How to Stay Social Media Secure

Step 1

Change your password right away.

Step 2

Notify your contacts that your account may have been compromised. This will prevent them from clicking on anything suspicious that appears to be coming from you that might contain malware or be a phishing attempt.

Step 3

Flag messages sent from your account not posted by you as scams to the social media site, and delete them from your profile page.

Step 4

Review whether your account includes personal information that could be used to steal your identity or guess your security questions on other accounts.

• Date of birth
• Address
• Hometown
• Names of family members and pets

Step 5

Consider whether the password for the compromised account is being used on any of your other accounts.

• Criminals will try your email address and known password on a range of accounts and websites to see if they can log in as you. This includes online shopping applications and banking sites.

Step 6

• Review if there are any applications or games installed on your device that you didn’t download. If found, delete them immediately.

Step 7

• Check your email and your online bank account/credit cards for any indication of purchases made without your knowledge. If found, change the passwords associated with these (each password should be unique and complex) and report any transactions to the fraud department of your financial institution.