Responding to Facebook Security Breach: A Guide with 5 Key Actions

Facebook is the most extensive social networking site on the Internet. Yes, it is trendy but not just with the right audience but among the malicious hackers as well. This popular site is the great door that hackers access to snoop in your personal information and hack your private data.

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Imagine the horror of some third person reading your private chat, going through your info or sending ridiculous messages to your loved ones. Can you picture a hacker sending abusive content to your boss or worse, your mom? It is a case of Cybercrime, and your identity and reputation are at stake.

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Remember, it’ll take only one wrong message or post to shatter it. So, what should you do? Secure your FB account and other online accounts to prevent cyber attacks. However, if it’s too late, we’ll share just the things to do when your Facebook account is hacked.

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How to Know if your FB Account is Hacked?

If nothing visible has changed yet, how can you be sure that your facebook account has been hacked? There’s a reasonably simple method to check that:

Monitor your Login Sessions

Log in to your FB account and click the upside-down triangle (inverted triangle) in the top-right corner of the screen. Now, select Settings. Click Security and Login. Now at the very top, you’ll view a list of most recent devices you’ve logged in from and when they were active.

Tread carefully. You don’t want to alert the hacker just now when the hacker may still have control over your account. Monitor your login sessions and remove any unknown device by clicking the three dots and logging out of the machines. Also, select the option Not You?

Facebook will now take you through steps which will help secure your account.

Now, also you should check for these things.

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Check for these Suspicious Activities on Facebook

• Check your inbox to see if any suspicious messages or ads the hacker sent to your friends or unknown people.
• See if there are any new friends added in your friend list or friend request has been sent that you know nothing about.
• Further, check to see if any posts hacker makes under your name on facebook.
• You may also check your info like Birthday date, email address, name and more to see if the hacker changes them.

Now, once you’re sure your account has been hacked, follow the below steps to secure your FB account.

Things to do When your Facebook Account is Hacked

Below are some of the things to do when your Facebook Account is Hacked

Change your Facebook Account Password

If the hacker has not changed your password yet, you’re in luck. Just log in to your FB account and change your password. Go to S ettings> Security and Logi n. Scroll below to login and click Change Password. Now enter your current password and then a new one (use a sturdy never-used before password) and click Save Changes.

I highly recommend using a secure password manager to avoid recurrences of the incident.

Reset your Facebook Account Password

Just in case the hacker has changed your password, don’t panic. We have a solution. Try to regain access to your account by visiting the facebook login page. Here, click Forgot Your Password?

Now, Facebook will help you retrieve your password. If you have access to an email account or phone number associated with your Facebook account, enter it to find your account. Once facebook finds your account, it will provide options to reset your password.

You can select your phone or email for the same. Now, you can also add multiple emails in case the primary email gets hacked as well. This action will help to recover your facebook account faster.

Report the Compromised Account to Facebook

Facebook takes its security very seriously and would like to know if someone has access to your account. If your friends or family have been receiving spam messages from your facebook account, there is a high chance that the hacker is using your identity to misinform or gather personal info of your friends.

The best thing here is to report your account as compromised . Facebook will even help you recover your account in the best way possible.

How to Remove Facebook from your Life

Remove Rogue Application and Browser Add-ons

Once you have access to your facebook account, go to Settings> Apps. Now click on Show All. Here you’ll be able to see all those apps that have access to your facebook. If you find any suspicious or rogue application, remove it or instead, you can click on the pencil icon to change its access settings.

Here, you can change the information it can access and the control over your Facebook posts for each app.

Caution your Friends and Family

Once your account has been hacked or compromised, do damage control and caution your friends and family. There might be a possibility where the hacker tries to get access to your friends and family’s information by posting a spammy link on your account.

Informing them beforehand will help them stay cautious and on alert for any suspicious activity on your account.

How to Secure your Facebook Account

“Once bitten, twice shy.” This saying holds true in this scenario as well where you may have been hacked. Once you’re done securing your account, it’s time to take it one step further. Below steps will be helpful in ensuring your Facebook account for the future.

In Settings> General, Add more than one email addresses and verify your phone number. It will help to restore your account in case anything goes haywire again.

From Security and Login under settings, make sure you set up additional security measures including SMS and email alerts for unknown logins, two-factor authentication and pick 3-5 friends who can help you restore your account if it gets hacked.

Additionally, you should also make sure to install a secure antivirus solution and antimalware to keep your browser and computer safe from viruses, malware and cyber threats over the Internet. We hope our list of things to do when your Facebook Account is hacked was helpful to you.

Stay Safe & Secure on Your Social Media.

2 thoughts on “5 Things to do when your Facebook Account is Hacked”

1. 
   Janet O’Dea

Click here

September 11, 2022 at 9:13 pm
I’ve been told by existing FB friends that they have received a friends request from me.
Presumably that means that I’ve been hacked. I’ve warned everyone not to open any requests from me.
The FB password I have doesn’t seem to be responding so I’m not sure what to do to change it or if someone else has changed it.
Can you please advise what I should do to rectify this without losing all my contacts.
Reply
2.
Pamela

March 26, 2023 at 5:39 pm
I was hacked in February. I uploaded my ID to prove that I am the owner of the account. I got no response. I also reported my account as hacked. Facebook sent me an email telling me my account doesn’t violate community standards, so they won’t take it down. The real message I am getting from them is that the hacker, who stole my account of 15 years has the right to do whatever he wants with because he isn’t posting anything offensive to get it taken down, but me, who was the owner of the account, has no rights whatsoever. If I find a solution to your question , I will pass it along.
Reply

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