Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Help, I’ve Been Hacked, Now What?


Many of us have experienced the sinking feeling that comes with the realization that one (or more) of our social media profiles have been hacked. It's nothing to be ashamed of, but it can sure wreck an otherwise blissful day. 

The easiest way to get hacked is to click on a link that contains a virus allowing hackers access to your accounts. When you click on the link, you may see a message telling you the link is broken. That doesn’t mean you’ve dodged the bullet. If your firewall or virus software doesn’t catch it, you’ll still be infected. 
Some of the most common messages that spread viruses and allow hackers access are:
“Did you know your friends are spreading nasty rumors about you?” 
“This is a hilarious video of you.”
So what’s a social media professional to do, cancel all accounts and slink away in shame?
Never.
In this post I'll give you the steps to repair the damage. In the next post I'll give you some tips to keep it from happening again.
First, change your password for the social media profile that’s been compromised. 
Twitter: 
  • Go to your home page and click on VIEW MY PROFILE PAGE under your name in the top left of the screen.
  • Click on EDIT YOUR PROFILE.
  • Then click on PASSWORD and follow the directions to change your password.

Facebook:
  • Go to your home page and click on the arrow to the right of your profile name in the solid blue header.
  • Click on ACCOUNT SETTINGS.
  • You should land on General Account Settings. From here click PASSWORD and change your password.

Next, you need to check and make certain the damage hasn't spread. Changing your password is just the first step. For this, you’ll need to visit the app section for Twitter and Facebook. Here’s how:
Twitter:
  • Go to your home page and click on VIEW MY PROFILE PAGE under your name in the top left of the screen.
  • Click on EDIT YOUR PROFILE.
  • Then click on APPS. Here you’ll see a list of apps that have access to your Twitter account. I recommend you revoke access to any you don’t recognize or haven’t used in a while.

Facebook:
  • Go to your home page and click on the arrow to the right of your profile name in the solid blue header.
  • Click on ACCOUNT SETTINGS.
  • Click on APPS. Here, too, you’ll see a list of apps that have access to your Facebook account. Again, I recommend you revoke access to any you don’t recognize or haven’t used in a while.
The fear of getting hacked shouldn't keep us from exploring social networking, anymore than the fear of identity theft should keep us from using a debit or credit card. But we all need to play smart. 


How about you, have you ever been hacked? 
Don't forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie

15 comments:

  1. Good info, especially since I went through this earlier this week. Thanks.

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  2. Good info, especially since I went through this earlier this week. Thanks.

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  3. Great tips, Edie. I'm passing this along!

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  4. Thanks, Edie. Has just happened to me. I needed this post today.
    Linden

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  5. Edie, thank you for the much-needed post. I do have one question. Although I've been hacked in my facebook account several times, I've changed my password and that seems to work. I've also been hacked in my email account. Since I've now switched over to gmail, could give an explanation on how to recover my account? Thanks! Love you sweet friend!

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  6. Thanks Edie, for this valuable info about the dreaded hacking. I am looking forward to your next post about prevention.
    You are a special gift to so many of us who are new at this...God bless you!

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  7. Yes, one of my email accounts somehow got hacked and blasted everyone with an email about Viagra or something like that. Embarrassing! I changed the password and that seems to have worked. Still, I have no idea how it happened, since I never click on links like the examples you gave.

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  8. Great post, Edie. Hope your wasn't inspired because you were hacked (like mine...lol)

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  9. Daisy and Linden, I'm sorry you had to go through this. Getting hacked is no fun.
    Jamie and Lindsay, I'll address email, too. I hadn't thought of that. It will take a whole post, so look for both how to prevent and email hacking this week (I'll squeeze in an extra post somewhere).
    Pat, you weren't the only one hacked, although I dodged the bullet this time. I'd already scheduled this post when your excellent post came out on Monday.
    If anyone wants to see actual screen shots of what to do, Pat's the one to go to. Here's her blog address: http://ptbradley.com/
    Blessings All, E

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  10. Thanks for this...I'm going to bookmark it, and share it in the future...hope I never need it!

    MakingTheWriteConnections

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  11. Great information, Edie! Thanks for the step by step process. We non-techies need that. :-)

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  12. Jarm, thanks for stopping by. I just visited your blog, and really like the content. I'm glad we've connected!
    Vonda, trust me, we ALL need the step-by-step process!
    Blessings, E

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  13. Thanks for posting on this topic. Over the last several days my inbox has been full of messages from hacked accounts belonging to my friends. Now I know what to do if one of my own accounts goes rogue.

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  14. Oh, how I could have used this BEFORE I got hacked, had all my email contacts erased AND a year's worth of research deleted from my yahoo files! Oh well, lesson learned...

    Donna L Martin
    www.donasdays.blogspot.com

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  15. Any ideas on how to recover from a hacked wordpress site? I couldn't even post my comment because I couldn't access wordpress. SMy new site that got hacked as soon as I posted my second blog is healthHOPEgiver.wordpress.com. My other wordpress site is lindyswanson.wordpress.com.

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