Well, be frank. Right now, you likely have more money saved in your social media accounts than in your physical piggy bank. Naturally, I am speaking about the value of information, but think about the quantity of your memories, stories in direct messages, and a carefully tuned algorithmic stream, which knows you better than anyone else. This is priceless digital gold. And being priceless, it has some thieves willing to steal it. It sounds like a scenario of a really bad spy thriller, but account hijacking is a very common practice. Luckily for us, preventing it is far from rocket science as well. You just need to switch one feature.
I am talking about Login Alerts. Or it may be called Login Notifications, or Unusual Activity alerts. Whatever the name, this feature is pretty straightforward. Every time when someone tries to access your account from a new device or new location, the application sends you an email or a text message. In other words, it is like a guard in your digital front door. When he sees an unusual visitor trying to enter, he alerts you and lets you kick the intruder out.
But why is it so crucial specifically for you? Because high school years is a unique period in the context of technology usage. You use your account from school computers, friends' phones, and your device. You connect to various insecure Wi-Fi networks. All these factors make a significant amount of digital noise, which is exactly what hackers need. After guessing your password – maybe due to the fact that you used the name of your dog and "123" again – they penetrate your account smoothly. And without this feature, you would notice this intrusion only much later, when you would not be able to access your account anymore. Your friends would receive a message from you asking for money or you would see an embarrassing post under your profile.
The point is, people usually ignore all the security measures because they seem too complicated. When they hear such terms as Two-Factor Authentication or Encryption Keys, they just lose interest. But Login Alerts are not like that. They provide a passive protection measure. You need to set up this feature once, and you only need to pay attention if something unusual happened. This is the simplest and the most profitable security measure you can adopt.
Now, let's see how to do this in the apps that you use. Firstly, let's deal with Instagram, as it is the primary source of the majority of high schoolers. Open the application and tap on your profile picture. Then, tap on the three lines in the upper right corner. Find "Accounts Center" and click "Password and Security". Look for "Login alerts" and tap on it. There you will see two options for Facebook and Instagram. You need to select Instagram, and choose the way you want to receive notifications from the application: by email, push notification, or both. In my opinion, it is better to choose both of them. Otherwise, you may miss the message at night, but your morning check on emails will certainly alert you.
Secondly, let's consider TikTok. The interface changes pretty often, which is annoying, but the core remains the same. Tap on your profile and the three-line icon in the upper right corner. Select "Settings and privacy". Then, select "Account", and then "Security". There you need to find "Manage devices" or "Login alerts". As usual, the application itself will notify you if someone tries to log in, but you need to make sure that your contact details are correct in order to receive this notification.
Snapchat requires a slightly different approach. Open the application and tap on your Bitmoji in the upper left corner. Then, tap on the gear icon to enter "Settings". Find "Two-Factor Authentication" and activate it if you did not do that before. Just below, or sometimes in "Login Verification" menu, you can find the options for notifications. Snapchat cares about the security of its users very much, which is a good thing. You will always receive an email notification if someone tried to log in from the new IP address.
It is necessary to pay attention to gaming platforms as well. Whether you play Fortnite, Valorant, or League of Legends, your account stores all your skins. And skins cost money. So, if you use Steam platform, you just need to open its client or mobile app. Go to "Account Details" and make sure that your email is secured. Steam Guard is the version of this alert feature. It sends you a code every time you log in from a new device. It is slightly more annoying, as you need to enter this code manually, but the security level becomes really high. For Xbox and PlayStation, the procedure is the same. You need to enter account security settings on their websites and make sure that "Login Notifications" are activated. Losing Fortnite account with rare skins is heart-breaking for a gamer.
Now, it is time for some bad news. Turning on this feature will probably scare you initially. You will get some alert and think that you are hacked. Calm down. Maybe, it is still you. If you recently cleared your cookies, or logged in from another city during your vacation, the system will send this alert to you. The application does not know that it is you; it just sees a new location. But it is a good sign. It means that this feature works properly. Soon you will get used to these occasional "false alarms" and will be able to differentiate a regular login from a suspicious one.
There is one more layer to this feature that most people tend to ignore. Login Alerts are diagnostic tools as well. If you receive a constant notification and know that it is not you, it means that your password is stolen. Maybe it is leaked during a data breach. Websites
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