How to Tell if Your Facebook Account was Hacked

Another day, another data breach. Find out whether your Facebook account was hacked. 

In late September, Facebook announced that hackers had gained control of 30 million users’ access tokens. Note: This isn’t to be confused with the Facebook leak of 87 million accounts from earlier in the year!

In short, these tokens allow you to stay logged into your Facebook account without entering your password each time, and the hackers used them to gain access to personal information.

• 15 million users had this information accessed by the hackers:
  • Name
  • Email
  • Phone Number
• 14 million more users had the above info accessed, as well as:
  • Username
  • Bio (Gender, Relationship Status, Work/Education History, etc.)
  • Devices Used to Access Facebook
  • Last 10 Places Checked In From
• 1 million users had access tokens stolen but no information was accessed

So, were you one of the unlucky 30 million?

Here’s how to tell if your Facebook account was hacked.

How to Tell if Your Facebook Account Was Hacked

1. Log into your Facebook account

2. Check your News Feed; most users who were affected will have a notice at the top of their News Feed

3. If you don’t see a notice or you just want more info, access the Help Center: https://www.facebook.com/help/securitynotice?ref=sec

4. Under ‘Is my Facebook account impacted by this security issue?’, you should see a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’

What to Do if Your Facebook Was Hacked

If you were one of the 30 million, there are a few steps you should take immediately. And even if you weren’t, it’s worth following these steps just to be safe. 
 

Change your password

Even though Facebook claims the hackers didn’t get access to passwords, change it now. It’s a good idea to update your passwords every few months anyways – and it only takes a minute. 
 

Secure your email and phone number

If hackers did get access to your email and/or phone number, there’s a good chance they’ll either sell this data to businesses, use it to phish you, or send viruses.

Not only should you be wary of spam emails or calls, be very careful about any email that asks you to log into your account or contains attachments.

And if you receive an email that’s supposedly from Facebook, make sure it’s real. You can use this page to check. 
 

Contact your cell phone provider or bank

Hackers may try to use the information they have on you to take control of your accounts, your phone number, and even pretend to be you.

It’s a good idea to add extra security to things like your phone provider, bank, etc. to help prevent this. You may even consider changing your phone number entirely.

Is Facebook Safe?

Of course, all of this brings to question whether Facebook – or other social media services – can be trusted with your data at all. Keep in in mind that this latest breach comes just months after another massive privacy scandal at Facebook.

Now, we understand that social media can be a great tool for keeping in touch with friends and families, but it comes with a massive price to your privacy and security. If you insist on using the site, we’d suggest using fake info, or at least following these tips on updating your Facebook privacy settings and what not to post on social media.

• Detailed Walkthrough of Facebook Privacy Settings

• What Not to Post on Facebook 

Stay safe out there!