Preventing Your Youtube Account From Hacking
Are you a content creator, brand owner, or social media influencer and have a YouTube account? Are you trying to grow your following or your business through YouTube? Unfortunately, the world of social media, and YouTube in particular, is plagued by cyber insecurity and the rise of hacked YouTube accounts is leaving more YouTube users even more vulnerable every single day. Hackers often target influencers and content creators with a growing network of followers and engagement, and as a Youtuber with a growing following and business, it is important to be extra vigilant about your account security.
While you are focusing on growing your presence on the platform, you also need to know how best to protect your YouTube account from potential hacking attempts. Here are Five Ways to Protect Your YouTube Account from Hackers
1. Use A Complex Password
Hacking YouTube accounts can lead to very serious consequences! Once a YouTube account is hacked, the hacker can access your private information such as email address, phone number, home address, and credit card information. This type of account access doesn’t just put your account in danger, but it also puts you in danger too!
That is why it is so important to create a complex password when making your account, or changing your existing password to strengthen your account security. Strong complex passwords include a variety of letters, numbers, and symbols, and should not include any personal information. Automatically generated passwords are available to be created through Google’s password manager in Google Chrome - a great way to generate regularly changing passwords and keep them safe and secure.
2. Use Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
A common security measure now taken by the majority of social media platforms and
other websites, two-factor authentication is a secondary level of security beyond your already complex password. You are able to protect your password by entering a security code that will be emailed to you when you try to sign into your account, which fully authenticates your identity.
All you need to do is click the two-factor authentication option in the YouTube settings, which can be set by either text message or an authentication app. A valid phone number must be provided for the text message option, so that you will always be prompted to input a security code that is only available to you when you (or anyone else) tries to sign into your account.
3. Complete Regular Security Checks
A quick-and-easy way to regularly monitor the status of your account security is by completing regular security checks of your account’s overall settings. It’s important to stay on the lookout for any changes that may have been made to your account such as settings updates or an addition/removal of managers to check if any unwanted visitors have intruded into your account.
We recommend that you check your Google account recovery options often as well to ensure your specified personal phone number and email address are still the correct info. It is possible that a hacker could try to enter into your account through this way, so be sure to check this every week!
4. Monitor Permissions On YouTube Channel
If your YouTube account is a part of a business or a content creation group, or if you are
using the platform for partnerships with other brands as an influencer, it is often the case
that more than one person has controlling access to the account. It is highly important that
you regularly set and check your permissions on your YouTube channel, especially if you belong to one of the scenarios listed above, because managers, editors, and viewers all have different levels of permissions, and it can be easy to let one slip by.
Under your account settings, you can set your permissions to grant specific levels of access to specific people; the important thing is that you take very seriously who you allow to have greater access to your channel, and that you regularly check the settings are aligned with your decision. If you notice that the settings were changed and someone has access you didn’t grant, you must immediately revoke their access to your account and change your password!
5. Keep Antivirus Software Up-To-Date
When it comes to YouTube, hacks sometimes occur in large heaps. It is extremely
important to keep your antivirus software updated so that you can always stay ahead of any viruses that may be planted by potential hackers out there.
YouTube is an invaluable tool that has the capacity for users to express incredible creativity, create amazing opportunities for monetization, transform brands and businesses, and discover new ways for social connection, but it is imperative that you remain vigilant about your YouTube account’s safety and security, as well as your own. It can be a lot to take on, but don’t worry, because you can now use the Spikerz platform to protect your YouTube account from being hacked or even blocked!