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Over the weekend I read 2 posts that made me change my FB Password and review my security settings.
First, I made a post about my kids on my FB and my friend commented by giving me a link to a porn site. I was shocked! How dare he? I haven't deleted a comment and it was my first time to do so. A day after, his status said that his FB account has been hacked. I breathed a sigh of relief! It is always good to know that a friend didn't morph into a porn addict:-)
Second, I read Animetric's blog and her sister's account has been hacked too. The hacker changed her sister's profile details, changed status to divorced, made lewd comments and liked some grubby sites. To read more of her post click this.
It is appalling to be hacked considering I post pics of my family. My husband, a non-FB user, has continuously warned me against posting family pics but the purpose of FB is to share with friends what is up in your life and my family is the biggest chunk of it. So, instead of curtailing my FB posts I protected my FB account by doing these simple steps:
1. Go to the gear shaped button on the upper right corner of your FB > account settings > security (left column)
From security, ENABLE SECURE BROWSING. This creates a unique connection between you and FB so that no one can intercept and tamper with the data exchange.
From security, ENABLE LOG-IN NOTIFICATIONS. By enabling this, FB will notify you when your account is accessed from a computer or mobile device that you haven't used before.
2. Avoid using open WI-FI networks. Open WI-FI networks are the free wireless hotspots, say in a mall or a coffee shop, that are not password protected. According to cleverlogic.net, when Wi-Fi networks are open like this, anyone on the network can view all data that is being transferred over this network. They can use simple methods and steal your password or session information, and use this to gain access to your account.
4. Log-out when you are done. I usually don't do this, but will do so now. According to cleverlogic.net, by doing this, you help in blocking hackers from an attack called session hi-jacking.
5. Use a very strong password. I tried password generator but men, no way can I memorize those codes. Instead, make it a combination of things you would easily remember and throw in some upper and lower case and symbols. Example since I like salted caramel mocha and example my college student number is 3834789 - my password can be luvSCM#3834789.
Lasty, as Animetrics said, if you are on the receiving end of some weird comments or links from friends, do not engage in the conversation and tactfully inform the friend. Maybe, you could send him back the link and ask him if the link came from him:-)
Hope the above tips help:-)
Reference:
http://animetric.blogspot.com/2013/04/when-your-facebook-account-is-hacked.html#more
http://www.cleverlogic.net/articles/protect-your-fb-account-hackers