Thousands of Facebook accounts are getting hacked every day. Here’s why.
Thousands of Facebook users daily report that their accounts are being hacked after strange messages were sent from their profiles to their friends.
As a result of the hack, messages with unverified links are reported.
Several victims’ friends received spam-like messages.
According to various sources, the link may contain malware or other viruses. Still, it is unclear what will happen if someone clicks on it.
“Well, it appears that my Facebook account was hacked” is a common message on SMS, Twitter and other apps when a hack occurs.
An example of the kinds of pre-hack messages that are being received by victims is the following:
“I sent a message to everyone in my messenger saying that if you get a message from me saying, ‘I saw you in a video”, please delete it as it wasn’t sent by me, and if you click on it, you will be hacked.
Although it is unknown who is behind this typical kind of attack, you can take precautions to protect your online identity and social media accounts.
You can increase your security by changing your password on Facebook to a secure one that doesn’t contain any words or dates that are easy to guess. Easy to guess passwords are usually based on children’s names, pets’ names, localities you live in, postcodes, or phone numbers. These can be broken by a bot within seconds, and once someone logs in to your account, they have free reign to take over.
You should also enable two-factor authentication so that you can be notified if someone attempts to log in to your account in an unusual manner. Don’t rely on just getting a message to your email, as chances are your email has already been hacked. Choose an option that sends a message to your mobile phone, or even better, an Authenticator app like Lastpass or Google Authenticators.
You should also avoid logging into your Facebook account on devices you rarely use. These are the most likely devices to be hacked because they are the least likely to get security updates and patches.
Be cautious when clicking on suspicious links or answering phone calls from unknown numbers to protect your devices. This is how they get to you in the first place if they haven’t guessed your simple password first.
This should go without saying, but never give out personal information to someone you don’t know. This is exactly how your identity can be stolen in minutes. Never give passwords, PIN numbers or identifying information to anyone calling you cold without any reason.
Dante St James is the founder of Clickstarter, a Facebook Blueprint Certified Lead Trainer, a Community Trainer with Facebook Australia, a digital advisor with Business Station, an accredited ASBAS Digital Solutions advisor and presenter, and the editor at The Small Marketer. You can watch free 1-hour webinars and grow your digital skills at Dante’s YouTube Channel.
