Before you start, find and delete all the compromising info in your inbox:
If your Facebook was hacked, there’s a good chance your email was too. Start by checking if your email account has been hacked, because most hacks start within your email. Use this free tool to find and help you remove exposed passwords, credit cards, bank and social security numbers in your email account.
The tool will keep you safe by removing any and all private data putting you at risk for credit card and identity theft. So if hackers hack your inbox, they won’t find what they’re looking for, and you’ll be protected.
Do you think your Facebook account was hacked? Perhaps you logged in to discover “Likes” you didn’t make on your newsfeed, or messages you didn’t write that were sent from your account. Maybe you noticed status updates on your profile that you never posted. Or worse, maybe your Facebook password was reset and you can’t even access your account.
Why would someone want to hack into your Facebook account? Well, with all of the personal information most people share on Facebook, your Facebook privacy is all the more important—and hacking your Facebook account becomes all the more lucrative. Information about workplaces, where you live, what restaurants and other establishments you visit often, who your social network consists of and more tends to be readily available on most Facebook accounts. That’s part of the reason it’s so important to take measures to protect your Facebook account, the simplest one being the use of a strong password.
To make matters worse, nowadays, hacking your Facebook account can be fairly easy. It doesn’t even take a hacker to do it. An angry friend or colleague or a jealous ex may feel impelled to compromise your Facebook privacy, and doing so isn’t much of a challenge. A simple Google search for “Facebook hacked” turns up a number of results for services that can help hack into a Facebook account. Unfortunately, if you’re a victim, it may take quite a bit of time and effort to regain control of your Facebook account.
If you think your Facebook account was hacked, here are some steps you can take right away. Note that the following suggestions all assume that your Facebook password wasn’t changed, and you still have access to your Facebook account. If that’s not the case, your best bet in order to regain control of your account would be to report a compromised Facebook account.
- Change Your Password
Your Facebook password is what protects so much of your personal information from intruders, so it’s worthwhile to use a password that would be difficult for anyone other than you to guess. When you perform your password change, make sure you choose a strong password. This means choosing a password that follows these criteria:
- Your password is not a dictionary term. These terms can be “guessed” by machines operated by hackers, and are the easiest ways to compromise your Facebook privacy.
- Your password includes at least one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, and one number. To make a password even stronger, consider placing a number or set of numbers in the middle of the word or words you choose to use as your password.
- Your password includes a special character, like an exclamation point or question mark.
If you think you’ll have difficulty remembering your strong Facebook password after this reset, consider using a password manager to help you out. Here is a list of the top password managers of 2015 from PC Magazine.
- Activate Login Approvals
One of the best tools Facebook provides for protecting your Facebook privacy is Login Approvals. This tool is like Facebook’s version of two-step verification, which adds a second and very useful protective layer on top of your password.
When you have Login Approvals enabled, which you can do through the settings featured on your Facebook Security page, you’ll need to enter a special code that Facebook will send you via text message any time you attempt to access your Facebook account from a new device. This means that if someone tries to access your account from a computer or other device that isn’t yours, they won’t be able to.
- Enable Login Alerts
Login Alerts is a second tool Facebook provides to enhance your Facebook privacy. With Login Alerts, you’ll receive an alert from Facebook any time there’s an attempt to access your account from an unrecognized device (i.e. a device that’s never been used to access your account before). This is a nice feature to help keep intruders out of your account, though some people opt to use this option instead of Login Approvals if the approvals are too much of a hassle.
If your Facebook account was hacked, you want to regain control of it ASAP. It’s lucky to still have access to your account after it is hacked, as this gives you an opportunity to make the changes that are critical to protecting your privacy moving forward. For more detailed information on steps you can take to protect your Facebook account, check out our blog post, What Should You Do If Your Facebook Account Was Hacked.
Quick Recovery Steps
- Change your Facebook password.
- Go to your ‘Settings’ page.
- Under ‘General Account Settings’ enter your current and new password.
- Monitor and end active sessions and devices.
- Go to ‘Security’ and check ‘Where You’re Logged In’.
- If you notice any unfamiliar devices or locations, click ‘End Activity’ to end the session.
- Check your recent activity.
- Look at the ‘Activity Log’ at the top right of the page.
- Check comments, likes, private messages to see if they are yours.
- In the Settings section, check ‘Payments’ to see if these were authorized by you.
- Activate login approvals.
- Go to the Security page, open ‘Log In Alerts’.
- Activate ‘Notifications’ to receive login alerts.
- Remove suspicious Facebook applications.
- Go to the ‘Apps’ page on the left hand side
- Click ‘X’ next to the app to remove it.
