If you’re relying on Facebook to communicate, do this to protect your account

By Kim Komando

March 20, 2020

© Frui | Dreamstime

Ever leave your Facebook logged in on a friend’s computer or in a public place like the Apple store? Perhaps it resulted in someone posting from your account in a pretty harmless way. While you may have gotten away unscathed once, the truth is leaving your Facebook vulnerable leaves you vulnerable.

People can hack your account and distribute your personal information or send spam messages that lead to the hacking of friends as well. Some scammers might even send fake coronavirus maps to your friends list to infect their devices with malware. Tap or click here for coronavirus scam and phishing attacks.

So even if you’re usually pretty careful, it’s best to check that your Facebook account hasn’t been hacked. Don’t know where to start? Don’t worry, we’ll show you how to find anyone spying on your account and how to kick them out.

Find and stop Facebook hackers on a computer

Having your Facebook account exposed or accessed by hackers is scary. You never know what this could mean for your security or for the friends and family who won’t think twice about opening a message with your email address as the sender.

So how do you know if someone hacked your Facebook account? Here are some telltale signs to watch for:

• Your email or password have changed.
• Your name or birthday have changed.
• Friend requests are being sent to people you don’t know.
• Messages you didn’t write have been sent.
• Posts are made that you didn’t create.

If you notice any of these issues, or just want to double-check before these problems have a chance to get started, check what devices your Facebook profile is logged in on. If you don’t recognize these devices, just log out of them to kick other users from your account. Easy, right?

Whether you have a Windows PC or a Mac, the instructions are the same. Here’s how to see what devices are logged into your Facebook account:

1. Go to Facebook on a web browser and click the drop-down arrow icon on the top right. From this menu, click Settings.
   
2. Click Security and Login in the left menu of your Settings.
   
3. Scroll to the Where You’re Logged In heading. Here, you’ll find a list of all of the devices where your Facebook profile is currently logged in.
   

The device list tells you where the computer, tablet, phone or other gadget is physically located and the last time your Facebook account was active on it. Do you see unusual locations or unfamiliar device types? That can be a sign of a hacking.

RELATED: How to know if that Facebook request is legit

You may also find instances of times you forgot to log off a device, like a friend’s computer or an old cellphone. To keep your account safe, you want to have fewer entry points for hackers, so you need to log out of gadgets you don’t use regularly.

To remotely log out of a device from your computer:

1. Under the Where You’re Logged In heading, click the icon to the right of the device’s name and location — the three-dot menu.
   
2. Click Log Out to log out of that particular device.
3. Click Not You? to be taken through the Secure Account function.
   • This will help you reset your password to something more secure and let you set up two-factor authentication so it’s much harder for hackers to log in to your account.
4. If you have a lot of strange devices logged in at once, you can click Log Out Of All Sessions at the bottom of the section to log out of all devices.
   • This can save you time and also let you beef up security before logging back in.

Once your Facebook account is your own again, you should do everything you can to keep it safe. Make sure to limit how many devices log onto Facebook and always remember to log out if the device doesn’t belong to you.

You may also like: Privacy settings you need to use for Facebook

Find and stop Facebook hackers on your Android or iPhone

Let’s say you find signs of hacking while you’re not near your computer. You can kick unwanted users out of your account from your smartphone, too. To see what devices are logged in to your Facebook account from your mobile device:

1. Log in to the Facebook app and tap the three-line hamburger menu on the bottom right part of your phone screen.
   
2. Tap the Settings & Privacy drop-down menu, then tap Settings.
3. Scroll down to the Security heading and tap Security and Login.
   
4. Under the Where you’re logged in heading, tap the blue See all link to the right of the heading title. If you see any unusual or old logins, tap the three-dot icon beside the login.
   
5. Tap Secure Account to be walked through safety measures to give your Facebook account more security, like changing your password.
6. Or tap Log Out to log out of that device.
7. To log out of all devices at once, tap the Log Out Of All Sessions button at the bottom of the list. As before, this can save you time and let you lock things down with greater security measures before logging back in on trusted devices.

Having your Facebook open on many devices at once can lead to hacking and data sharing. Tap or click here to learn the dangers of data sharing. Don’t put yourself in an unnecessarily risky position.

By following the steps above to log out of strange devices and improve your account security, you’re not just keeping your information safe, you’re also ensuring no one on your friends list will receive malware or phishing emails from your account. Way to be proactive!

Tags: accounts, Apple, Apple iPhone, data sharing, Facebook, hacks, malware, phishing, privacy, two-factor authentication