Social Media Hacking? Protecting yourself with One Click!!

Social media hacking is one of the biggest concern along with the rise of “Cyber Crime” in Covid-19 pandemic. For the past 3 Months we’ve seen countless of YouTubers getting victim of Hacking or being the target of hacking. Now the bubble has burst with Mass Twiter Hacking incident which was enough to blow everyone away.

We often get consultation requests from our Indian Audience and many of them have mentioned their concern of social media account being targeted during the Covid-19 Pandemic lockdown period. With this we think it is a necessary thing to inform our readers, clients and people that their is one single way through which you can protect your Social media account form all the hacking that’s going on.

Although that method or way, may not be a full-proof way of protection it is quite an essential thing to do, if your social media account plays an important role in your life.

Many people use social media accounts, Mainly Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram along with their Email ID for their business or work, however, it is possible that your precious account may become a victim of social media hacking too.

Hence its quite an essential thing to do is prevent your account with these preventive measures.

How to prevent your account from Social media hacking?

Many “Experts” have advised to change the password from time to time, however, human tendency allows majority of people to remember only one password at a time, some time people even tends to forget their password and so that’s why they write it down in their notes or use Password managers to manage their passwords.

Although changing passwords is an effective way to counter any social media hacking incident but it doesn’t provide you edge in the battle against the people who are targeting you. Also, as a matter of fact – You can’t tell that your account won’t be targeted once again or not..

So in such cases what we can do to prevent our self and our account from any social media hacking attempt? We should use 2 Factor Authentication.

What is 2 Factor Authentication (2FA)?

2 Factor authentication or 2FA is also referred to as Two-step verification or dual-factor authentication, which is a security process in which user defines 2 factors to verify themselves. This process is done to protect user’s account and its resources as well as it helps protect the user-credentials. 2FA provides higher level of security barrier compared to single factor authentication (SFA) which comprises of your usual password.

How does 2FA or 2 Factor authentication works?

1. User enter regular email id/username and password to login.
2. Once the login is verified, One time password or OTP is generated and send to user’s phone number.
3. User then need to verify that OTP by entering in the text field that appears on screen.
4. After a match is found the user is given access to his/her account.

Note – The generated OTP is only valid for limited amount of time, hence, if the time is elapsed the user will have to generate one more OTP.

Prevent social media hacking by activating 2 Factor Authentication

01. For Gmail Account

1. Open your Google Account.
2. In the navigation panel, select Security.
3. Under “Signing in to Google,” select 2-Step Verification  Get started.
4. Follow the on-screen steps.

02. Yahoo

• Sign in and go to your Account security page.
• Beside “Two-step verification,” click the Toggle button to turn it on .
• Enter your mobile number.
• Click Send SMS or Call me to get a verification code.
• Enter the verification code, then click Verify.
• If you access Yahoo Mail in third-party apps, click Create app passwords or click Skip for now.

03. For Facebook

1. Go to your Security and Login Settings.
2. Scroll down to Use two-factor authentication and click Edit.
3. Choose the security method you want to add and follow the on-screen instructions.

• Login codes from a Google Authenticator app.
• Text message (SMS) codes from your mobile phone.

• Approving your login attempt from a device we recognize.
• Using one of your recovery codes.
• Tapping your security key on a compatible device.

04. Twitter (PC)

• In the side menu, click More, then click Settings and privacy.
• Click on your Account settings and click Security.
• Tap Two-factor authentication.
• There are three methods to choose from: Text message, Authentication app, or Security key.

05. Twitter (Android)

• In the top menu, you will either see a navigation menu icon  or your profile icon. Tap whichever icon you have and select Settings and privacy.
• Tap Account, then tap Security.
• Tap Two-factor authentication.
• There are two methods to choose from: Text message or Authentication app.

Note: You’ll also see a third option for Security Key. While you can only turn on and use this selection through twitter.com via a computer, you can turn off this method through Twitter for iOS at any time.

06. Twitter (iOS)

• In the top menu, tap your profile icon, then tap Settings and privacy.
• Tap Account, then tap Security.
• Tap Two-factor authentication.
• There are two methods to choose from: Text message or Authentication app.

Note: You’ll also see a third option for Security Key. While you can only turn on and use this selection through twitter.com via a computer, you can turn off this method through Twitter for iOS at any time.

07. Microsoft Account

• Go to the Security basics page and sign in with your Microsoft account.
• Select More security options.
• Under Two-step verification, choose Set up two-step verification to turn it on, or choose Turn off two-step verification to turn it off.
• Follow the instructions

08. Linkedin has multiple way of authenticating so choose accordingly to your choice, We will link you to the official instruction page of linkedin so its better to read it there: How to Turn on and Turn off 2-step verification in linkedin?.