A social media account can mean a lot of things for different people. For some, it is a way to communicate with friends and loved ones. Others use it to store their cherished memories like an album, while some use it to manage and promote their business.
However, these reasons are also why hackers and cybercriminals want to access people's social media accounts. According to Security Innovation, hackers and cybercriminals want to hack into others' accounts to use the information you post against you. They can do so by looking up answers to bank security questions on your social media account, tracking your whereabouts through the information you post, or using the data you have to blackmail you into giving them money as a form of ransom.
Being hacked can be a traumatizing event regardless of what kind of social media account you have. As such, we have compiled a set of tips for you to help you secure your social media accounts properly.
Securing your Facebook Account
Facebook is still the king of all social media platforms despite the rising popularity of new ones like TikTok, according to Statista's report. However, Facebook's platform is also a popular site for cybercriminals to swindle people into giving them money, per Investopedia and Social Catfish's reports.
To secure your account, Facebook advises people to share their passwords with nobody and not reuse a password of a different account. Using a strong password is also a good idea.
Facebook also recommends not accepting friend requests from people you don't know as these may be scammers. Clicking suspicious links from people- -- you know and random strangers -- can all go a long way to protect your account from being hacked.
Lastly, Facebook reminds people to log out their accounts from a computer shared with other people. However, if you forget, you can log out of that computer remotely.
Securing Your Twitter Account
Twitter is still as popular as ever in 2022 with 436 million users, but as with Facebook, it is also a haven for would-be hackers.
Aside from using a unique, strong password for your Twitter account, enabling your account to use two-factor authentication will provide you with two-layer protection between you and a potential account hacker, per Twitter's Help Center page.
Additionally, confirming that you're on Twitter's login page will help you avoid a phishing scam and give your account's credentials to hackers. To verify that you are, check if your web browser's address bar shows https://twitter.com as the base domain. If it isn't, the page you're at is probably a fake login page.
Lastly, be on the lookout for new and suspicious login alerts. These alerts usually come when your Twitter account is accessed from a new device for the first time. If you don't recognize the login alert, it's probably time to change your password.
Securing Your TikTok Account
TikTok has been making waves in the social platform scene since its international launch in 2017, per ByteDance's announcement. However, its popularity would soon attract hackers, with them exploiting the app's five vulnerabilities, such as Cross-Site Scripting and Remote Keyloggers, according to Hacker Noon.
As such, TikTok suggests that people use strong passwords of at least six characters and use a combination of upper case letters, numbers, and symbols, per TikTok's page on the subject.
The company also added keeping track of devices to log into accounts with two-factor authentication. If your TikTok account is somehow accessed by someone suspicious, you can go to TikTok's Device Management tab to remove your login credentials from certain devices.
Lastly, TikTok reminds people not to click or tap on suspicious links and messages, such s messages claiming they won a price or questionable links or content.
Securing your Instagram Account
Instagram is the fourth most popular social media platform, with WhatsApp and Youtube in between itself and Facebook. However, the platform has a lot of scammers and would-be hackers, per a previous iTechPost report.
As such, Instagram advises people to enable security features on their accounts like two-factor authentication and login requests. Both provide you with additional layers of security to give you strong barriers between you and hackers.
Instagram's login requests are handy in this regard as you can allow or deny access to a device Instagram doesn't recognize, per Instagram's blog post on the topic.
Also, Instagram suggests the regular update of phone numbers and emails to ensure they are associated with your device and up to date.
Lastly, Instagram will never send a direct message to anyone. As such, people are advised to block and report accounts that send a direct message informing others that their profiles are at risk of being banned, that your posts are violating Instagram's policies, or that your photos are being shared elsewhere.
