Facebook Breach: 9 Tips for Facebook Users in India to Secure their Accounts

In recent times, Facebook has often been in the news for all the wrong reasons. A recent development has become a major cause of worry for Facebook users in India. Nearly 50 million users may have become victims of a Facebook breach that exposed accounts and their linked third party apps to hackers. What is more perturbing is that a majority of the affected users are most likely Indians.

The impact of this Facebook breach could be worse than it seems now as hackers could have accessed any account logged into using Facebook. Facebook’s single sign-on feature allows users to log into third party apps such as Swiggy, Zomato, BigBasket, Hotstar, Tinder, Nykaa, SonyLIV, Dominos, and so on says a report on Economic Times.

The number of Facebook users in India is expected to rise to 262 million in 2020, up from 194.11 million in 2017, says a report on Statista. Users are reportedly getting logged out of accounts due to this Facebook Breach and there is absolutely no clarity on the kind of data that was accessed by hackers.  There are also scores of YouTube videos that mention tips and steps on ‘How to Hack Facebook’.

The Facebook breach has allowed hackers to exploit a vulnerability in the code of the ‘View As’ feature that allows users to see what their profiles look like to others. Facebook claims to have fixed the vulnerability as of now and launched an investigation into the same. In the meanwhile Facebook users can apply the following measures to safeguard their accounts.

How to Secure Facebook Account

1. Although Facebook says that there is no need to change passwords, experts say that it would not hurt to change the passwords of existing accounts every two to three months.
2. Uncheck the ‘Keep me Logged in’ feature and log out and then log in again.
3. Check on the 'Secure browsing’ option privacy settings. Check the box 'Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) when possible.'
4. Go to Security settings. On the second option you'll see 'Login Notifications.' Edit this option and check the boxes for email and text message options to get notifications when someone tries to access your account.
5. A pop up box that reads 'Login Approvals is an extra layer of security that uses your phone to protect your account'. Do check the box to enable this security feature.
6. If your Facebook account is hacked or you've forgotten your password, there is a feature called ‘Add Trusted Contacts’, which when enabled allows the contacts to help you get back onto Facebook.
7. Always only allow ‘Friends’ to view your activity and private details.
8. Download a copy of your Facebook data under 'Settings > General > Download a copy to safeguard your Facebook Data from hackers.
9. Always check your Active Sessions. If you notice any unfamiliar location or device, it means your Facebook Account is at risk. Just click on End Activity and change your password immediately. To Check Active Sessions - Go to Home -> Account Settings -> Security -> Active Sessions.