How to protect yourself – NRK Troms and Finnmark

– I was stupid enough to send you my phone number. This was what was needed.

That’s what Torsten Johansen, who lives in Alta, said.

An old friend in Sandefjord asked for his phone number on Facebook – because they supposedly made money together. Torstein gave the number, and that was the start of his account being hacked.

Several people called me asking if I didn’t have their phone numbers. Because he was asked if they could send me their numbers.

– Then I realized that it was completely wrong, he says.

Several messages were sent from his account to eleven Facebook friends. Letters that he himself did not write.

– How do you feel about others having complete control over your profile?

– It’s great fun, and you get confused and angry. It was important to clean it up as quickly as possible.

Torstein isn’t the only one experiencing such account hijacking. In addition, others get banned from their accounts during the hack.

Account takeover has become very common

to me Norwegian Center for Information Security (Nursys), account hijacking has become a widespread problem.

Account hijacking has become very common, says Caroline Holtmann Tomete. She works as an acting director at Nurseys.

This type of hacking has grown rapidly even a year and a half ago. Then it came as a wave – and since then inquiries about this have remained high and stable.

– Holtmann Tomte says that about 30 percent of inquiries on slettmeg.no come from people who have suffered from this type of fraud we call account hijacking.

There is a risk that the kidnapping could lead to the information being used for other criminal acts. According to Norsis, someone hijacking the account could learn a lot about you and your contacts through access, and that information could be misused.

This is how you insure yourself

The best thing to do, says Holtmann Tomete, is to prevent and avoid losing control. She has three important tips for protecting yourself from scammers.

The most important thing to do is to turn it on Two-step login. It is a double lock where you need a password and a specific code to access the account.

– It’s the dumbest thing you can do. Then, she says, getting into the account is more difficult.

Another important step is to be more careful about the type of information you send. You should ask questions about who sent the message and what they are asking for.

– If you receive an inquiry from someone, it may be helpful to ask in another channel, or make a phone call, if they are actually the person asking for this information.

Another tip is to always use strong and unique passwords. You should not use the same passwords in several places, and you should create passwords that are difficult for people and data to guess.

You must do this if you have been hacked

– Yes, the faster you react, the better for you, says Holtmann Tomte.

The first thing to do is to use the official Facebook method for what they call “Hacked Accounts”. Then you fill out a separate form and then you get proof that you are the owner of the account.

This method doesn’t always go exactly as planned, Holtmann Tometi says.

– It’s a little difficult sometimes. Because if you lose access to your account for the first time, and the scammers change their email address, you won’t receive the confirmation email, you say.

Norsys’ slettmeg.no help service can also be helpful.

– They are the ones who deal with a lot of these cases and have good tips and tricks on how to solve account takeover. But you actually have to go through the Facebook form rule first, and unfortunately that can take time, says Hultman Tømte.

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