7 Tips to Secure your Facebook Page
Victoria Boyko, Software Development Consultant Sophicity: We put the IT in city
With more than 2 billion monthly users, Facebook is the third most popular website in the world. Because so many people spend time on it, Facebook has become an important place for cities to communicate information and help bring people to your city’s website. City departments often have their own Facebook pages that are individually managed, and those pages can be a fun, easy way to reach out to people.
However, Facebook pages can be plagued with security risks just like your city’s website or systems. For example, imagine a terminated city employee hijacking a city department’s Facebook page and not turning control of the page back over to the city. What would you do? And what could have been done to prevent this situation from happening?
While this situation is bad, we can easily imagine worse scenarios. If someone takes over your page, they can embarrass your city, spread misinformation, and use your
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page for a different purpose (like political extremism). That kind of hijacking can be a major liability to your city, and so you need to secure your Facebook pages.
How do you secure a page that’s hosted by Facebook that you don’t have direct control over (like your servers, software, or website)? Here are seven security tips that you can apply today.
1. Follow password best practices. Password best practices are not only good for Facebook pages. They are applicable to all accounts across all systems and applications. Best practices include: • Using a password on all devices—including smartphones and tablets. • Using passphrases (preferred), but at a minimum using complex passwords. • Using two-factor authentication. For example, to log in you will enter 1) your username/password, followed by 2) a code sent to your mobile device. • Changing passwords regularly. • Not writing passwords down—especially where they are visible to others.
SOUTH DAKOTA MUNICIPALITIES
