With all the information that our Facebooks say about us, and all the social links that we have there, of course… We don’t want to see them being hacked. Here’s what you need to know if your Facebook account has ever been hacked.
We don’t really think about it anymore, but our profile Facebook is really at the center of our digital business. We have there personal informations on our tastes, on our work, on our life in general, yes. But we also have all our friends linked togetherwith sometimes the way we met them, where we all go out together… In short, enough to redo our entire life in a somewhat nostalgic period, but also the possibility of control it and destroy it for a pirate. And this without even mentioning all your Messenger discussions, with potentially important information such as your bank details or your passwords. However, there is always a way, thanks to the tools provided by the platform, to find out if your account has been compromised, and to secure it as much as possible to avoid the slightest problem.
How do you know if your account has been hacked?
The easiest way to find out if your Facebook account has been hacked is to take a look at your connection history. Facebook records all connections to your account, indicating the location of the connection, the platform used and its IP address. To find this interface, you just have to do the following:
- Click on the small arrow top right
- Go into Settings and Privacy
- Head to Personal history
- Once on this page, click on Active Sessions.
Check the list to make sure you recognize your own connections. If you do not recognize one of these, you can click on the three small dots and disconnect the session directly. Afterwards, better change your password to ensure that the person who was able to recover your login credentials cannot reconnect to your account afterwards. Take the opportunity to enable two-factor authentication if you can : this is the best way to secure your account against hackers.
How to recover your hacked Facebook account?
If you already know your account was hacked, but you still have access to your session: immediately change your password. As quickly as possible. In case your email address has been compromised, don’t forget to change it as well to prevent the password recovery procedure from being used against you.
If you no longer have access to your account, Facebook has created a special page to be able to retrieve it. You will need to use your old password (the last one you used before a hacker modified it, therefore) and prove your identity to Facebook through a code received by email or SMS.
Note that in case of identity theft, this same page will allow you to warn the social network and thus take action against the hacker.
Also read: How to delete your Facebook account
How to secure your Facebook account against hackers?
The first thing to do for your Facebook account, but also all of your accounts on the internet, is toenable two-factor authentication. In principle, it asks you for a simple, usual password, and adds a code that you will receive from another platform. This helps ensure that only you can log into your account, even when your password leaks onto the internet. On Facebook, there are three methods:
- SMS = a unique code is sent to you by SMS
- The dedicated app = a code is generated by a dedicated application. The mobile Facebook application generally allows you to authenticate or not your connections once it is connected.
- The dedicated USB key = there are now USB keys that generate their own codes, which are only physically accessible. This is the strongest way to secure your account, but the usage is quite extreme.
Read also: Facebook Messenger, how to delete your account?
The Facebook mobile app also lets you receive alerts for unrecognized logins or unusual new logins to your account. It’s the best way to be proactive in shutting down a hacking attempt quickly, before attackers can do anything to your Facebook.
Finally, make sure that your personal information is always up to date on the platform. It is thanks to these that the Facebook teams will be able to verify your true identity in the event of a hack. Having the right registered phone number is essential, as is an email address that you still have access to.
