How to secure your Facebook account in 2026?

Nicolas, Mar 17, 2026

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Facebook remains one of cybercriminals' favourite targets: phishing, account theft, identity fraud, fake support pages… In 2026, with over three billion active users, the platform concentrates a considerable share of account hacking attempts. A few well-applied measures can nonetheless provide effective protection.

1. Enable two-factor authentication (2FA)

Two-factor authentication is the most effective security measure against account hacking. Even if an attacker obtains your password, they cannot log in without the second factor.

To enable it on Facebook:

• Go to Settings → Security and Login → Two-Factor Authentication
• Choose a method: authenticator app (recommended), physical security key, or SMS
• An authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Authy, Microsoft Authenticator) is the safest — SMS can be compromised by a SIM swapping attack

Good to know: Facebook allows you to save trusted devices so the second factor is not requested at every login from your usual devices. Only save devices that belong to you and are protected by a PIN or password.

2. Use a strong and unique password

A password reused from another hacked service is the most common entry point for attackers — a technique called credential stuffing. Your Facebook password must be:

• At least 12 characters, ideally 16 or more
• Made up of uppercase, lowercase, numbers and special characters
• Entirely unique — never used on any other site or service
• Generated and stored in a password manager (Bitwarden, 1Password…)

3. Check active devices and sessions

Facebook displays the full list of active devices and sessions associated with your account, with their approximate location based on the IP address used.

• Go to Settings → Security and Login → Where You're Logged In
• Identify each session — country, device type, browser
• Click the three dots next to an unknown session and select Log Out
• If you see suspicious activity, use Log Out of All Sessions then change your password immediately

Good to know: each Facebook session displays the IP address from which the connection was made. A login from a foreign country or an IP address you do not recognise is a reliable indicator of intrusion. Act immediately: change the password and enable 2FA if not already done.

4. Enable login alerts

Facebook can send you a notification or email as soon as a login is detected from an unrecognised device or browser.

• Go to Settings → Security and Login → Get alerts about unrecognised logins
• Enable alerts by notification and by email

5. Secure the associated email address and phone number

Your Facebook account can only be recovered via the associated email address or phone number. If either of these is compromised, your entire Facebook account is at risk.

• Enable two-factor authentication on your primary email address
• Check the email addresses and phone numbers registered in Settings → General Account Settings
• Remove any number or email you do not recognise — a hacker may add them to facilitate a future takeover

6. Control connected third-party apps

Many apps use Facebook Login for authentication. Each has partial access to your data and can represent an attack vector if compromised.

• Go to Settings → Apps and Websites
• Revoke access for all apps you no longer use or do not recognise
• Check the permissions granted to active apps — some have access to your friends list, email address or location

7. Beware of phishing attempts

Scams targeting Facebook accounts have evolved considerably in 2026. The most common variants:

• Fake Facebook email reporting a policy violation or imminent suspension, with a link to a fake login page
• Fake Facebook support contacting you via Messenger while impersonating Meta
• Fake contests or giveaways asking you to log in on an external page

Meta never contacts you via Messenger for security matters. Official emails come exclusively from the @facebook.com or @facebookmail.com domains.

Summary of essential measures

Good to know: if your Facebook account is hacked and you no longer have access to your email or phone, Facebook offers a recovery process via facebook.com/hacked. This procedure allows you to report the hacking and initiate an identity verification with Meta support to recover your access.