Brad Goodman is an online educator that helps to encourage people to get online degrees. Today, he has taken the time to write about protecting yourself from a Facebook hijacking.
How to Avoid a Facebook Hijack
Lots of mobile, connected people own portable devices that can access the Internet, have Facebook profiles, and use unsecured wireless networks to get online when out in public over the course of a day. Lots of Facebook users have also seen the amount of spam plaguing the social network increase pretty substantially in the last several years, with friends leaving posts on everyone’s walls about free iPads, fake job offers, pyramid schemes, and other scams advertised by bots that hijack Facebook profiles.
One potential factor here is the ease with which users using certain Firefox extensions on public networks can steal Facebook logins and passwords; as a consequence, it’s important to enable secure data transmissions wherever possible when using Facebook. Conveniently, this is an easy thing to do, and as of early this month every Facebook user can do it, which will encrypt all data transmissions that can be encrypted.
On a Facebook page, click on “Account” in the top right corner, then click on “Account Settings.” You’ll then be taken to your account settings. Find “Account Security” in this list, and select “change” on the right side to modify its settings. This will then bring down an expanded menu. Check the box next to “Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) whenever possible,” and check “Send me an email” if you want to receive a notification every time a new computer logs into your Facebook account, though this isn’t as important as enabling secure connections.
Check the box that reads “Save” and return to any other Facebook page. Every Web browser tells you that your connection is secure differently, but make sure that the URL of the Facebook page you’re on begins with “https://” rather than “http://” and you’re likely good to go, making it much safer to browse Facebook on insecure or public wireless networks.
Guest post written by Brad Goodman also known for encouraging people to earn online accounting degrees as well as attend online nursing programs.