I've been hacked!

On Facebook lately, I noticed a friend complaining that some pins and boards that she had never pinned or created showed up on her Pinterest account (using social media to complain about social media.  How meta.)  Although she joked that the weight-loss ads that had popped up were "Pinterest fat-shaming me for all the desserts that I post,"  account security is something to be cognizant of.   What do you do if you get hacked?

First of all, any time you get hacked, or suspect that you've been hacked, your immediate priority should be changing your password for the site.  This is also a good time to remind yourself that make sure that you have different passwords that you change/update regularly.  It's not a great idea to have the same password for your Facebook account, your online banking, and your Google account.  You don't want to hand over the keys to your entire online kingdom in one fell password swoop.  Similarly, you should be updating your passwords on a regular basis.  If you've been using the same password for 2 years, it's time to retire it and come up with something new.

Once you've updated your passwords, it's time to go ahead and run a virus scanner on your computer.  Computing services can clue you into some great software for your devices, and it's also worth exploring ad-block or no-script programs that can stop hijack attempts.  Lastly, you will want to make sure that you go in and delete the posts that the hacker/program made on your behalf (which sometimes can't be done until you've changed the password.)

Hopefully these tips will help your accounts get cleaned up after a hacking.  As for protecting your account, make sure that you change/update your passwords regularly, and be vigilant when deciding to click on links.  Remember the old caveat that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is, which means that Sony probably is not going to give you a free PS4 just so you can help them test it by clicking on some random link that you see on your Facebook feed. These types of ads can contain phishing programs searching for passwords and other sensitive date, so be careful And when in doubt, you can always check on Snopes or Google an ad or story to see if something has been debunked. Forewarned is forearmed!