Facebook, Netflix, Gmail, TikTok - Secure Your Personal Accounts

With identify theft on the rise and cyber criminals becoming savvier every day, securing your personal accounts is more important now than ever. A study conducted by McAfee, revealed that 22% of internet users said that their online accounts have been hacked, at least once. The results of being hacked varies from being unable to access your accounts, to identity or financial theft.

Businesses today usually have cyber insurance to cover them in the event of a cyberattack, but as an individual, loosing thousands of dollars to a cyber criminal could have a significant impact on your life. 

General Guidelines 

1. You should always use different and complex passwords for all your accounts, the reason being, if you use the same password across your accounts and one account is hacked, it is an opportune time for cyber criminals to gain access to all of your accounts. 

2. Multi-factor authentication is available in all of these apps, we will detail how to turn it on for each one in this article. Did you know that multifactor authentication and encryption are the biggest hacker obstacles? 

3. Having different passwords across your accounts can make it difficult to remember, password managers are a safe and secure way you can store your passwords. 

Facebook

Here is how you can secure your Facebook account:

Setup multi-factor authentication for Facebook:

1. Go to your Security and Login settings  

2. Scroll to 'Use two-factor Authentication' and select 'Edit'

3. Select your security method and follow the instructions on screen

We recommend setting up with a third party authentication app like Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator.

Turn on alerts for unrecognised logins

1. Go to your Security and Login settings  

2. Scroll to 'Get alerts about unrecognized logins' and select 'Edit'

3. Choose how you want to be notified and select save 

Do a Facebook security checkup

Facebook has a step by step security setup that is easy to use and allows you to follow their onscreen instructions. We recommend looking at this regularly. 

Start the Facebook Security Checkup.

Instagram

Here's how you can secure your Instagram account:

Setup multi-factor authentication for Instagram

1. Select your profile picture in the bottom right hand corner

2. Select the 3 line menu in the top right corner 

3. Select Settings

4. Select Security & scroll down to 'two-factor authentication' 

5. Select 'Get Started'

6. Toggle the slider next to 'Authentication App' to on and then follow the instructions on your screen

Check where you are logged in to Instagram

1. Select your profile picture in the bottom right hand corner

2. Select the 3 line menu in the top right corner 

3. Select Settings

4. Select Security

5. Select 'Login activity'

Here you can see a list of everywhere you are logged into Instagram and remove old logins.

Netflix

Here's how you can secure your Netflix account:

Netfix does not have multi-factor authentication available at this stage, however there are a few settings you can keep an eye on:

Check recent device streaming activity

Here you can see what devices in which locations have accessed your Netflix account 

1. Login to Netflix

2. Hover over your profile picture in the top right corner

3. Scroll to 'Settings'

4. Select 'Recent device streaming activity' 

Sign out of all devices

If you suspect your Netflix account is being accessed by someone else you can sign out of all devices by:

1. Login to Netflix

2. Hover over your profile picture in the top right corner

3. Scroll to 'Settings'

4. Select 'Sign out of all devices' 

On the same account page you can change your password, if you suspect your Netflix account is being accessed by someone else, it is good practice to sign them out, and change your password. 

LinkedIn

Here's how you can secure your LinkedIn account: 

Turn on multi-factor authentication for LinkedIn

1. Click your profile picture/me icon in the top right corner of the LinkedIn home page

2. Select 'Settings & Privacy' from the dropdown

3. Under the 'Sign in & security' section select 'Change' next to 'Two-step verification' 

4. Click 'Turn on'

5. Select the authentication method you wish to use for LinkedIn, we recommend using an authentication app like Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator. 

6. Follow the steps on screen to setup your authentication app

Check where you are signed in and sign out of unknown sessions

1. Click your profile picture/me icon in the top right corner of the LinkedIn home page

2. Select 'Settings & Privacy' from the dropdown

3. In Sign in & security select 'Where you're signed in'

4. You can also see what apps you have allowed to access your LinkedIn under the 'Data privacy' section

Check which devices remember your password

1. Click your profile picture/me icon in the top right corner of the LinkedIn home page

2. Select 'Settings & Privacy' from the dropdown

3. Go to the 'Devices that remember your ' section

Twitter

Here's how you can secure your Twitter account: 

Setup two-factor authentication for Twitter:

1. Login to Twitter

2. Select 'More' in the side menu 

3. Select 'Settings and privacy'

4. Select 'Two-factor authentication' 

5. Select your preferred authentication method, we recommend using and authentication app like Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator. 

6. Follow the instructions on screen to setup your preferred method 

Check your Twitter data for unusual activity & to see where you are logged in

1. Login to Twitter

2. Select 'More' in the side menu 

3. Select 'Settings and privacy' 

4. Select 'Account'

5. Select 'Your Twitter data' under 'Data and permissions' 

TikTok

Here's how you can keep your TikTok account safe:

Turn on 2-step verification for TikTok:

1. Login to TikTok

2. Go to 'Me'

3. Select the three dots '...' to open your settings

4. Select Security

5. Toggle '2 step-verification' from off to on

6. Select your preferred method of authentication and follow the instructions on screen 

Gmail

Here's how to secure your Gmail account:

Do a Gmail Security Checkup, this is an automated process that will walk you through setting up two factor authentication, will check if any of your saved passwords have been comprised and will provide you with personalised security recommendations. 

We recommend doing this security checkup regularly. 

Get help from the experts 

Our cybersecurity team would love to talk to you about staying safe online, get in touch to speak to us about securing your business.