There have been some glitches in Facebook and email accounts lately of my friends and acquaintances. And I personally have had a website hacked. It was such a pain to fix.
Of course, I have noticed problems in others' Facebook accounts for awhile (years, really). I don't know whether people have the same password for different sites, or click on links, etc.
I don't understand the reasoning behind hackers' taking over other people's accounts - - perhaps they are trying to get access to money or just want to show that they CAN hack into somebody's account. To help protect against glitches and hackers, some safety measures I personally like are:
1. Changing my password to my email provider and my Facebook every so often,
2. Letting others know if I notice a problem with their postings (often, a link posted with no explanation),
3. Not opening a link if I don't know that it is safe. Better to go to the site in person if there is a question.
4. Not joining too many Facebook applications. These can have rights to mess with your Facebook account and mess it up. But there are some I do like, like MyCalendar Birthdays, Networked Blogs, Photos, and Notes. FYI: I used to play Farm Town, Hatching Eggs, Top Friends, and some other popular games, but I don't play them much anymore. They take up time I use for other things. But they were really fun for awhile, and I didn't have any problems with them. But that doesn't mean they aren't risky. I don't know.
5. Copying the "rescue" links from Facebook and Mail just in case. For instance, a link for Yahoo is account compromised link , and one rescue email to report hacking at Facebook is http://www.facebook.com/hackedhttp://www.facebook.com/hacked.
I hope you don't need these help links. But today I wanted to share what I do to help stay safe.
E. Sheppard
Webmaster
The BGAMUG Computer Club
