Facebook is one of the most popular social networks on the internet. Most online users rely on its instant messaging system to chat and exchange messages every single moment.
Due to its popularity among users of various levels of cyber-security awareness, Facebook is one of the most popular channels to perform malicious activities. Attackers are getting creative in using Facebook Messenger to manipulate users and hack their Facebook accounts or devices.
Can you get hacked by opening a Facebook message?
You can’t get hacked by JUST opening or viewing a Facebook message. Providing you don’t click on or interact with any suspicious link or attachment inside this message (even if you trust the message sender).
The Security of Facebook Messages
The Facebook platform is very secure, both the Facebook website and application use encrypted HTTPS connections to secure any data being sent/received between their web servers and the users’ devices.
HTTPS protocol encrypts the connection and its information, so attackers are unable to intercept communications to Facebook servers. Even if they managed to hack into the network, they won’t be able to read or modify any of the exchanged information.
That being the case, Facebook messages are mostly safe (under specific conditions) and attackers can’t modify the message after being sent by the sender.
You Can Get Hacked By Links Inside Facebook Messages!
Even though viewing a Facebook message tends to be fairly safe, clicking on a link inside the message can be extremely dangerous.
Scammers heavily rely on Facebook messages to broadcast infected links or attachments in attractive messages. Such links upon being clicked might lead to the Facebook account getting hacked or the user’s devices getting infected by a virus or malware.
Phishing attacks are pretty common on Facebook, which usually happen when someone tries to get access to your account by sending suspicious messages that ask for your personal information.
Accordingly, you must avoid clicking on any suspicious links/files inside Facebook messages, even if they are sent from your trustworthy Facebook friend. All Facebook users might unknowingly be victims of such attacks that result in their accounts getting hacked and starting sending infected links to all Facebook friends.
How to Avoid Getting Hacked by Facebook Messages?
Facebook usually allows any user to send messages to other users even if they are not in their friends list. Although most messages that contain spam may be automatically filtered on Facebook and Messenger, some attackers are getting creative in creating messages that bypass all protection measures.
To avoid getting hacked from Facebook messages, we highly recommend being suspicious when receiving any message, particularly if the message was unexpected or received from an unknown or unusual friend. For this reason, we developed a MUST READ guide about indicators to check if an online link is safe or not.
Feb. 5th. I received a hack to access FB
I clicked on it then the nightmare started. Today 2/15 about a dozen friends received the same message. I’ve never been hacked I tried to notify friends to disregard the hack how am I to know what the outcome was. It took a lot of time. When I thought it was over, another hack came now what do I do?
Will this go on & on how do I stop it? Can you do anything from your end I forwarded the original but who knows if messenger received it?
Hi Parla and we are sorry for this situation.
The consequences of the hack depend on what happened after you clicked on the link. In your case, it’s a script that broadcasted the hack again to your friends list. However, there may be other unknown (more/less dangerous) effects this script was able to produce upon clicking on it.
For this reason, we strongly recommend changing your Facebook account password, your email password, as well as your login credentials on all other services that are linked to your email or Facebook account.
To avoid being a victim of such kinds of attacks in the future, we highly recommend reading our article (10 Indicators To Check If a Link Is SAFE) for more details about risky links that need to be avoided.
I need a super simplistic article.. m9re simple than this even. To send to my older relatives so I can stop trying to be 1) informative 2) funny 3) exasperated 4) rude about the endless free mcDonald’s or camel cigarettes or the coupon from jC penney…
Does anyone have any tips?
Please??!!
Hello Denise,
If you found one please share it with us 😅
Hey guys & gals! This feedback comment is directed at this site’s devs/operators/content creators. I just wanted to say that your website is really—fregin’—cool, it’s well built, and it functions with extreme fluidity. I like it! Thank you for allowing us visitors to learn more about cybersecurity and so much more within the entire site. You have enabled us in a simple way and I just felt like dropping a complimentary compliment and thank you for this page too. I have not clicked any phishing links in the last five years at least, and that’s because I am hyper-aware due to being an unsuspecting victim at one point. I also know what’s lurking around on the dark web through my research driven by my curious nature. It’s kind of a crazy situation that we all live in concerning the “landscape” of the internet and possibilities regarding cyber security as a contemporary human. Be safe peoples & take care! Top Marks for This Blog being awesome!
Thank you Alex 🙂