3 min read

How to Keep Your Social Media Accounts Secure

How to Keep Your Social Media Accounts Secure

In today’s day and age, the internet is at the center of almost everything we do. The pandemic pushed even more people online and to social media while they isolated in their homes, contributing to the current total of 3.96 billion social media users.

With this rapid and ongoing growth, there is also an increased threat of hackers and security breaches. In order to prevent hackers from gaining access to your account and personal information, follow these precautionary steps to keep your accounts secure.

Social media security best practices

There are many things you can do to keep your accounts secure and prevent unwanted users from gaining. My first tip is to entirely delete accounts which you no longer use. If you are no longer using an account, the password is not being changed regularly, giving hackers a better opportunity to access your account and impersonate you.

I also recommend using security controls that are offered on social media accounts. Security controls allow you to manage who can view content on your profiles, who can send you friend requests, and more.

Additionally, having a strong password is the best way to keep your social media accounts secure. Here are a few tips to follow when creating passwords:

Steps to take if your social media account has been hacked

Unfortunately, social media account compromises are more common than you may think. Following the recommendations above can help prevent hackers from gaining access to your account, but they don’t guarantee it will not happen. If your account has been compromised, here are some recommended steps to take:

  1. Change your password again
  2. Set up two-factor authentication if possible
  3. Ensure the device you are logging in from has not been compromised
  4. If you or any friends were affected and experienced a financial loss as a result of the fraud, file a report with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), police department, or their financial institution depending on how they were affected by the hacker

While using social media has become almost unavoidable in today’s world, following these security best practices and knowing the steps to take if you’re hacked help make your scrolling much safer.

Christi McWilliams, CCBSO, CAFP, ABCP, CBSM

Christi McWilliams, CCBSO, CAFP, ABCP, CBSM

VP, Consumer Services Regional Manager (515) 245-2876 Email Christi

Christi McWilliams is VP, Consumer Services Regional Manager at Bankers Trust and has more than 15 years of experience in the banking industry. She began her career at Bankers Trust in the Customer Service department, followed by several years as a Relationship Banker, Electronic Banking Specialist and Deposit Operations before joining the Financial Intelligence team in 2015. Her responsibilities include all aspects of physical security enterprise-wide, robbery prevention, and fraud monitoring. Christi is a Certified Community Bank Security Officer (CCBSO), Certified AML and Fraud Professional (CAFP), Certified Bank Security Manager (CBSM), and a Certified Associate Business Continuity Professional (ABCP).

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