By Kolapo Khadijah

“Are you okay? Why are you sending nonsense to the class group” was what a friend told Sameeha when she picked his call. This was surprising as she was especially busy at work that day and as such, had not had the time to check her whatsapp messages let alone send one. It all became clearer when she couldn’t access her account – She had been hacked.

The spate of social media account hacking has been on the increase and it seems these hackers do not discriminate. A lot of these compromised accounts have been used for extorting the trusted friends and customers (in case of businesses) and destroy the reputation of many. According to Gennie Gebhart, a consumer privacy researcher, “you can never be impossible to hack, but you can be so inconvenient to hack that people will not do it”. Here are some tips on how to make your account more secure.

1. Use your lockscreen

Hackers might not be as far away as you think which is why you have to protect your phone from physical attacks too. Getting your password is simple on your device especially when you are logged in. Make sure your phone is locked especially when you are leaving it with someone you do not trust.

2. Strong passwords

This might seem unnecessary but you would be surprised at how many people still use their names or ‘1234’ as passwords. Do not use your name, your date of birth or anything people know about you. While a stronger password does not guarantee the safety of your accounts, it sure makes your password difficult to guess. Use a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols. Easily forgettable? Write it done, not on your phone or anywhere online and definitely not on a piece of paper in plain sight. You can use a password management system instead – it stores all your passwords for you and you just have to remember that one master password. Sharing your password is not advisable; your account will never be completely safe after.

3. Use different passwords across accounts.

You do not want a someone with malicious intentions taking over all your social media accounts. Using different passwords ensures that even if an account is compromised, others might still be secure.

4. Pick better security questions

Some applications require you to answer security questions you had set up before you can retrieve your passwords. Choose questions that only you or maybe few people know about you. Except you lie, your best subject in school is not the best security question to choose. You should also be careful with online polls that ask for your favorite pet or your childhood nickname. However, this might be ‘water in a basket’ if you still put those info online. No one needs to know them.

5. Stop clicking on every link

“Click this link to make 5,000 naira daily, I just got mine”. Sounds familiar? Other links might not be as telling as this but they could still be avenues for your account to be accessed. When you click on some links, it might redirect you to another website or downloads a malware on your phone enroute the actual destination. As much as possible, make sure you scrutinize website names and avoid ones you do not trust, if possible. Be wary of links from people you don’t know too.

6. Enable two-step verification

Two step verification reduces your risk of being hacked. As the name implies, you get to verify your identity. Some applications like whatsapp requires you to input a number once in a while. Others send a code to your phone or mail after logging in with your password or even biometrics. Find out which one your application has and activate it.