How To Secure Your Facebook Account

With the wealth of apps we connect to via Facebook, it’s more important than ever to ensure your account is well protected against hackers. Facebook provides a good number of options to do this, so read on to learn how to keep yourself safe online. 

Use Facebook’s Security Settings

The first step to securing your account is obviously to set up a strong password. That means no “12345” or pet names. 

Next, you’ll want to set up two-step verification. This adds an extra security layer by making it so you can’t log in with a username and password alone. You’ll receive either an SMS or email from Facebook to verify each login attempt. 

Check Your Activity Log

If you click on the “security and login” tab, you’ll find a list of devices listed under “where you logged in.” You can click “see more” to get more details on the devices. This will enable you to see all the devices where your account is currently active and gives you the option to deactivate them. To do this, click the three dots, then click “log out.”

You can then set up your trusted contacts under “setting up extra security.” These should be 3-5 people you really trust who can then help you recover your account should you forget your login info. 

Protect Your Privacy

When you make a post, Facebook allows you to choose who gets to see it via the “Audience” drop-down menu. You can also hide public posts made in the past in the “Privacy” tab in the left-hand menu by opening it, finding “Your Activity” and selecting “Limit Past Posts.” 

You can also limit others from tagging you in posts, or at least force Facebook to ask for your permission each time. This means that, while others can always post a photo of you, you won’t get tagged automatically and it won’t show up on your personal page.