How to Protect Your Social Media Account From Being Hacked

Social media networks like Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly known as Twitter) are most prevalent today. Anything a user does is updated on these platforms to symbolize their social life. To know someone, you don’t need to meet them. Their socials are enough to give you an insight into what they do, which makes them vulnerable to prying eyes and prone to attack by threat actors. Fortunately, there are ways to protect social media accounts, and this post aims to explain the signs and preventive measures.

How to Secure Your Computer from Unauthorized Access

How To Prevent This From Happening?

If you suspect your social media account has been compromised, follow these tips to restore it.

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1. Log in and check your social media account

If you suspect your social media account is hacked, review your account details and check whether the email address beside yours has access. If so, delete it.

Next, if the phone number associated with your account has been changed to an unknown number, remove it—many times, hackers who access the account alter the number to change the password whenever they want.

2. Enable 2-factor authentication & use a random password

Hackers quickly gain access to your account by using simple and easy-to-guess passwords. Therefore, the first thing to stay safe is to use strong passwords. We also suggest activating 2FA for an additional layer of security. All major social media networks offer it, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter).

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3. Review account permission and restrict access to external apps

While you update security settings to stay safe, always double-check account information. If you see unknown sites, apps, or people being given access to your account, remove that because this opens up a potential vulnerability and makes you prone to be hacked.

Below are links to major social sites to see a list of external apps and adjust your settings.

• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• X (Twitter)

4. Use an antivirus

To add an extra layer of protection, take these preventive measures and use an updated antivirus. This will help identify malware designed to harm your PC and steal data. Try T9 Antivirus, a security tool for PCs. It comes with real-time protection and helps detect malware.

5. Use an Identity Protection Service

A powerful identity protection service like Advanced Identity Protector helps locate sensitive information saved on the PC and browsers. It even provides an encrypted vault to store confidential information. Once the software is installed on your PC, you can ensure your sensitive data, like passwords, social security numbers, credit card numbers, etc., are protected, and no one except you can use the details.

The tool scans the PC and all the browsers for stored passwords and other sensitive data that makes you vulnerable. To protect data, it gives three different options:

Move to a Secure Vault – To move and save passwords in a Secure Vault.
Remove Traces Permanently – Clear all passwords from the PC.
Add to Exclusion List – To avoid scanning selected details in subsequent scans.

Any of these options can be used to keep social media networks protected. To use Advanced Identity Protector, follow these steps:

1. Download and install Advanced Identity Protector.

2. Launch the tool to protect social media account passwords and click Start Scan Now.

3. Wait for the scanning to complete.

4. Review scanning results and select the passwords you don’t want to be saved on the PC or browser.

5. Select the ‘Protect Now’ button to secure the selected details. You will find three options, as discussed above.

6. Select the option as per the requirement. To store at a secure location, select the first option – Move to a Secure Vault > create a profile > add the chosen password to Secure Vault.

To proceed, click Yes and follow the on-screen instructions. This will move the selected details to an encrypted vault.

However, if you want to eliminate them, click Remove Traces Permanently > Continue.

7. As soon as you click on Yes, the tool will delete all the saved passwords, and you will see a summary.

This is how you can identify saved passwords and remove them to stay secure.

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Signs of Social Media Account Being Compromised

If you have not been implementing the above-shared methods, you must check the integrity of your socials. To do so, it is crucial to know the signs of the social account being compromised:

1. You get an email saying your login details are changes you never made.
2. Trouble logging into accounts.
3. The account is filled with advertisements.
4. You are suddenly following people that you don’t know
5. Emails and posts are being sent and shared from your account that you didn’t do
6. An account that uses your name/photos is online

Be Aware. Stay Safe

All these signs can clearly indicate an attack on your data available on these social platforms. We have already discussed tips that will help you protect your identity and data. The tips shared can protect your social media accounts from being hacked. They help create a security gate. It would help if you were also vigilant and informed. This way, you can stay protected from different threats.

If you have other means that have been helping you keep your identity safe online, do share them below in the comments section. Let’s get the discussion started and be more safe only