NewsNational News

Actions

What to do if your Facebook account is breached

Posted

Recently, 90 million people had their Facebook account’s breached. Many are still trying to log back into their page, but are unsuccessful in their attempts. Cyber experts say you should first focus on protecting your personal information that could have been compromised. 

Tekesha Saffold realized her account was breached when she logged in, but soon realized it wasn’t her account. She reached out to Facebook by phone, but she got an automated recording directing her to their troubleshooting page online. 

“I have no access to my account at this point, and it has all my information in it,” Saffold says. 

Saffold completed the steps Facebook told her to take in order to gain access back into her account, but it didn’t work.

Cyber expert Fred Kneip, with Cyber GRX, says the most important thing to do is figure out what other accounts you sign into using your Facebook credentials. 

“The first things hackers do is take those passwords or credentials,” he explains. 

Hackers try to apply those passwords to banking sites and healthcare sites to get more information, and ultimately, steal your identity. 

That’s why Kneip says to focus on your passwords.

“If you are updating your passwords and using unique passwords, that’s the safest way to address this,” Kneip says.

He also suggests turning on the dual-factor notification on Facebook. It sends you a text with a set of numbers you have to plug into get into your account, along with your password. He says it’s twice the protection.  

Tekesha and so many others may still be locked out of their Facebook account, but Kneip encourages them to stay persistent. 

If you believed your account was hacked, you can start by visiting Facebook's online resource.