Tag: Facebook hack

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Facebook Hack

Security measures to avoid Facebook hack

Facebook Hack

Being an online social platform, Facebook has succeeded in reaching out to a large group of people worldwide. Today, Facebook is considered an established social networking platform with almost 2 billion users. With such a huge user population, the developers are struggling to implement a strict privacy policy that can protect every user from Facebook hack. In the last 5 years, the graph of Facebook hack victims has risen tremendously, and it has not fallen till now. Threat actors are coming up with modern cyber techniques to break the security wall and perform Facebook hack. Nowadays, Facebook became an unsafe platform to save & share personal information.

Tips to defend Hacking

Understanding Facebook is not safe

The first thing to understand before using Facebook is the fact that it is not safe. Even though Facebook is coming up with advanced security policies and privacy settings, hackers are finding it easy to deactivate these protections and gain access to a user’s profiles. In every update, there will be some loopholes or bugs through which the hackers get hold of users’ personal information. As long as hackers exist on Facebook, there will be Facebook hack and identity thefts. Customizing the privacy settings can only secure you to an extent. If you are using Facebook, you are always vulnerable to Facebook hack. So, it’s better to decrease the usage of Facebook and limit yourself from sharing excess personal information on Facebook. Believe that nothing is secure in this cyber world.

Never update anything which you don’t want a stranger to see

Facebook is a mix of known and unknown people. You should never post something which you don’t want a stranger to see. Even if your account is secured and the privacy settings are customized, there are chances that your friend has not secured his account and they have faced Facebook hack. Through them, the hackers could reach you and could leak your personal information. Avoid updating your date of birth, phone number, geo-locations, or other security numbers. This little information could pave way for huge losses.

Facebook hack

Understand social engineering, the art of hacking Facebook

Social engineering is the method of getting friendly to a person, slowly gaining trust and leaking their personal information. Even though this method takes time, it is used by the threat actors for the successful Facebook hack. This method is used to extract serious information because hackers wouldn’t spend a lot of time on silly information. Social engineering does not require complex tools or scripts, they talk to you in a common way and would not give any clue that it’s a Facebook hack. So next time when someone starts being close to you suddenly be aware!

Check your friends regularly

The biggest sign of a Facebook hack is the unusual behavior of your friends. When your normal friend starts to behave differently, like asking for money, sending links/attachments, make sure you are talking to your friend and not a hacker. There are possibilities that your friend’s account is hacked and the one talking to you is a hacker. If it is a hacker, they won’t reply to all your messages. They just keep on sending you infected links and attachments. In case you open the link believing it to be your friend, the virus hidden in those links will infect your Facebook, leading to Facebook hack. In this way, the hacker gets hold of different accounts through linked hacks.

Try to create a strong password

An easy method towards Facebook hack is by guessing your password with the information you have updated on Facebook. If you have a weak and easily guessable password, hackers can easily access your profile. Try to set a password with a combination of characters, numbers, letters, and special characters. Also, never use the same passwords for multiple accounts because if one account gets compromised, your entire accounts get hacked.

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Facebook Hack

Spam Emails; a tricky alternative toward Facebook hack

Since 2004, Facebook has changed the perspective of communication. Facebook brought together family and friends who were in different parts of the world. People stayed connected with Facebook. Users began to exchange messages instantly, shared their thoughts, and found new friends through Facebook. After a few years, Facebook started promoting businesses and millions of marketers flourished on Facebook. Gradually Facebook became a hub for business groups, promoters, and common users to connect with their loved ones. But due to some loopholes and vulnerabilities, hackers started to perform malicious activities on Facebook slowly leading to Facebook hack. They started hacking Facebook accounts and leaked the personal data of users. Slowly, privacy in Facebook became a myth. Today, Facebook is the major social platform that is unsafe and full of cyber hackers.

Recently, experts have advised users to stay cautious about Facebook spam emails claiming it to be from the official Facebook page. Studies show that apart from the motive of phishing and hacking Facebook accounts, these spams have a hidden agenda of transmitting malicious Trojans. These Trojans can sneak into your systems and steal your banking information without your knowledge.

Facebook hack; methodology

First, the hacker sets a target and gets a clear picture of that person. Then they will send a spam email to the target. The email will contain a web link that takes the target to an infected webpage that looks similar to the Facebook login page. When the target thinks that it is from Facebook and enters their login credentials, instantly the hackers will get hold of your account and they will change the password so that you can’t access it again. To be precise, once you enter your password, the user will be asked to download the “updatetool.exe” file, which is a dangerous form of Trojan. When you install that file, Trojan gets into your system and heads towards your hard drive to steal banking data and other personal information.

Threat actors also perform keylogging and other possible hacks to hijack information from you. Security experts say that Facebook hack have cunningly designed the page such that no one can identify it as fake at a glance. They are created in a refined manner. Facebook is an international platform used by more than two billion people worldwide. So proper awareness should be given to the users about the spreading of hoax Facebook emails. This is also considered a technique of social engineering. The popularity Facebook has gained over these years has attracted Facebook hack and identity thieves.

Even though strict restrictions were made on Facebook to control Facebook hack, malware authors are finding new ways to compromise accounts and exploit Facebook. A few years back, a Trojan malware named Bredolab was lurking in Facebook disguising it as Facebook Password reset. A simple step to understand fake web pages is to check the URL. If the URL consists of HTTPS, it is safe to browse but if it is HTTP, then you are vulnerable to Facebook hack.

If you receive any mail from Facebook and if you don’t analyse them before proceeding, you may end up in a hacked Facebook account. Some of the commonly found email scams include:

  • Notifications regarding photos, videos, messages, groups, friend requests etc.
  • Allegations that you are against Facebook community standards.
  • Alerts which say something will happen to your account, if not taken necessary actions.
  • Exciting offers that look legitimate, for instance winning a lottery.

To prevent hacking, check for the following:

  • Domain: If Facebook wants to send you notification, they will use their official website Facebookmail.com in case any suspicious login attempt or change in password. If the notification you received is not from this domain, then it is a scam.
  • Facebook logo: Whenever you receive any email from Facebook, have a closer look at its logo. If it is a fake one, you will have slight changes in the logo.
  • Personal data: An official notification from Facebook will have your name with greetings, your profile picture and you email address in the footer. If you receive any email without these details, then it can be sent by a hacker.
  • Footer: Genuine emails from Facebook will always have a footer including your email address, a link and the address from where the message was sent. If you find any suspiciousness in these details, then it is a red flag.
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Facebook Hack

Hidden dangers in Facebook that cause Facebook hack

Facebook Hack

Facebook is one of the common social media platforms used by almost everyone these days. During the initial stages, Facebook became so popular because of its function to connect with anyone around the world. Facebook was a breakthrough and an eye-opener about how social media should be and what its functions are. The term “social media” became common after the establishment of Facebook. Many companies used them as the reference and developed new software. Even though the demand for Facebook has slightly declined, it is still one of the prominent social media platforms with around 2 billion users. But the question is, are they safe from Facebook hack? The information and contents you upload on Facebook will remain intact?

Studies show that your privacy will be at stake on Facebook. Facebook once publically admitted that they use users’ information for advertisement purposes. Recently a complaint was filed against Facebook by 16 privacy and consumer protection organizations as they violated their privacy policy and sold millions of user information for third-party advertising companies. There were also accusations against Facebook that they were leaking private chats for business purposes.

After studying thoroughly about Facebook, the security researchers concluded that there are mainly five dangers in Facebook that users are unaware of, they include:

  • Even if Facebook say they secure your information, they share them with other party organizations for ads.
  • The privacy settings in Facebook can only block Facebook hacks to a certain extent and does not completely prevent them.
  • Facebook ad consists of malware.
  • People who are your friends in Facebook can be hackers.
  • One fourth of the accounts in Facebook are fake accounts.

Even though people know that it is not safe on Facebook, they use them regularly and upload & share content. To a certain extent, Facebook is a growing pain. If not used carefully, you may end up in a scam or Facebook hack. People you contact through Facebook may not be the person as they are given in their profile. To seek attention, most hacker creates female accounts with attractive profile pictures and personal information.

Facebook Hack

Does Facebook really provide privacy against Facebook hack?

To be honest, the answer is no. Facebook is an open book for third parties, once you upload anything, along with Facebook they will get access to them. For example, if you are playing games through Facebook or participating in any quiz before you go to the main tab, the first thing that pops up is the affirmation tab. You have to accept their policies to play the game or participate in the quiz. When you authorize the application, you are unknowingly permitting third parties to access your information.

The only motive of Facebook is to make money. So by introducing new features, Facebook will make you share as much information as it can such that they can sell those data to advertisers and make money. It’s all business. In today’s world, information is money. In addition, when Facebook releases new updates, they put some of your privacy settings back to default so that your data becomes public again. So you need to recheck the privacy setting after every update. The main highlight is that they don’t even notify you when they are changing your settings to default.

At a certain point, your real friends can also make you vulnerable to Facebook hacks. If any of your friends have a weak password and if their account got hacked, hackers will go through his friend list and from that he will target your account.

So it is recommended not to be active on Facebook. If you are using it, maintain a low profile. Stay alert and avoid Facebook hacks!