How do you protect your accounts from hacking and online blackmail?

Losing an Instagram, WhatsApp or email account can mean losing your work, your photos and your conversations, and sometimes being blackmailed with them. Most accounts are not taken by genius hackers but through a few common mistakes. These are the questions to ask yourself today.

How are most accounts hacked?

• A fake link that looks like Instagram, a bank or a prize, and asks for your password.
• A verification code that someone asks you to send them, often from a friend’s hacked account.
• The same password used on many sites, so one leak opens everything.

What makes a strong password?

A long sentence that only you would know is stronger than a short word full of symbols. Use a different password for every important account, and keep them in a password manager instead of a note on your phone.

Should I turn on two-step verification?

Yes, on every account that offers it: email first, then WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. Even if your password leaks, the account stays closed without the second step.

Is it ever safe to share a verification code?

No. No company, delivery service or friend needs the code sent to your phone. Anyone asking for it is trying to take your account.

How do I keep my photos and chats private?

• Do not send private photos to anyone, even someone you trust today.
• Check which devices are signed in to your accounts and sign out the ones you do not know.
• Be careful in large groups: anything shared there can be saved by everyone in it.

What should I do if someone blackmails me?

• Do not pay and do not negotiate. Paying usually leads to more demands.
• Keep the evidence: screenshots of messages, the account name and the dates.
• Report it to the community police or Iraq’s official channels for online extortion, and report the account to the platform.
• Tell someone you trust. You are the victim, and you do not have to face it alone.

Security is part of everything WATAD builds: from WATAD Shield, which stops bots on websites, to WATAD Mail, which blocks trackers in your inbox.