Your Facebook account is a huge target for hackers for a lot of reasons such as targeting you for identity theft, harassing your Facebook friends in your name, and many others.
There are several things you can do to lock down your account such as choosing a strong, yet easy to remember password and choosing a secret question that even those who know you best won’t be able to guess, but if you really want to secure your Facebook account from hackers you should enable two-factor authentication.
Two-factor authentication works like this:
1 – Whenever you want to log into your account, you enter your Facebook username or email address along with your password as usual.
2 – Facebook texts a unique security code to your mobile phone.
3 – You read the text from Facebook and enter the security code to finish the login process.
What this does is virtually guarantee that no one will be able to log into your Facebook account without having physical access to your mobile phone. That’s a pretty high hurdle for the average hacker to jump over.
If you’d like to enable two-factor authentication on your own Facebook account, you can easily do so. Just follow the steps below for the device you’re using:
Follow these steps if you’re using Facebook in a web browser on a laptop or desktop computer…
1 – Log in to your Facebook account (if you aren’t logged in already).
2 – Click the down arrow on the right side of the blue bar near the top of the screen.
3 – Click Settings.
4 – In the far left-hand column, click Security and login.
5 – Find the line labeled “Use Two-Factor Authentication” and click the Edit link in the far right-hand column and then follow the directions from there.
Follow these steps if you’re using the Facebook app on a mobile device…
1 – Log in to your Facebook account.
2 – Tap the Menu icon (it looks like either three horizontal lines or three vertical dots, depending on your version of the app).
3 – Scroll down and tap Settings & Privacy.
4 – Tap Account Settings.
5 – Tap Security and Login.
6 – Scroll down and tap Use two-factor authentication and then follow the directions from there.
That’s all there is to it. From now on a person will need physical access to your mobile phone before they’ll be allowed to log into to your Facebook account (even if they know your password).
Bonus tip #1: Read this post for several other tips for protecting your Facebook account from hackers.
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