As the most popular social networking site with an expansive user base of over 750million people, Facebook has dominated all competition. Unfortunately its popularity has also made it a prime target for hackers, scammers, and other malicious internet users. With millions of unsuspecting Facebookers, hackers prey on their ignorance and overconfidence, using a multitude of means to not only gain control of their accounts, but also get as much personal information as possible while they have control.
If you are one of the thousands of people who have had their accounts hacked then you know how devastating and scary it can be, if you are one of the millions who haven’t had their account stolen then you need to do everything you can to protect it. The attitude ‘It won’t ever happen to me’ is what lures people into a false sense of security and they don’t properly protect their data.
So how do FaceBook accounts get hacked exactly?
Hackers use a wide variety of ways to hack accounts but there are three common ones.
- Facebook Phishing
- Key loggers
- Control of the primary email address attached to the Facebook account
How hackers use Phishing / Key Loggers / Control of Primary Email to hack your FaceBook Account
Phishing
Facebook Phishing is an incredibly popular method to hack accounts. It not only allows you to hack the Facebook account, but it also gives the hacker control of the email accounts as well.
Phishing is where websites are created to look identical to other popular, and trusted sites, so that the user inputs their information. This information is usually their password and account name but can also include a wide variety of other valuable information that hackers can use.
Make sure to always be acutely aware of the site you are on and if it does not look authentic, or has some minor discrepancies, do not input any information.
Key Loggers
Key loggers can either be hardware devices that are attached to a computer, a program that is downloaded, or even part of a virus.
The hardware keyloggers and keylogging programs are often used by parents to monitor their children’s internet usage so we will just focus on the virus. There are multiple ways to get this virus on your computer but ultimately, you as the user, have to physically download the keylogging program.
Do not download anything from people you don’t know or open up any files to view them. This can infect your computer and will send your details to the hacker (tips to protect critical data from Keyloggers).
Control email account
The last way to have your Facebook account hacked is when the hacker gets control of the email attached to your Facebook. They can do this by either guessing your password to the email, using a phishing site to get the information, , phishing emails or they can also use a keylogger as well. Learn to safeguard your email account from being hacked.
Your email can be hacked the same way as your Facebook so you need to be on guard against phishing sites and keylogging programs.
If your account is hacked then Facebook will generally catch it and suspend the account. Most hackers are clever enough to change your password so that you cannot access it and they will also alter other information to make it harder for you to retrieve your account. Make sure to get in contact with the Facebook help team so that you can get your account back as quickly as possible.
Below are some tips to keep your FaceBook account safe from being hacked:
- Have a complex and unique password. Create strong and secure password and check the strength of the created password (more tips to create strong passwords).
- Log out of your account after each use.
- Make sure your email and Facebook passwords are separate.
- Make sure there is a security question for your Facebook account
- Make sure you are logging in at http://www.facebook.com not a look alike site with a different domain name.
- Run anti-virus software to make sure you don’t have a keylogger or any other virus on your computer.