Tip of the Week: 3 Ways to Secure Your Facebook Account

The social media revolution has taken the world by storm, so much in fact that some people are completely at the mercy of their smartphones. However, the dark side of social media, especially Facebook, grows more apparent every day, especially when it comes to both cybersecurity and personal privacy. Are you sure that your Facebook settings aren’t giving away a little too much of your information to the powers that be?

Take, for instance, this worst-case scenario of how easy it might be for a hacker to impersonate one of your Facebook friends. If you have your profile set to public, anyone will be able to see the posts on your wall, your personal information (phone number, address, email, etc, if you opt to share it), any pictures and videos you’ve posted, your interests, and plenty more information. Hackers, scammers, or worse, can use this information to either locate you in the physical world, or contact you through a digital environment. All it takes is a misstep on your part to allow them to get away with this deplorable behavior. To avoid these unnerving possibilities, try these three tips to lock down your Facebook account:

Examine the Privacy Checkup Shortcut
Clicking on the padlock icon in the top-right portion of Facebook will display privacy shortcuts, which you can take advantage of to perform a number of different functions. By clicking on the Privacy Checkup button, a friendly bipedal blue dinosaur will guide you through a short process. You’ll be required to set your default post status (public, private, etc), which apps can access your account, and your profile information. Afterwards, you can see how the public or specific users will see your profile, allowing you to tweak your settings in order to ensure your own privacy.

Besides the privacy checkup, you can also use the shortcuts to access other settings, like who can contact you via inbox or friend request, and how you can get someone to leave you alone. At the bottom of the drop-down, you can access even more privacy settings.

Enable Login Notifications
By enabling these notifications, you’ll be informed of new logins on your account. The way this works is that you can enable the alerts to come to you in the form of ordinary Facebook notifications, like if someone commented on a post; through email, which requires that you provide Facebook with your email address; or through text messages, which also requires some prior setup.

You can also view where your account is currently logged in, and you can end any current activity on signed-in devices. It will also tell you which devices specifically are accessing Facebook, as well as the operating system and physical location. If you notice any suspicious activity, you can easily click End Activity, which will give them the boot and give you some time to change your password.

Use Two-Factor Authentication
Facebook’s version of two-factor authentication involves sending a pin number to your smartphone as an additional means to keep your account secure. You can also access the Code Generator application on your mobile phone, which gives you a security code that lets you access your account. This helps keep your account open to you, and only you.

In today’s security-minded world, it’s more important than ever to ensure that all of your online accounts are optimized to allow for maximum security from hackers and other suspicious activity. It doesn’t take a genius to navigate Facebook and find out all about you, so take a proactive stance on defending yourself and the people you love by spreading the message about online security.

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