What to do when your online account is compromised 2023?

Currently, user data is a “good prey” for hackers. According to August statistics from VPN provider Surfshark, in the second quarter of 2023, the number of users with data breaches increased by 156% to 110.8 million accounts, led by the US with 49.8 million, accounting for 45% of the total. % globally, followed by Russia with 15.3 million and Spain with 3.7 million accounts.

Meanwhile, a survey by the IEEE was hacked and only took the minimum precaution of changing the password.

Rajendran Murthy, professor of security research at the Saunders School of Business at the Rochester Institute of Technology, believes that users need to change their habits and take the following measures to ensure safety in the online environment.

With sensitive information

When suspecting an attack or the platform being used is subject to a cyber attack, users should seriously review each notification related to a data breach, then immediately change their password.

“This is the time to make sure your password is unique and hasn’t been used on several services before,” Murthy said.

Next, it is necessary to find out what type of violation it is. Some attacks simply steal account names, emails and public information, which has little impact. But if the stolen information is financial data, credit cards or personally identifiable information, the best way besides changing your password is to add more layers of security, like turning on two-factor authentication.

When you discover important data has been stolen, you need to review transactions on the affected account, turn on notifications on your mobile device to immediately know about account changes and come up with immediate solutions. time.

With social network accounts

Along with turning on two-factor authentication, Murthy believes that users should take many different measures to protect their Facebook, X, Instagram accounts… The first thing is to check the login activity page. to see if anyone other than yourself is accessing your account. To ensure safety, you need to find the option to delete all active sessions, as well as remove strange devices logging into your account if any.

Besides, users can review messages, posts, comments, etc. If they detect suspicious content, they should immediately change their password, or even temporarily disable their account for a while. Avoid being exploited by hackers.

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