Dear Author | Online Safety

This month we are talking online safety.

It wasn’t planned to post on this topic today but due to seeing a few issues this past month with hacked and cloned accounts at Facebook, I thought it was worth talking about. I will explain the difference between cloning and hacking.

Cloning

This is what normally happens when someone will set up a new account and then send out friend requests. Whenever you get a friend request, don’t automatically accept the request unless you are sure. If it’s someone you thought was already a friend, then check this first. You can do a search for their name or go to your friend list and search for them. Then, go to the profile and see when they last posted and what was posted.

In a recent case, a lady was posting like normal a few hours earlier and clearly still active. Other times you may find a profile that has had no new content for months and then there is a random post that is so out of character. If you’re unsure, see if you can contact the person in another way, but not by messenger, asking them if the request is really from them.

Cloning works by someone saving a copy of your profile picture and often your cover picture. Which is easy to do when an account has no safeguards. They are also looking for an account where they can see all your friends. They will then create a new account often using information you have shared. It’s surprising how much information many share. Home town, current town. Date of birth, Jobs etc.

Hacking

Hacking is where someone has hacked your account and taken control of your account. You won’t get a friend request because they already have full control of the account and you’re locked out. What will happen is the hacker will send a Private Message to your friends, pretending to be you.

The last one I got said: What’s your number. Or can you send me your phone number. The first of these I gave my home address because it was a local living about 2 blocks away. She had been to my old home but not this one. It was when she asked for my phone number, I thought she had been hacked. Why? Because she has never had my phone number before. I contacted a mutual friend who does have her number who then confirmed the account was hacked.

In the second one, my friend from overseas asked for my phone number and then said she needed it to confirm with Facebook by them sending a code. As there is no way my friend would ask for my number, not with several family members on her account, I didn’t believe it. I had another way to contact her. I was able to contact her by Goodreads. Unfortunately for her, the account was hacked, and they then hacked her Instagram. Several people she was friends with, after being told there was a problem, didn’t listen and were also hacked.

How do I protect myself online

Most importantly you can make sure your private account is private. In settings go to privacy and security and you can set things so only you can see them or only friends. This means anyone who isn’t a friend cannot see any information. I have set friends, email and other information to only me. You need to make sure it is not set for everyone to see. There is also an option for your profile to be on search engines and I put no. In Australia and New Zealand, you can lock your profile which I have done. This means anyone who wants to clone my account does not have access to my information or friends, making me a less appealing target.

Also, set up Two-factor authentication on your account. I know it can be a pain, but I have it on most of my accounts for an added sense of security.

What to do when a friend is hacked.

Recently, Narelle Atkins and I were made aware of an author who was hacked. We immediately deleted her from our friend list and checked she wasn’t in the ACW Facebook group. I did the same with two of my friends who were hacked. I deleted them and warned other groups we were in to delete them. I contacted the admins of these groups. Sadly, at least one didn’t do anything but the other groups did delete them. It helps to report to Facebook but often they won’t delete an account and its takes too much effort for the person to reclaim their account.

If you ever suspect someone has been hacked and is a member of ACW, please contact Narelle Atkins, Iola Goulton or myself and we can either remove or check them out. If in doubt, I am happy to check. We keep the group private to prevent people just accessing information and we can screen new members. Ironically, some public groups have the questions to join, but you can join without answering because it’s a public group.