How to keep your social media platforms safe from hacking

Infamous hacking group Anonymous have declared an ‘electronic Holocaust’ on Israel for April 7th 2015 – whereby they wish to obliterate official Israeli websites – government, military and institutional sites. According to Daniel Cohen, a research associate at the Israel Institute for National Security Studies Cyber Warfare program most of the hackers are from within the Middle East – Gaza, Morocco and Syria – whom are generally induced by radicalised Islamic movements.

There are a few measures being taken to tackle this issue, such as the upcoming US-Israel Defensive Cyberspace Operations & Intelligence Conference in Washington DC. Additionally, official government offices are implementing precautions in advance of the planned hacking attack. It is important to implement safe-measures against hacking, particularly in preparation for April 7. Here is an example of what anonymous are capable of!

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Here is an easy to follow guide to help keep your social media platforms safe from hacking! The guide will explain how to keep your Gmail, Facebook and Twitter and protected!

Gmail:

  • Gmail has a 2 step verification security system – to protect your account with both your password and your phone
  • How it works: sign into your account with your password, then a code will be sent to your phone
  • Just like the Facebook 2 step verification – you can choose not to use the 2 step verification on that certain computer
  • If someone tries to sign in to your account from a different computer, then the 2 step verification will be needed

Facebook:

  • Ensure you have as minimal amount of admins as possible
  • Go to Facebook settings → ‘page roles’ → ‘general settings’
  • From here you can control the ‘country restrictions’ – choose which countries can not interact with your profile
  • You can also control the ‘tagging ability’ and ‘posting ability’ for your page, limit the amount of people who can tag you in posts and who can post to your page

The latest security feature of Facebook is ‘Login Approvals’

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Login Approvals is a Two Factor Authentication system.

  • Each time you log onto Facebook for a new/unrecognised computer you will be required to enter a code that is sent to your mobile phone.
  • Once the code is entered you have the option to save that device to your account.
  • If Facebook sees a login from an unrecognized device you will be asked to verify that login.
  • If the login is not recognisable you are able to change your password – preventing the person who attempted to login from creating any harm to your account.

Twitter:

  • Be aware of ‘phishing’ schemes – this is when users are sent fraudulent messages to trick them into sharing their password.
  • These schemes appear as fake emails or log-in screens that look like Twitter → Twitter never sends email asking for your password, so if you see this it is definitely a scam!
  • Check your address bar on your internet browser to make sure you are on the real Twitter!

General password protection:

  • Lastpass website stores your passwords and keeps them safe
  • You can create notes for credit cards, insurance cards, memberships, WiFi logins, and various other things.
  • The information is stored safe and private.
  • Lastpass helps you to create stronger passwords, which will help prevent hacking.

Hope you found the guide useful, if you follow the above steps you should be well on your way to safe, secure account, free from hackers!

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