Someone Hacked My Facebook - What to Do If Someone Hacks Your Account. You're not in Amsterdam, right? It wasn't the typical Wednesday morning email, sent from a friend who I'd seen the night before…in New York City. According to my Gmail account, however, I'd scooted off to Europe sometime after midnight, lost my passport and reached out to every contact in my address book asking for money. Yep, I'd been hacked. Hacked Accounts. My Account. I think. Do you think your personal Facebook profile may have been hacked? If someone created an account pretending to be someone. Hack some Facebook password in seconds just follow. You're viewing YouTube in. How to hack someone's FB email and password 2015,it's really 100% working. Next came an hour of frantic Googling, a panicked tweet ("I'M NOT IN AMSTERDAM!") and some personal damage control, including fielding questions from an ex- boyfriend, a long- past professor and a woman who said she had no idea who I was, but had received my fraudulent email. Had I been better informed, I would've kept calm and followed these nine post- hacking steps. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. Pinpoint the problem. The most obvious sign of hacking is the slew of messages you'll receive from acquaintances either stating that your account's been hacked or wondering if they should really wire money overseas. Also, according to Kevin Beaver, an Atlanta- based independent computer security expert and author of Hacking for Dummies, "you might receive bounced emails or other odd messages from people you don't know. Or your computer and/or Internet might start running slowly." On Facebook, red flags include mysterious links posted to your friends' timelines under your name or problems signing into your account. Change your password. If someone's simply poached your password, resetting it should solve your problem. Andrea Freund, a spokeswoman for Gmail, advises getting creative when choosing your new login. Stay away from obvious choices like children's names or other information that might be available online." Freund also suggests keeping your account recovery options up to date in case you get shut out completely. ![]() For example, Gmail can send a link to your phone or a separate email address to help you regain access. For more on taking back your account, check Gmail's recovery page or Facebook's Help Center. ![]() Run an antivirus scan. Though a sabotaged outbox is devastating enough, Bhavani Thuraisingham, Ph. D, a professor of computer science and executive director of the Cyber Security Research and Education Center at the University of Texas at Dallas, says, "What's more dangerous is malware, or malicious software sending all your information to a hacker" without you knowing it. If you suspect you've been hacked, run malware scans using multiple tools," says Beaver. If one scan doesn't catch a virus, another might. Some of Beaver's favorite scans: Webroot, which offers a free trial, as well as Avast and Malwarebytes, which offer free versions indefinitely. Even if you're just the victim of password cracking, run a scan to be safe.
And if your scan picks up a virus, change your password again. Check your settings. Once you're back in your account or have reset your password, make sure the hacker hasn't changed your settings," says Freund. Check the 'Forwarding and Pop/IMAP' tab to make sure your email is being directed properly." Otherwise, a hacker may still be able to intercept your messages. Find settings under a drop- down menu in the upper right corner when you're logged into your email. For Gmail and Yahoo it's under the gear icon; for AOL it's under "Options.") On Facebook you don't have to worry about forwarding, but still make sure nobody's fiddled with your account or privacy settings. Reach out to your contacts. While a hacking can leave you feeling like a social pariah—especially if you've unknowingly blasted your contacts with a seedy ad or asked for cash—say something. ![]() ![]() Daniel Post Senning, author of Emily Post's Manners in a Digital World, suggests sending a straightforward informational email, as you'll probably be sending it to a mixed audience of colleagues, family and friends. When you're talking about something that involves money and deception, clarity trumps humor," says Senning. Rethink passwords to other accounts. Do you have one go- to password for everything from Twitter to online banking? If so, change each of those logins. All of them could be at risk if you use the same or similar passwords across the board," says Beaver. This time, choose something unique for each account. Even if you've been diligent about varying your passphrases, reset them anyway. If your Yahoo or Gmail account is hacked," says Dr. Thuraisingham, "and there's malware in the system, it will know all your other information too."7. Alert your service provider. You may not hear back, "but it could minimize the chance of someone else getting hit," says Beaver. Plus, as Senning says, it's part of being "a good digital citizen." He explains, "In the same way that good manners in the physical world involve not spreading germs, good manners in the digital world involve not spreading viruses." For Gmail, head to Google's "Contact us" page and scroll down to "Report a safety or abuse issue affecting a Google product." You can reach out to AOL's customer service team through Help. AOL. com (click "send us a note about your AOL Mail issue"). Yahoo users should go to "Security at Yahoo" and find a section on reporting incidents. For Facebook, the help center is your chief resource. Update your software. It's so easy to click "Remind Me Later" when an update prompt appears on your screen, but Beaver explains it's in your best interest to keep things current. Install the latest operating system patches [or fixes released by software companies] and updates for Java, Adobe Reader and other third- party software, as this is how most malware is spread," he says. Updating is critical because "the longer software is out, the more time criminals have to find ways to exploit bugs."9. Beef up your security. If you use Gmail, Freund recommends setting up two- step verification. It gives you an extra layer of protection by asking for a numeric code that's sent to your phone, in addition to your password," she says. Facebook has a similar feature called login approvals. Another smart move: "Stop clicking links and attachments in emails—even when they're from trusted sources," Beaver says. As for exacting revenge on a nemesis that's wreaked havoc on your social media mojo, play it cool. Learn from your mistake and move on," says Beaver. For more must- know cyber- security tips, check out: How to Avoid Online Scams. Things Your IT Person Wants to Tell You. Things To Do Immediately When Your Facebook Account Is Hacked. For most people, having their Facebook account hacked is a nightmare. Imagine if someone had access to all your private messages, could contact your friends, abuse your Facebook page, and delete your personal information. To avoid this, you should regularly update your password and keep other security settings tight. Once it’s too late, however, you must act fast. The most important thing is – don’t panic! You can regain access to your account. How Do You Know Your Facebook Account Was Hacked? First of all, how do you know your Facebook account was hacked if nothing obvious was changed…yet? If a hacker managed to get into your account, they will leave a trace. While their session is active, it will be listed under > Home (top right corner) > Account Settings > Security > Active Sessions (click edit). Here you can end the activity of suspicious sessions. More information about How To Check If Someone Else Is Accessing Your Facebook Account or How To Find Out If Your Facebook Account Has Been Hacked can be found in the respective articles. It is recommended that you enable Login Approvals for logging in from unrecognized devices. For increased security, you should also set app passwords. Change Your Password. In case your password was not changed you got lucky! This is the time to update your password! Be sure to end any suspicious active sessions first (see above), then go to > Home > Account Settings > General and click > Password to confirm your current password and then enter a new password. When you’re done, review our articles regarding Facebook security (see resources below) and see what other measures you can take to secure your account. From here, proceed to step 3 if you think that your account was abused. Reset Your Password. If your password was changed, act quick! Try to regain access. There is a > Forgot your password? Facebook login. It will let you retrieve your password in several different ways. You can either enter the email address you registered to Facebook with or any other secondary email address you added, as well as your phone number and username. If you’re not sure whether the person that hacked your account was smart enough to change your profile information, you should go with the last option and enter your name and that of a friend. This will give you an idea of which information is currently added to your account. If you don’t have access to any of the email accounts or to the phone number associated with your account, click the > No longer have access to these? URL. This will take you to a page where you can enter a new email address, which Facebook will then use to assist you in recovering your account. This is not all. If you believe that your account was abused by the person who has access to it, proceed to step 2. Report Compromised Account. If your account wasn’t simply hacked, but is sending out ads and spam to your friends, you must report it as compromised. From here, immediately proceed to step 2. Do Damage Control. After doing everything you could to regain control over your hacked Facebook account, inform your friends about what is going on, just in case the hacker has abused or currently is abusing your account. If you presently can’t access your account, contact your Facebook friends through other social networks, by email, or have a mutual friend inform them via Facebook. Once you can log in again, proceed to step 3. Remove Suspicious Applications. Oftentimes, it’s not an evil person that randomly hacked into your account. More likely than not you granted access to a malicious application which subsequently hijacked your account. To remove suspicious applications, go to > Home > Account Settings > Apps and go through the list. Click the > X next to any application you wish to remove or click > Edit to change what the app can do. Bonus: Improve Your Facebook Privacy and Security Settings. Once you’re back in control, review the following resources and close the security gaps in your Facebook account. Note that some of these articles are over a year old and hence the information may not be 1. Was your Facebook account ever hacked and how did you regain access? Sign up to be notified of new articles on the topics discussed: Get a free Grouvi app (i. OS/Android) to participate in Make. Use. Of live chat groups. Enter your mobile number to receive a free text message with the download link for the app. This article may contain affiliate links, which pays us a small compensation if you do decide to make a purchase based on our recommendation. Our judgement is in no way biased, and our recommendations are always based on the merits of the items. For more details, please read our disclosure. This article may contain affiliate links, which pays us a small compensation if you do decide to make a purchase based on our recommendation. Our judgement is in no way biased, and our recommendations are always based on the merits of the items. For more details, please read our disclosure. Please enter your email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email. Please enter your email address. You will receive a confirmation link.
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September 2016
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