Almost a fifth of small businesses have had their social media accounts hacked at some point.
In most cases the business owners have only become aware of the hack when they were alerted to unusual activity by one of their followers, or when they received an email from the social media company confirming a password change.
Following a hack, it can often be difficult to get the social media company to unravel the issue and get the account returned to its rightful owner. In some cases, the owner has lost their contacts and in other cases they have received a ransom demand to get them back. In all cases there is the risk of reputational damage.
We have been hacked – what do I do?
- If your social media account has been hacked, the best thing to do is to temporarily suspend the account, change passwords and enable multi-factor authentication (MFA).
- Notify the social media provider immediately and also consider reporting the hack to Action Fraud.
- Change the passwords and enable MFA on other accounts too – especially any which hold personal data. This is because the hack may not have started with the social media account – it could have come through an email attachment or malicious link.
How can I keep my social media accounts safe from being hacked?
- Limit the number of users with access to your organisation’s social media accounts.
- Switch on MFA.
- Ensure that each platform you use is set up with a unique, strong password.
- Make sure the people in your business are educated about cyber security risks, including those relating to email attachments or links.
- Review your social media security settings – make sure that log in notifications and secure browsing are switched on.