According to Statista, Facebook has over 2 billion monthly active users at the end of 2017. Now in the latest reports by the same source, there are 2.19 billion monthly active users in the first quarter of 2018.
Relying on the stats provided by Statista, we can say that most of the people we know are using Facebook on their smartphones, tablets or laptops. They also use Facebook messenger along with the best messaging app WhatsApp.
With this huge amount of active users, one must be concerned about the privacy and the security of his or her Facebook account. If one overlooks, anyone can get private information which is not good for the concerned users.
Here are 6 easy things that you should do to secure your Facebook account from hackers. It will not only secure your account from hacking, but it will also secure you as you might have private things on your Facebook account.
1. Choose Facebook Account Password Wisely
You must choose the account wisely so that no other person can access it.
- Make it sure that you should not use your name, date of birth, mobile number, spouse name and such common information which anyone can guess. Choose a complicated password that consists of upper and lower case letters, special characters and digits.
- Don’t use one password for all your accounts. If you are using a Gmail account, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, it is preferred that you use the different passwords for all your accounts. So that even if someone hacks your LinkedIn password, he or she should not be able to use the same password to access your Facebook ID.
2. Don’t Use Facebook on Unknown Devices
Try your best not to use the Facebook account on any other computer which doesn’t belong to you. If there is no other choice and you have to log in to your account using another PC, then make it sure that you:
- Do not check the box “Keep me logged in”. If you check this box, then you might be at risk. Only check this box when you are using Facebook on your own computer or Smartphone.
- Don’t save your password to the browser you use. When you logged in to any browser, it will ask to save your username and password. You shouldn’t save that. If you save, anyone can later check your password and username.
- Make sure that there is no software or application installed which can decrypt the Facebook account password.
- Don’t forget to log out before you leave that computer. If you forget to log out, then you can log out remotely using your own mobile or computer.
3. Don’t Add Strangers to Your Friend List
You may get a lot of requests from strangers to add them to your friend list. Make it sure that you only add people you know in your real life. If you add strangers, there might be some hacker as well who can use your information to hack your Facebook password.
4. Check Out Your Authorized Apps
Whenever you tried to use your Facebook account on another application or website, they ask you to grant some permission. Make it sure that they are not asking to access your inbox and they state it clearly that they will not post on your behalf on your Facebook wall.
Make sure that you only use trusted and high-quality apps with your Facebook account. Otherwise, if you use low-quality apps with your Facebook account then your account might be at risk.
5. Always Type the URL to Login
Make sure that you always type the URL www.facebook.com when you use your Facebook account. Or you can bookmark the URL to your browser’s bookmarks bar. Don’t provide your username and password when you go to the Facebook site by clicking on some link from another site. It might be a phishing link.
Many people try to use phishing to hack Facebook password online instantly for free. In this method, the hacker makes a web page that looks exactly the same page of Facebook, but the URL would be somehow different.
When people are in hurry, they don’t look at the URL and they just type their credentials which might be emailed to the hacker’s email address and they easily hack Facebook account passwords without using any software.
If you type the URL to open Facebook, then no hacker can hack the Facebook account using the phishing method.
6. Use Extra Security Features Provided by Facebook
Facebook provides some features which are good to make your account more secure and you can save it from hackers. These features are:
- Enable login notifications: Insecurity features, you can find the option to enable login notifications. If you do this, you will get instant notification on your email and mobile number if someone tries to log in to your Facebook account after hacking. When you get these notifications, you can instantly take the proper action to get your Facebook account back.
- Add trusted contacts: In case you forget your password, you can get your account back if you have already added at least three trusted contacts. You can find this option in the security tab.
- Use two-factor authentication: This feature in the security settings is best to secure your Facebook account. When you have enabled this feature and some hacker hacks your Facebook account password, you will be saved and the hacker will not be able to log in to your account even after getting your password.
When he tries to log in by entering your own username and password, the browser will redirect to a page where he or she needs to enter a code for log-in approval. You will get that code on your registered mobile number.
So, when someone does this, you will get the login approval code which will not be available for the hacker. You can then change your Facebook account password as you are aware that your old Facebook password is hacked.
Summary
These are 6 easy steps that you can use to make your Facebook account more secure. If you are a celebrity or you have a brand page then the security and privacy of the Facebook account become more important and these 6 steps will secure your Facebook account from hackers.