Regaining control of hacked accounts

An illustration
| credits: Chukky Nwakky

In this concluding part, Temitayo Famutimi lists ways of regaining control of a hacked social media account

When using social media platforms nowadays it is near impossible for one not to suffer security  breaches from hackers who prey on one’s personal account. The matter is made worse when one considers the fact that using strong  passwords and avoiding downloads of free software, among other precautionary measures, do  not eliminate completely the  hacking threat.

 If your social media account suffers such breaches, despite all measures you put in place, you need not worry. Stay calm as there are simple ways of recovering it

 Here are steps to take if your social media account get hacked.

 Change your password

As soon as it is detected that your social media account has been compromised, try and change your password to something more secure, if you are able to log into your account. But if the imposter has already beaten you to it and  has locked you out of the account,  then you will have to follow the procedure spelt out by the affected social media platform.

On Twitter, once your identity is verified, request a password reset on the ‘password reset form’ and if you still can’t log in you can submit a ‘support request’ and choose ‘hacked account’ from the list of options.

On Facebook, visit the Facebook Help Centre, and reclaim your account. Other social networking sites have specific instructions to follow to regain hacked account.

 Inform your audience

Whether you were successful in gaining access to your account or not, it is important that you inform your contacts,  especially your family members and friends  through various means that you have suffered a hacking attack. Tell them to be wary of spam messages that may appear to come from you. This will go a long way in preventing them from falling prey to scam messages sent from hackers using your identity.

Audit your applications

Audit your applications by reviewing the list of applications connected to your hacked account. Those apps might have being the hacker’s gateway to the security breaches you suffered. Make sure that you immediately discard any application that you don’t recognise.

 Scan your computer and run anti-virus

Your computer system, with which you access your social media accounts regularly, might have been compromised. In order not to suffer a recurrence of a hacking, it is advised that you scan your system for malware. Also, you need to run an anti-virus on the system.

In addition, social media experts say an added level of safety could be employed after one suffers hacking by using password managers.  Lastpass and KeePass are some the free password managers.

Lastpass,  which operates on all desktops and mobile platforms,  generates and saves passwords,  thus keeping all of one’s data safe.  KeePass only operates on desktops which has a wide range of features such as multiplier user keys, password groups, data base transfer etc.