Snapchat had nearly 160,000 users at the end of 2016. With so many followers, it’s no wonder cybercriminals want to access your Snapchat account. In this article, we will see how to know if your account has been pirate and how to stop a pirate.
How to know if your Snapchat account has been hacked in 5 steps?
- Unusual activity
- You will be regularly disconnected for no reason.
- You may see more emails from Snapchat asking about your connections or activity.
- New contacts have been added to your Snapchat account
- Personal information has been changed such as your email or phone number.
The bad news is that you will only notice these signs if the hacker is actually using your Snapchat account. If they hacked it to harvest your personal information, you might not see any of these signs. Instead, you’ll start seeing more emails from banks, credit companies, and other financial organizations because your identity is being used for nefarious purposes.
Unusual activity in your Snapchat account
Spotting unusual activity is usually the first sign that someone else (i.e. a pirate) uses your Snapchat account. If you’re seeing snaps you don’t own, new friends you haven’t made, or suddenly following people you haven’t followed, your account may be compromised. These signs may be easier to spot if you are a regular Snapchat user rather than an occasional user.
Using a Snapchat connections account, you can view the snap card associated with your account. Assuming the hacker has not gone into ghost mode, you may be able to see the location of illegal connections.
Having to log into Snapchat all the time
Using multiple mobile devices with Snapchat often means that one will log out when the other is logged in and vice versa. If someone has accessed your account, you may notice more frequent login prompts.
Usually, a Snapchat connection will last for a while. At least until you manually log out, restart the app, or reboot your device. Occasionally, your account may be logged out due to an app or device issue, but if you find that you need to keep logging back into your account, it could be a sign that someone another logs in and forces you to log out. It is by no means definitive, but it is definitely a sign that you need to investigate further.
Unusual Snapchat notification emails
Snapchat does what it can to monitor account activity and will notify you via email if any changes are made to your account. If the username or password is changed, for example, you will see an email. If someone logs in from a completely different location, Snapchat should detect it and alert you. If you start seeing these types of notifications, you need to take action.
How to stop a hacker on your Snapchat account
If you think your Snapchat account has been compromised, you must first secure the account and then find out how it was compromised. Log in to Snapchat as soon as possible and change the password.
- login to snapchat
- If your password is still valid, change it immediately.
- If your password has already been changed, use the Forgot Password link and change it.
Unfortunately, if someone has changed your recovery email and phone number; there is not much you can do to recover your account. Snapchat notifies you of changes to your account before the hacker can go that far. It is important to keep this information up to date to protect your account.
Once you’ve changed your password to something complicated, but memorable, or used your password manager to find something good, go ahead and enable two-factor authentication.
From now on, when you log in, you’ll need to enter a code from the app or an SMS. This is an extra step, but it means it’s nearly impossible for a hacker to gain access to your account if they don’t have your phone.
Hacker Access Investigation
Once your Snapchat account is secure, take the time to do a little investigation on your own to see how they got your details. Make sure your email is secure, never leave your phone or device unattended, and be sure to use unique passwords for each account and use two-factor authentication wherever you can.
Understand how the hacker is entered will prevent further access. Whether your email is compromised or someone close to you has figured out your password, following these steps will ensure the hacker is locked out forever. As we have just seen, it is not so difficult to know if his Snapchat account has been hacked. You no longer have access to your Snapchat account?
Here are some general recommendations for securing your Snapchat and other social media accounts:
- Make your password at least 8 characters
- Use a combination of letters, numbers and symbols
- Use a combination of upper and lower case.
- Don’t use common words or phrases, as there are hacking programs that can easily go through all the words in the dictionary when trying to guess your password.
- Do not use birthday or other personal information because it is very possible that the hacker already has personal information about you to help them hack your account.
- Don’t reuse passwords across multiple accounts, as this will allow a hacker to hack into more than one of your accounts at once.
Conclusion :
To conclude, it is always best to check that your account is not pirate. If, ever, his account is hacked, he will then have to follow the necessary instructions to recover his account and put it in secure.
