Protect your social media accounts!

Lately, many of our friends and/or clients have fallen victim to various Social Media hackers and scammers, and unfortunately lost control of their accounts.

Hackers or scammers can strike in a variety of ways, so we’ve listed the most common ones below so you can be precautious.

– Phishing Attacks: Never respond to emails, DMs (Instagram messages), Social Media posts, etc., that ask for personal information, passwords, account numbers or PINs. Official agencies will NEVER ask you for such sensitive information through these avenues.

– Suspicious links: An acquaintance of yours who works in make-up sent you a message on Instagram asking you to vote for them in an online contest for… make-up? Don’t click on the link they sent you for ANY REASON! Such links may also be sent to you by e-mail. Always check the sender’s email.

– Impersonation: They will pretend to be your friends, family members, reliable sources, and official bodies (Bank of Cyprus, Cyta, Cyprus Police, etc.). Do not share any information, no matter how plausible the email or personal message may seem. Also, if a friend texts you that they lost access to their account and a number comes to your cell phone to tell them to log back in, it’s a scam.

– Malicious Downloads: Avoid downloading files or attachments from unknown sources, as they may contain malware that can compromise your device, steal your credentials, and more.

Below, you can find some tips to avoid being exposed to these types of attacks.

• Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) on all your Social Media accounts. That way, even if hackers manage to obtain your password, they’ll need another verification step to access your account, which you (obviously) won’t provide.

• Back-up Codes: Instagram (as well as other apps), along with 2FA, gives you the option to have back-up codes that are personalised to your personal or business account which will allow you to log back into your account in case you report it as hacked. These can be found in your settings, under Accounts Centre and Password & Security.

• Update your passwords frequently, avoiding the use of “easy” information such as dates of birth, names, mobile phone numbers, etc. Use a combination of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters to create strong passwords.

We understand how devastating it can be for someone to lose control of their social media accounts, so we want to help you prevent such incidents from happening. Take these precautions seriously and protect your digital presence.

If you have any concerns or questions about online safety, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will do everything we can to help you.

Stay safe and keep scrolling…