It’s a really unsettling feeling when you think someone might have gotten into your email or social media. Understanding what’s happening and acting fast can make a big difference. Here’s what to do if you suspect your online accounts have been messed with.
Is It Really A Hack Or Is It Just Someone Impersonating You?
First, it is important to determine if someone actually broke into your account, or if they’re just cleverly pretending to be you with information you’ve shared publicly.
Emails that look like they are from you may not be. They may be just faking the “From” address to put your name with a completely different email address. They usually do this to send spam or trick your friends into clicking bad links, all while making it seem like it’s from you. You might hear from friends getting weird emails from you, but you won’t see them in your “Sent” folder.
The worst type of impersonation in email is if your email address is put into the “Reply-To” field. This is an email field used to send replies to rather than the “From” field. You’ll know that has happened if your email inbox fills up with “cannot deliver” bounce messages from bad email addresses the spammer has sent to.
Social Media Impersonation
On social media platforms, an attacker can create a whole new social media profile that looks just like yours. This is sometimes referred to as cloning a social media account. They’ll grab your public photos, your name, and anything else they can find. Then, they’ll try to add your friends, often to ask for money or spread dodgy links. This fake account is separate from your real one, and your friends might even ask why you have a new profile.
If either of these sounds familiar, your account itself might be safe, but someone’s definitely misusing your identity.
How To Fight Impersonators
If someone’s impersonating you, the most important thing is to give your friends and family a heads-up to keep them from being scammed. Send a message letting everyone know about the impersonation. Tell them not to open any strange links, respond to weird money requests, or interact with any new accounts claiming to be you. If a social media account, create a post letting people know to watch out for and report any other accounts claiming to be you.
A Real Hack Of Your Email Or Social Media Account
If you’ve figured out that someone truly has access to your email or social media account, you need to act immediately! If you can still get into your account, then immediately change the password. If you use that same password on any other accounts, change those passwords as well (to a different one for each!). If, however, you are the one locked out of your account, go to the “Forgot Password” or “Account Recovery” link on the login page. Follow the steps to reset your password. Most sites will let you do this with a code sent to your phone or an alternate email. Once you’re back in, immediately create a new, strong, and totally unique password. Don’t use anything easy to guess.
After you’ve changed your password, you’ll want to take some additional actions to avoid this happening again.
- If the account has it available, turn on two-factor authentication (such as texting a code to your phone or email or using an authenticator app. Turn this on for all your accounts, and not just the one that was hacked.
- Again, if the account has it available, set up alerts so you get a notification whenever someone logs in from a new device or location. This way, you’ll know right away if anyone tries to get into your account again.
Once your account is secure, tell everyone what happened. Send a message to your email contacts, social media friends, or connections, depending on which account was compromised. Explain that you were hacked, apologize for any strange messages they might have received, and confirm that you’ve got control back.
A Strong Defense Is To Be Proactive
Finally, take this step whether one of your accounts has been hacked or not. Give all of your accounts, but particularly email and social media, a thorough once-over.
For email accounts, check for any new forwarding rules, weird signatures, or auto-replies you didn’t set up. Look through your “Sent” folder for any emails you didn’t send.
For social media accounts, see if there are any new posts, messages, friend requests, or profile changes you didn’t make. Go through your privacy, security and viewing settings to make sure they haven’t been altered. Social media platforms change their default settings over time so even if you haven’t been hacked, this verifies that you are sharing what you want to share and who you want to share it with.
By following these steps, you can effectively deal with an email or social media hack, limit the damage, and make your online life much more secure.
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