Protect your Social Media accounts from hackers & spammers

It is becoming increasingly popular to find social media accounts hacked which can have embarrassing results for a brand. A hacker can get your details, spam your account, post a negative update or tweet. In the end, it would upset your fans, followers and your PR agency would get busy trying to handle the uncalled PR crisis.

Here are three easy steps that you can take to avoid spammers and hackers:

1. Keep Strong Password

Never ever keep a simple password of only alphabets. Always keep a password that has atleast

Change your passwords regularly; keep your social media accounts safe

one Upper case alphabet, one lower case alphabet, number and a symbol. Your password should not be related to anything generic or about yourself.

Bad password: yournamebirthyear is a bad password – at first attempt hackers will try permutation and combination of your name and identity, and it won’t be difficult to guess a password like this.

Good password: FlexibleFire404# – can be a good password (Now, don’t use this one!)

Also, make sure you change your password regularly, on a bimonthly or monthly basis.

2. Manage Security/Privacy Settings

Facebook and Twitter have security settings which verify the user, which allow information to be accessed only by “Friends” or people who are following them. Make sure you have checked your security settings and activated them to avoid easy access to your account. Also, do verify your accounts with your phone numbers and a trusted email address on all social media accounts including LinkedIn and other accounts.

3. Don’t click on misleading links

There are posts/updates urging you to check on ‘Who has viewed your profile’ or ‘Get this free’ are not to be trusted. There is a higher probability of these links leading you to a spam page.

Links when shared on twitter get shortened on their own which can confuse a user whether they’re trustworthy or not. It’s is safer to test these links before clicking on them.

You can check short urls on sites like: http://www.checkshorturl.com/

Take these simple steps and keep your Social Media account safe. And if ever your account has

Protect your social media accounts

been hacked in the past then make sure you report these users to that site. This will help these sites to block such users and make social media a safer surfing platform for everyone.