When a person is victimized, it could damage their reputation and cost them thousands of dollars in lost advertising revenue. This was the case for Dale Berry, the owner of an elementary school English academy in Japan who got his Facebook account compromised by fraudsters. Hackers created fake ads using the account, which stripped his business of funds and caused him to lose his reputation.
The hackers first targeted those who had weak passwords like “qwerty” and “password.” Once they have access to an account, they check the top five most well-known friends and impersonate one of them to request for an account reset code. The hackers then use the security feature that allows people to add trusted contacts to their account in the event they forget their https://www.app-ink.net/what-you-should-know-about-youtube-music password. They can request these trusted friends to send them the unique code that allows them to gain access to the account.
Selling stolen login credentials is another method hackers can gain access. Recently there was a cache of 26 million Amazon, LinkedIn, and Facebook passwords were discovered available on the dark web. Many of them were released via custom Trojan malware that infiltrated millions of Windows-based PCs between the years of 2018 through 2020.
Users can stay safe from attacks by constantly checking that the address bar of their browser is Facebook and not a different website. Users should create a password which combines numbers, letters and spaces. They should not use it for other email or social media accounts. They should also check their notifications for activity regularly. Twitter is one example. It sends notifications whenever users sign in from a new location or device.