If you have a Facebook account you’ll want to read this (regardless of if you use it or not)
I have been hacked 2x in under a year. The 1st time I was able to recover everything after a few stressful days. The 2nd time - I had to put my “CEO” hat on and say “this is not the highest and best use of my time & what is my highest risk right now?”
Basically I have ZERO access to years and years of photos and data that I shared. I have no control over how some creepy hacker uses the information and no control over the fall out of it. It’s very violating.
**For context: I had ALL of the safety features set up on my account, including 2 factor authentication with an app and they still hacked me. Which leads me to believe Meta’s security is not that secure**
Here are some of my thoughts and things I wish someone had brought to my attention years ago.
Do you use Facebook?
I didn’t. Other than for some groups I’m a part of. But I never ‘scrolled’ Facebook. So I was never clicking on random ads etc.
Why does it matter?
This is important for 2 reasons, and it applies to if you are a personal user or use it for ads.
First thing to know, depending on the severity, you can NEVER reach Facebook/Meta. Trust me I tried. Once the hacker changed the email on my account - it was game over. Which in itself is completely asinine.
If you personal user and you get hacked: they have your password, email, name, birthday, maybe birthplace, schools, all your photos, basically enough to steal your identity
If you run ads for your business (which you need a personal account to do) they have access to your credit card, they can run ads all they want until you shut them down. And if you are the only user on your account and are locked out - guess what? You can’t stop that either. They also now have access to any of your pages.
There are so many other things the hacker can do while having full access to your account (just ask Google) but my goal today is just to bring your awareness to the fact that it happens, it’s real, and it sucks.
What should you do?
Do you have all the security features enabled? Authenticator app, recovery codes
Think very carefully about what’s up there. Are there things you can remove? School info? Photos? If you were to get hacked, what could that person do with your information? Identity?
Do you NEED the account? If the thought of going “Facebook-less” is too much for you, what about removing a whole bunch of stuff. While I recognize Facebook still has it all, it’s not readily available for the hacker.
Be extra careful about what you click ON in FB and what you sign up for in FB
Do you use your Facebook account to log into other things online? Maybe stop doing that. I only ever use my email. It helps cut the ties to Facebook for this exact reason.
Use a different email address. I don’t know if you can log in a change your email once your account has been created, (and I can’t answer this because I no longer have access) but if you can, create an email that you only use for Facebook - nowhere else. If you are a business owner like me, and have your email address out on public display it makes it way easier for them to find you.