7 Tips to Stay Safe from Attacks like the Fappening

Sure, you may not be a celebrity, but who's to say your account may not become interesting to a hacker? Who's to say said hacker won't keep your content captive in turn for ransom? 

The Fappening is happening again, as you may have heard already. Just like in 2014, hackers are dumping photos and videos of female celebrities on platforms such as 4chan and Reddit, exposing intimate footage that was never meant to see the light of day.

The morality of such a move can only be expressed through one word - "lacking." It does not matter who you are, you have the right to privacy, just as these actresses and models did. Just because they are public persons does not mean that every little thing they do is public too. Victim blaming, like in many other instances, is not the way to go; because that's what these women are: victims of what one reader perfectly described as "digital sexual assault." We're not even going to bring into discussion those who think these women took personal, private, pictures just so they could get hacked and exposed.

Then and now 

In 2014, hackers managed to get into celebrities' accounts by hacking into their iCloud and Gmail accounts via a simple phishing scam. This time around, it's unclear how they managed to do this, but there are so many ways this could have been achieved. An obvious one is a phishing attack - one inconspicuous email sent to these women, have them click a link, get them to sign in their data, and you're in.

Then, there have been so many data breaches in recent months and years that it's quite possible their information was already out there. Reusing your password is a surefire way to get hacked if someone really wants a way into your account. Even tweaking it just a bit will not keep a hacker away for long.

Upgrade your security

So what are a few steps to avoid getting hacked like these ladies have?

1. Don't recycle your passwords

One of the main ways people get their accounts hacked is by reusing their passwords. If one of the accounts you have was victim of a data breach, chances are that before you are even aware of that particular data breach, hackers cross checked your email address and tried out the password attached to it to see if it matches. Security experts also advise users to set up long passwords - at least 10 characters, to use upper case and lower case, numbers, and symbols.

2. Set up two-step authentication

It might be a little bit inconvenient to always have to use multiple devices and accounts when accessing your account, but it's the best way to validate your identity. So, take the time needed for this and secure all your accounts, be it social media, email, or cloud.

3. Don't download just anything

You might get a lot of things via email or social media, but you shouldn't download them. Unless you know for certain someone was to send you a file, or you are absolutely sure that you are receiving a file from someone you know, don't click it. Don't even open that email if you have any doubt. Malware, ransomware and all types of trojans are being sent in this manner.

4. Careful what links to click on

If you receive links via email, you might want to check who they come from and avoid them if you don't know the sender. If you receive links about resetting your passwords and so on from what seem to be various services, take the time to type in the URL yourself, log into your account and change your password.

5. Stick to official app stores

While it's true that official app stores sometimes have infected apps running around, they're usually taken out fast after being detected by Google or Apple or by the security researchers often looking through these apps. Apps from third-party app stores are more likely to be infected.

6. Secure your social media accounts

On Twitter, for instance, if you don't choose to have your account verified with personal information, your email address can be guessed quite easily. On top of this, make sure to enable two-step authentication and any other tools they may have available to lock up your account.

7. Renew your passwords, update your security

From time to time you should go to your accounts and update your passwords, renew your security questions where available and so on. Then, if one of the services you use gets breached and your account is vulnerable, you might actually change your credentials before they get to try out the username and password combination they picked out.

Online security is extremely important nowadays, and it will only continue to grow in importance. It is hacks like these, affecting people's privacy, that stress just how crucial it is to safeguard all your data.

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