3 Tricks To Keep Your Facebook Account Safe

Facebook security is important, so here are 3 effective tricks to keep your Facebook account safe that you may not know about.

 

 

1. Give Facebook your cell/mobile number.

Okay, we know what you’re thinking – why on earth would I want to give Facebook my phone number? Half of what we write about seems to be damning Facebook for being so privacy-backward as well as warning our readers to limit the amount of information you share on social media as much as possible.

But fair credit to Facebook, their login-approval system is an effective security step that is a must-have for anyone serious about keeping their Facebook account safe. Login approval requires you to enter a code into Facebook every time you login from an unrecognised device.

Yes, this means every time you use a friends computer or a public computer, for example, you’ll need to wait for the SMS to arrive (don’t worry, it’s instant) and enter it into Facebook.

Of course this means a scammer who has tricked you into giving away your password (possibly through a malware or phishing attack) does not have access to your account without the code sent to your phone.

So take that scammer, 1-0 to the good guys.

Remember to make sure your phone number is set to Only Me in your About section to stop anyone seeing it. Giving Facebook your number also means you have an extra method to recover your account in case it gets compromised.

 

2. Avoid Public Computers (or use on-screen keyboards)

Using public computers in libraries and Internet cafes has become less common these days, simply because everyone and his dog owns either a notebook computer or tablet or even an Internet smartphone, capable of accessing cyberspace when on-the-go…

But it’s still worth mentioning that public computers are a no-no when logging into personal accounts like Facebook simply because you have no idea what malware may be lurking in the background from a previous user.

Most commonly, if a computer in a public space is infected, it will be with a keylogger that records all keystrokes, including passwords, and transmits them to a scammer.

If you must log-in to your Facebook account or any other account on a shared/public computer, use an on-screen keyboard (recent versions of Windows have one pre-installed, just search for Keyboard) so you can type in your login information without pressing anything on the keyboard – this makes keyloggers ineffective – so happy days!

3. Oath to Self – "I will always check the URL before entering my password"

And finally, make it your golden rule of thumb, an unbreakable oath to yourself, that every time you are presented with the Facebook login page, or any other page asking for your Facebook details, that you first check the URL web address of the Webpage to ensure it belongs to FACEBOOK.com !

Phishing attacks that create spoof websites are still amongst the most popular scams online, and are frustratingly so very easy to spot!

 

 

 

(And P.S. always remember to have good security software installed at all times to help keep your passwords out of hands of scammers. Click here for our recommendations on Internet security software. )

 

And as usual, keep safe out there!