What to do if your social media account was hacked?

Hackers may be prevented in several ways but there are occasions and actions that people take that make these problems inevitable. The bigger the account, the greater the prize to hacking it. The simpler the password or the more devices that are used to access the account, the easier it is to access it. 

What if someone hacks your email or social media account? What would you do? One of the first things you must do is to change your passwords on every linked account, including your banking, your social media and any other passwords you might have! 

In this article,if you’ve been hacked via email or social media account, here are some simple methods to get you back in.

What to do if your social media account was hacked?

1. Try to log in first – If you can sign in, click to Settings > Security and Login. Review your recent login devices to see if any of them seem suspicious.

2. Claim you forgot your password – If your password isn’t working, you may attempt recovering it by following the steps that are typically used for forgotten passwords. You may do this on the login page. 

3. Report a hacked account – Contact the social media platform’s help service and be ready to provide proof of ownership. 

4. Change your passwords –  If you can get into your email or social media account, update your passwords instantly. If you’ve been using the same password for many accounts, it’s time to switch them all. Create difficult-to-guess passwords.

5. Enable two-factor authentication – See whether your email or social media account supports this additional layer of security. Two-factor authentication uses both a password and another piece of information, such as a code generated by an authenticator app, to verify the user’s identity.

6. Keep an eye out for any suspicious activity –  your account could have been compromised by a rogue program. You should check the applications that are linked to your account and disconnect the ones you don’t use or don’t recognise.

7. Inform contacts you’ve been hacked – Hackers may seek money from your friends, thus alerting them will prevent them from giving it to criminals. In addition to alerting them, delete any messages that seemed to have been sent by the hackers.

9. Tighten up your private settings – If your social media account has been hacked, you should ramp up your security settings. At the very least, make your profile, contact list, and account activities private.