If you are looking to learn how to save your Twitter account against hackers and impersonators, then you came to the right place. We will show you helpful tips to know to secure your Twitter account against fraud.
Impersonation and hacking have become really popular on social media platforms. With the use of the internet, many things are more accessible and easy to do. People now put personal information on their platforms without any doubt. But following the happenings online, many people have fallen prey to traps set by impersonators and hackers.
They decide to hack into a person’s account, act like the person. And then begin to put content or tweets which originally the owner might not have put out. They can go further to request funds from their foll0owers or friends.
Account of several high-profile personalities, celebrities, and companies have been used to extort and deceive people.
Sometime this year, some influential personalities like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Barrack Obama, Twitter account got hacked. The hack was to extort bitcoins from their followers as they had a large influence and followers on the platform.
To avoid cases like this, there is a need to learn how to save your Twitter account and secure it against fraud.
Helpful tips to save your Twitter account and secure them against fraud
Below are some helpful tips that would guard and secure your Twitter account from being hacked or impersonated.
Use a strong password.
Using a strong password is the most basic tip to keep your Twitter account secure. Make sure you are using an uncrackable password.
Most times, people use the things they can safely remember, like their birth date, phone number, pet name, name, as their password.
However, using details like this can easily be accessible as they can be found on your social accounts.
They can easily get a hint of that and then login into your account.
Therefore, use a password consisting of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols.
An example is #TechUncode1$.
Using a password like that would keep your Twitter account safe from hackers.
Be careful of notifications.
Hackers make use of different vices to hack into a person’s account. And one of the ways they can do that is to send notifications telling you to accept something.
If you aren’t careful to read through the notifications and discern that it is a scam, you will fall trap of your account being hacked.
So whenever you get any notification, make sure you thoroughly read through it before accepting it.
Turn on two-factor authentication.
This is a feature created by Twitter to super secure your account against frauds and hackers.
After your password, this is like a secondary layer to keep your account secure from fraudsters.
It is a two-step verification that needs to be turned on for it to be enabled.
So when a hacker discovers your password and tries to log in, they are faced with another login method.
The login would contain your registered mobile with a verification code that would be sent to confirm you.
Without this, the hacker can’t gain access to your account.
To enable the two-factor authentication on Twitter, follow the steps below.
- Open Twitter and tap your profile icon on the top left corner.
- From the menu option, select ‘settings and privacy.
- Then click ‘account and select ‘security.
- The tap ‘Two-factor authentication.
- After it would bring out an option of methods, you want to use.
- Then, tap on the switch beside your desired security method. There is the text message method, authentication app method and security key method.
- From the option you selected, completed all the required steps and then it takes you back to the switch options that show your Two-factor authentication is enabled (shows green).
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Unfollow, Block and Report
A person acting suspiciously on the platform by stalking you, trolling you or even troubling you could be trying to get into your account.
So one way to avoid people like this on Twitter is to unfollow them, block and report the user.
The unfollow and block feature would disable the person from contacting you or seeing your tweet; they can’t follow, retweet or even see any information about you.
If the person is harassing or troubling you, Twitter has given the go-ahead option for them to be reported.
Also, when you are being impersonated, reporting the account comes to play in a big way.
Disable Direct message
Most times, hackers try to phish through emails or direct messages.
That is, ey would send a fake message that someone is trying to hack your Twitter account.
Also, they would now give you instructions to change your password or even ask you to fill a link for something or claim an award.
Whichever might be the case, those are ways they hack into accounts.
Disabling direct messages would help you to avoid falling victim to dupers and scammers.
You can do this from the settings page.
It would ensure that those you aren’t following won’t send you a direct message.
To disable the direct message, follow the steps below.
- On the top left corner of your Twitter field, click on the menu icon
- Then, select ‘settings and privacy.’
- Go to ‘Direct message’ from the option in ‘privacy setting’.
- Turn the toggle off to receive message request.’ And voila!
Asides from disabling your direct message, you need to be watchful and discerning of their tricks.
Implications for you
Once you can apply these tips, you don’t have to worry about being hacked or impersonated.
You are kept protected and secured from hackers.
Also, as much as you use a secure password, make sure it’s also something you can easily remember.
However, all this might keep you secure but not fully.
If Twitter sever is hacked, it affects all the data and information of those using its platform; it could be leaked if not handled on time.
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