Social media is a regular part of today’s communication.

It’s an excellent tool for your funeral home to connect with families and share information. However, as easily as information is shared, it’s also easily hacked if you’re not careful. Is your funeral home following best practices to protect your accounts from potential cyber-attacks?

Below are some security tips to protect your accounts from hackers.

Be Secured

The first step to protect your social media accounts is to protect your computer. You should make sure your computer and internet browser are up to date. As Jessica Koth states in The Director article We’ve Been Hacked, these updates may contain important virus protection updates. It’s important to have a high-quality antivirus software, such as one of these Reviewed.com best antivirus software picks.

Also, read through your social media accounts’ privacy and security settings and choose your preferred settings. Some accounts may have the option of sending a verification code via text or email before granting access. With Facebook, you can sign up for alerts when there’s an unrecognized login attempt to your account. Check out this Facebook article to learn how to sign up.

Create Strong and Unique Passwords

Your social media passwords should have different numbers, letters, and symbols and be at least 12 characters long. Don’t include personal information in your passwords, such as your name or birthday. Also, don’t use something easily guessed, such as a 1234 number or ABCD letter sequence or “password.”

Don’t use the same password for all your accounts. This may make it easier to remember, but it puts your security at risk. Instead, use a program like Buffer or Hootsuite to manage all your accounts in one spot. However, give that account a unique password, as well. You also can use a password management program, like Dashlane or LastPass. Or, store your passwords on a flash drive or write them in a password book. Just make sure to keep it in a safe location.

Don’t Click Anything Suspicious

When using social media, don’t click any messages or links that seem suspicious. This could be a message with a lot of misspelling and grammatical errors or something that seems out of the ordinary. For example, if someone you know shares something out of character, it may be the work of a hacker.

Always report suspicious activity and change your password if you think your account has been compromised. For example, if you think someone hacked your Facebook account, follow these Facebook Guided Help steps to find a solution. Also, send an apology message out to your Facebook followers to let them know about the incident and warn them not to click anything suspicious from you.

Educate Your Funeral Home’s Staff

Make sure to educate your funeral home’s staff about social media best practices. This includes creating strong passwords, not sharing personal information, understanding privacy settings, and not clicking anything suspicious. Tell your staff to log out of accounts instead of leaving them up.

However, even if you take all these precautions, sometimes hackers still get through. Make sure everyone knows how to identify and report suspicious behavior. Also, it’s a smart idea to sign up for email or text alerts for any suspicious activity on your accounts.

Have a Designated Social Media Person

Instead of giving multiple people access to your funeral home’s social media accounts, designate one person. Or, assign specific tasks or accounts to certain people. Facebook allows you to assign distinct roles that give people limited access to only their specific duties. They include administrator, editor, moderator, advertiser, analyst, and live contributor. To see what specific duties these roles have, check out this Facebook Page Roles article.