A few years ago when you first logged in to your Facebook account, you might have probably skipped setting your account privacy and security options. Fast forward today, reports of Facebook data breaches never stopped hogging the daily headlines.
Probably it’s high time you re-visit your Facebook settings and tweak the menus around protecting your account from attackers who continue to lurk in the dark nooks of the Internet.
So here’s the first plan: make a backup for all your posts, photos and videos shared on Facebook. Chances are, when a hacker manages to access your account without you knowing it, the next time you log in, you are locked out. But with Facebook’s backup support, you never have to worry about losing hold of your precious Facebook profile forever.
The backup support works in coordination with at least three of your most trusted allies: your friends. The “Trusted Contacts” feature, as it is casually called, allows you to send security codes to up to five of your closest friends.
In the event that you are locked out of your Facebook account, because perhaps a cyber crook infiltrated it, you can ask for those codes and use them in a specific combination to recover your account.
The feature can be activated through your Security Settings and from there it should be easy to locate the tool.
Also, you must review the access privilege of third party apps that you might have given permission a long time ago. As long as you do not change that setting, those apps will have access to your account, and if the same app falls into the traps of attackers, your Facebook will be compromised as well.
You have the option to remove them from your authorized apps by going to the Settings and Apps, from there you will have a complete view of all the apps that currently access your account. It’s even easier now to check your app permissions. Recent Facebook updates allow users to edit the information they provide when they log in.
And then equally important is to check regularly your Activity Log, where you will have a full view of who is having access to your account. If you suspect that somebody else is doing an activity using your account, something is amiss.
All these security guidelines are on top of a few other security tips that you must practice as well. This includes implementing a two-factor authentication and using a strong password combination.
