Hacked on social media? Steps to take right now
The chances of your Instagram, X, Facebook, Amazon, Threads, Rumble, Twitch or other accounts getting taken over by spammy bots and data-stealing thieves have never been higher. So, don’t sit there all smug, thinking, “Oh, Kim, that could never happen to me!”
A lot of the advice you find online about hacked social media sites and profiles is just plain wrong or, worse, leads to a scammer who promises to get your account back but really just steals your money. Not on my watch!
Here I am to save the day with moves you should make when your social media accounts are hacked. You might want to use the share buttons below to email this article to yourself. This way, you have it handy when you need it.
Step 1: Sign out on every device
It’s alarming to think about someone else’s hands all over your social media account, posting crap on your page. Fully sign out of your account on every device you’re logged in.
Pro tip: Under the Settings section in every social app, you’ll see a list of all (or the most recent) devices signed in. On Facebook, for instance, just click your profile picture > Settings & privacy > Activity log > Where you’re logged in.
This step will often boot more casual hackers piggybacking on automatic sign-ins. They’ll get asked for passwords they don’t have and won’t be able to log in again, so they can’t spam your peeps. But don’t stop here!
Step 2: Change your password
Log into your account on one device and change your password. The account or settings page will have that option, like here on Instagram. If hackers did get your password (maybe from a massive data breach), this will lock them out.
You know the drill: Replace your old password with a strong one. Make it at least 12 characters with a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Better yet, have your password manager* come up with a great one for you.
Step 3: Report the hack
Now, hackers should be mostly locked out of your socials. Before you take a deep breath, though, report the hack. This way, your social media platform can help you roll back your hacked messages and freeze your account until you’re sure everything is safe.
These passwords take 1 second to crack
Here’s a wild stat: 78% of the world’s most common passwords can be cracked in less than a second. The most-used password in the world, “123456,” has been leaked more than 3 million times. And get this: 1.2 million of those were corporate passwords.
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Remembering complex, unique passwords for every single account is practically impossible. If you’re like most people, you probably end up reusing passwords or writing them down somewhere, which isn’t your best bet if you value security.