Mzansi Celebs share social media tips on how to avoid being hacked
Social media tips: How to avoid being hacked. In a month that has seen a handful of local stars have their social media accounts hacked, the need for stronger cybersecurity has increased and we don’t think many of our stars will be taking risks with their online profiles as a result.
It really seems deliberate at this point in time: Someone is coming after South African celebrities.
Last week we discovered that Bonang Matheba had been hacked. That came shortly after Casper Nyovest had to buy his account back from hackers. And now it seems as if Babes Wodumo has become the latest victim. The Gqom queen temporarily disappeared from Instagram before setting the record straight and saying:
“Guess who’s back? Sorry for disappearing on you guys. Someone tried to hack my account and I couldn’t log in at all. Heard I ain’t the only one though. Thanks to everyone who’s helped me get my account (back),”
With this in mind, we decided to share a few tips to help celebrities avoid being hacked on social media.
1. Create a strong password
Your password was @Familytree# try something 192.56.75@&R
— Mulozwi (@Faris_Unchained) February 20, 2019
Everyone was laughing at what Casper’s password could have been before he got hacked. While Mufasa16 and Monate_Mpilaye are easy to remember, they are also easy to figure out.
2. Don’t share this strong password
Once you have a strong password, don’t share it with anyone. Unfortunately, celebrities often have other people managing their social media – like Jack Parow.
Jack Parow: I didn’t send homophobic tweet, my social media manager did – https://t.co/37qfFjgOxs pic.twitter.com/Xqy9M5CamB
— Gay-Africa.com (@GayAfricaCom) December 20, 2018
3. Enable 2-step verification where possible
If you search online you will notice that Google products (e.g. Youtube, Gmail), Instagram, Facebook and Twitter all have an option in their security settings called “Two-Step Verification” (or two-factor-authentification). This makes it much more difficult for anybody who is not you to log into your account. Be warned, it makes logging in more time-consuming.
4. You know that Security Answer?
When you sign up to a new service and it asks you for a security answer, don’t share the correct one. Offer a fake alternative that only you can remember. Because unfortunately, “Which city were you Born” on Babes Wodumo’s Instagram – then it’s likely that hackers can too.
Jokes aside, cybercrime is a genuine threat and one that even experts are only beginning to understand. Nobody deserves to have their online identity held for ransom and we hope the perpetrators are caught.
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