how to keep you Facebook account from being hacked(extended version)
I have noticed lately that face book account hacking has become unbelievably common. I am sure there are many people that are reading this that have had their account hacked or know someone that has had their account hacked. This is no way to protect your Facebook account 100% from hackers(aside from not having a Facebook account) however, are ways to protect yourself from Facebook hackers , and greatly reduce your risk of having your account hacked, some of these tips will also apply to other sites. To protect yourself from being hacked it helps to know the basics of how and why accounts are hacked. Often hackers will login under a friends Facebook account and send you spam messages, since they appear to be your friend you are more likely to click their links (or at least read there messages).There are many ways that Facebook accounts can be hacked but the most common way is through a phishing site (a site that looks like a legitimate site but is not). What many people don’t know is that Facebook(and other sites) will save information that tells the website that you are logged on in files hidden on your computer called cookies (don’t worry cookies do not put your username and password at risk), websites use these cookies to determine that you are logged in. For user convenience sites often wont delete these log in cookies when you leave the site or close your web browser. This means that when you leave Facebook.com and return to it, your cookies will tell Facebook that you are logged in. This is why it is very important to make sure you click sign out before you leave Facebook if you are on a public computer. Otherwise if the next computer user goes to Facebook.com they will be automatically logged to your Facebook account. When using a public computer it is recommended to clear the “keep me signed in” checkbox when signing in (most people leave this box checked when logging in on their home computers). Doing this will automatically sign you out of Facebook (i.e. delete your Facebook login info from the computers cookies) after Facebook hasn’t been used for an extended period of time.
I f you click a link to share a link or gain access to a website and you are asked for your log in information it should be a red flag. Scammers will create a page that looks identical to a legitimate face book login that sends your credentials to them. After you enter your login information you will be taken to the site(or in some cases Facebook.com) Because your cookies tell Facebook that you are logged it creates the illusion that you have just logged in. A legitimate link that requires a Facebook account will usually not ask you to log into Facebook (unless of course your login information is not stored in your cookies) . Occasionally the cookies that store your login information can become deleted (even if you check the keep me signed in checkbox) and you will be required to log in. To check if your login cookies are still saved in your computers go to Facebook.com if you are taken directly to your account you shouldn’t have to enter login credentials to anything that requires a Facebook account. Remember if you are logged into Facebook and click a link that requires a Facebook account you should be asked to click off on a few security questions and nothing else(questions about sharing personal info etc.). If you get and e-mail message from Facebook it is advisable not to click the link in the message (which could potentially take you to a phishing site). Instead go directly to Facebook.com. Remember do not enter Facebook credentials into any site unless you are absolutely sure that your Facebook login information is not stored on the computer you are using.
the simpler version of this article can be found here
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