Nowadays, security issues are gradually moving from the streets to the Internet. Account hacks on social networks already exceed street thefts, which is a cause for concern and requires us to be alert, since any day we could be victims of a hack on our Facebook account, Twitter, and even on our bank or PayPal account.
Worst of all, anyone can be behind a hack, from an ex-partner to a cybercriminal looking to profit from your information or online activity. Hacking an account is not that complicated, as you can use what is known as emotional intelligence or social engineering to obtain passwords, or make use of more complex programs that, although they require a higher technical level, there are tutorials and online platforms that can obtain your user data and put your account at risk.
Is Facebook the riskiest social network?
If you use Facebook, you should know that you are on the social network with the highest risk of having your account hacked. There are several reasons for this, but the main one is that it is the most used social network worldwide, which encourages hackers to innovate and develop techniques and software to overcome the barriers of this giant social communication platform.
Facebook is indeed working hard to put an end to hacks. If someone accesses your account from an unusual location, you will receive a notification email. In addition, the platform has account verification checks that are activated when it detects suspicious access to your account.
However, as is often the case, hackers are always one step ahead. In addition, the person trying to hack your account can be someone you trust, which makes many of the controls, such as location or friend recognition, ineffective, as the person trying to gain access may know all your friends.
Password theft is another form of hacking
Another common problem is password theft. Even if there are strict controls, if someone knows your password and you don’t, they can access your account without any problems. They can even get past all of Facebook’s verification checks by testing. They just need to try different combinations until they find the right password. Facebook may temporarily or even permanently terminate your account as a security measure, but even if the hackers do not achieve their goal, you will still have to spend time until you can use the social network normally again.
There are also online software tools that, by simply entering the link web, start the attack process to search for access credentials.
Recommendations to follow to protect your Facebook account
- Now that we know the risk and its magnitude, it is important to follow some measures to take into account when using social networks.
- Never share your password with anyone.
- Avoid accessing Facebook on public networks.
- Always log out when using Facebook on a computer other than your own.
- Use different passwords for different online services.
- Create a complex password with characters, letters, and numbers.
With these tips, you have everything you need to prevent your Facebook account from being hacked. There is always the luck factor, as unfortunately, hackers are often one step ahead of security, but by following these tips, your chances of losing your account will be greatly reduced.
You should also be wary of anyone in your environment who may be spying on your passwords, this is not only common with strangers, but it is even more common with people close to you.
