How to Keep Your Social Media Accounts Safe

Are You Online?  

These days just about everyone is using social media, but do you know how to keep your social media accounts safe? There are so many things you can do to protect your account from hackers. So, stop ignoring those privacy updates, and let’s get into the details! 

How to Keep Your Social Media Accounts Safe 

 Create a Strong Password  

Creating a strong password is vital to keeping your accounts secure. And while it’s certainly tempting to use something memorable when setting up a login, chances are that the name of your childhood pet just isn’t going to cut it.   

Instead, consider avoiding common phrases and words to further safeguard from potential threats. Adding numbers or symbols, mixing lowercase and uppercase letters, and using at least twelve characters can also reinforce your password’s protective capabilities.   

Use Different Passwords for Every Account  

Password usage plays a big role in understanding how to keep your social media accounts safe. Regardless of a password’s complexity, it’s always within your best interests to use distinctive passwords for each of your online accounts. In doing so, you establish more durable boundaries for your information, curbing the chances all your accounts will be compromised after one breach.   

Implement Two-Factor Authentication  

The most common method in today’s world to protect systems in addition to a password is two-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication, sometimes called 2FA, follows what you know (your password) and what you have (device or token) methodology. The device can be a mobile phone, a landline phone, a portable token (USB), or a smart card (chip). 

A password can be used virtually from anywhere in the world, so where’s the proof that the password is being entered by you?  Therefore, two-factor authentication has a physical component to it. Two-factor authentication works only after your password is entered correctly. In order to log in successfully one of the following would need to happen from a mobile phone for example. 

• Accept a push notification on your mobile phone. 
• Use Touch ID technology. 
• Enter the SMS code sent to your mobile phone. 

Keep Your Sensitive Info Off Your Profile  

Wondering how to keep your social media accounts safe when everything is online? Your social media profile asks for a lot of information, but that doesn’t mean you have to fill it all in or make it all visible. This is one of the few times that doing the bare minimum is the more responsible choice. Only fill out what you need to on your social media profile and avoid posting information on your account that bad actors can use to impersonate you. 

Analyze Your Account Privacy Settings 

Many users agree to the privacy terms on social media without reviewing them. If you want to learn how to keep your social media accounts safe, reviewing what information is available to the public in your privacy settings is vital. You may find out your email address or phone number is public, which could cause an influx of spam emails and phone calls. 

Avoid Logging into Your Social Accounts on Public Computers/WIFI 

We can all pretend we have always known better, but it’s likely at some point we caved and used a public WIFI network. Whether it be at a cafe or a hotel, the risks of using public WIFI are something that you need to be aware of.   

There is so much sensitive information that gets passed around online from just checking our email accounts to banking and online purchases. So, we need to be hyperaware of what we do online and how secure our network is.    

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