It's heartbreaking to talk to a teen whose Facebook account has been
hacked or taken over by someone else. I have some tips for you so this
doesn't happen to you or anyone you love. And if you know someone with a
hacked account, Facebook has great resources available to help them
recover it.
1. Start with a strong, unique password – you have to use a different
password for Facebook and your email. Otherwise, if a hacker gets
control of one, they get control of both. Additionally your passwords
should be longer than 6 characters, contains number or symbol, not
include dictionary words or names, but still be something you can
remember.
2. A technique that works is to create a special password phrase. Start
with a sentence or phrase that means something to you. It could be a
statement or a song lyric. Example: “I want to go to England”. Take the
first letter of each word, exchange the word “to” with a number “2” and
you have a password phrase: “Iw2g2E”. Then customize for each website as
follows:
Facebook: FIw2g2Ek (put the “F” at the beginning and the last letter,” k”, at the end)
Symantec: SIw2g2Ec and so on.
Now each password is complex AND unique.
3. Never share your password with others. And if you have, change the password immediately.
4. When finished on a website, logout. Even if you are on your own laptop.
5. Don’t store passwords in your browser. You can use a password manager
tool like Identity Safe in Norton 360 or Norton Internet Security.
6. Make sure you use a good internet security suite on your computer at
all times. Secure your mobile devices and smart phones with a password
and (if available) security software too.
7. Read Facebook’s Security advice at http://www.facebook.com/security.
8. Register multiple email address, telephone numbers on your Facebook
account and select a security question and answer that only you know.
Here’s a helpful Facebook tool to do this and rate your security level:
https://www.facebook.com/update_security_info.php
9. On your Facebook account, go to “Account” (top right hand corner) and
click the down arrow until more options appear. Click on “Account
Settings”. Nearthe bottom of the page is “Account Security”. Click on
“change.” Select “Secure Browsing (https) by clicking on the box. Then
select both email and text message alerts for any new logins. Click
“Save”.
10. Any evidence of hacked accounts should be reported to Facebook
IMMEDIATELY by filling out the form available on this page:
https://www.facebook.com/help/?page=420
9:51 AM
niitlive
