alphanumeric to make it harder for hackers to access. Change your password if there is suspicious activity.

If having a strong password is not enough, you may opt to purchase password management tools. These tools create unique passwords for your pages. These codes are stored in one central place, which may be unlocked using your master password.

Use different passwords for different accounts

Make sure to use different passwords for different pages and accounts. Use different passwords for personal and professional pages. This will make it difficult for cyber-criminals to have access to your accounts.

Think before you click

Suspicious links sent via email, tweets, posts and online advertising may be sent by cyber-criminals and hackers trying to phish and steal your personal info. If something looks fishy, delete it— immediately.