If you are like millions out there, Facebook
has become your no. 1 website on the
Web. As you login to it every single day
from many devices, be it from your mobile
phone, computer, laptop and office
workstation, there is a chance that you may
leave your Facebook account on without
logging out. If your account gets accessed
by strangers, it’s going to open up a large
can of worms, so you should seriously try
to prevent unwanted access to your
account.
1. Create Strong Password
Chances are, you already have your
password created for Facebook however it
is advisable for you to make sure your
Facebook password is one of a kind and
different from your other online accounts
e.g. email, blog, hosting etc.
To change your password, go to Account
Settings > General > Password.
The best passwords would have the
combination of small and capital letters,
numbers and symbols.
2. Confirm Your Mobile Number
Confirming your mobile number is one of
many ways to enhance your account
security on Facebook. This way, even when
you lose or forget your password, Facebook
will be able to send you a new one via
SMS.
To add your mobile number, go to Account
Settings > Mobile and click on Add a
Phone.
3. Activate Secure Browsing, Now
Among other things, to make sure your
browsing activity within Facebook is safe,
you can turn on the Secure browsing
option. By doing this, you automatically
limit all external applications that are
integrated with Facebook from doing any
harm or taking your personal information
without your knowledge or approval.
To start securing your account, click on the
drop down menu from the top right corner
of your Facebook account and go to
Account Settings. > Select Security from
the left menu > At the Secure Browsing
section, click on the Edit link at the right >
The option panel will appear, ‘check’ the
box Browse Facebook on a secure
connection then click on the Save Changes
button.
4. Activate ‘Login Approvals’
Login approvals is an extended security
feature offered by Facebook, and it will
require you to enter a security code each
time you try to access your Facebook
account from unrecognized devices. To
activate Login Approvals, go to Account
Settings > Security, look for Login
Approvals and click on the Edit button > An
option to activate Login Approvals will
appear, tick the check box to activate >
click and activate
5. Disconnect Previous Active Sessions
The good thing about Facebook is that it
lets you know about your previous active
sessions, where you login from, and what
devices you used to access your Facebook
account. Now to make sure your account is
safe, from the Account Settings > Security
page, look for ‘Active Sessions‘ and click on
Edit > Now all previous sessions will be
listed, together with the current active
session at the top of the list. Click on the
link ‘End Activity‘ to kill the activities from
other devices.
6. Activate Private Browsing
Another way to prevent another person
from accessing your account is by
activating the ‘Private Browsing’ option
from your browsers. All browsers have this
private browsing option, and by activating
this option, your activity will not be logged
into the browsing history.
7. Don’t ‘Keep Me Logged In’
The moment you want to login to your
Facebook account, at the Log In page,
there’s a small checkbox that says Keep
me logged in. Make sure this box is
unchecked. Then, log in as usual. With this
on, you will be asked for your email and
password every time you launch Facebook.
8. Avoid Spam Links
Facebook is serious about spam and is
always enhancing its features to make sure
you are safe from being a victim to scams.
The types of attacks include money scams
through direct or indirect requests via
Facebook messages, chat etc, phishing links
that will redirect you to fake websites,
malicious links that could retrieve your
personal information or even harm your
computer. There are also chances you may
receive emails from ‘Facebook’ but it is
actually from a phishing website, this
modus operandi is part of a scam.
Never click on suspicious links whenever or
wherever you find it, even if it came from
your friends. If you receive a link, always
take the extra step of asking your friend
what the link is to confirm that they had
sent it. Usually these links are ‘sent’
without the sender’s knowledge. This
includes all links that appear in your
Facebook Chat, Messages, friend’s status
post or even from your email.
Never give out your username or password
to anyone, including websites with
suspicious links and layouts. Giving your
passwords freely could jeopardize the
security of your personal information on
Facebook.
Log in only at www.facebook.com and not
from any other link or website, unless you
are accessing via Facebook App.
Update your browser to its latest version
to ensure your browser’s security is up to
date so it would detect and alert you with
a warning when you are navigating to a
suspected phishing site
9. Sign Out After Use
Lastly which is the most important of all
(and definitely worth repeating), never
forget to log out from your Facebook
account.
