Since Facebook is the most popular social networking website with more than 500 million active users, therefore many hackers/crackers wants to involve in hacking Facebook accounts of users.
This article outlines, how hackers hack your account and many such strategies that such hackers uses to gain access to Facebook accounts and most importantly how you can stop them from hacking your account.
A hacker needs to do is know your email address,yes that’s it he will crack your password only by knowing your Facebook email address only. How easily a hacker can then hack your Facebook account if he ‘guesses’ your password (if you use a weak password) or answers your security question! So, here are some tricks you can use to protect yourself from this vulnerability.
How to safeguard your Email Address?
1. Hide your Email Address from everyone by going to Edit Profile>Contact Information>Clicking on the icon beside your email address> checking ‘Only Me’.
2. Change your primary email address to a one that is only known to you by going to Account Settings>Email> and changing your primary email to the new one (known only to you) and removing your previous email address.
3. For additional security, when in Account Settings, check ‘Secure browsing’ and ‘Send me an email when a new computer or mobile device logs into this account’ and click Save.
These few steps. Will not only protect your account from being getting hacked but also helps to maintain a good security of your account..
Here I have listed some of the methods that are used by hackers to get your password…
Phishing:
Phishing is the most widely used and the most easiest way used by hackers to retrieve password or login credentials.They will simply design or make an exactly looking page of a website and then attach a side script to track user name as well as the password of the victim that will be stored in a log. Now hacker will send people emails stating that someone tagged a photo of them on Facebook in the same format as Facebook and giving a link below to the phishing website further reduces the chances of it being detected as a fake. This method can be used to retrieve your bank password or pin as well ,they have gone smarter and they have duplicated the design exactly as the original website has, so it’s very difficult to judge which one is fake…but we have listed some of the prevention that you must take before browsing internet or entering your password .
How you can prevent yourself from being phished!
Avoid clicking on suspicious links that you are not sure of. Moreover, always check the URL in the address bar before signing in. Don’t logging in “Facebook widgets” offered by websites and blogs . Instead, always use Facebook’s homepage to sign in. If you ever gets phished, then immediately report the website so that others may get a warning before visiting it.
Avoid clicking on suspicious links that you are not sure of. Moreover, always check the URL in the address bar before signing in. Don’t logging in “Facebook widgets” offered by websites and blogs . Instead, always use Facebook’s homepage to sign in. If you ever gets phished, then immediately report the website so that others may get a warning before visiting it.
Keylogging through Keyloggers:
Keylogger is another software or device that is used by hackers widely. Basically he will send computer virus that will track every key stroke that you make on your keyboard. Keyloggers can also be installed remotely on a computer system by a cracker to record all the activity that is going on the victim’s computer. It will be alot easier for hacker to hack a victim computer if he gets a physical access to your computer.
How to stop keyloggers?
Installing a good antivirus and update it frequently will surely help you. Again do not ever click on suspicious links and avoid downloading illegal software(spam softwares such as toolbars). It’s always a good habit to scan a pen drive before using it.
Social Engineering:
Social engineering is another method used by hacker all he does is, is he will try to fool internet users by some tricks so that he himself make him vulnerable to exploits. This could be sending spoof emails, pretending to be from Facebook , and telling you that your account is at risk and you should change your password to 12345678.
How to prevent yourself from being socially engineered?
The most common prevention is to avoid doing chatting with unknown person.Always use a tough security question,and preferably that is known to you only and no one else know the answer. Moreover, Facebook, will never ever ask’s his user’s to change the password to 12345678 or do something as silly as asking you to send out your login details to prove that you are an active user. Always think twice before taking actions and you will not be in trouble made by hackers!
