If Mark Zuckerberg's accounts can get hacked, so can yours

If the Facebook CEO's social media accounts can get hacked, so can yours.

This weekend, Mark Zuckerberg's two social media accounts, Twitter and Pinterest, were hacked and who would have thought that the tech giant's security would be breached. Zuckerberg's distress could no doubt, become a lesson for all internet-users. People, in general, make a lot mistakes while choosing a password and choosing the same password for multiple social media accounts, is the worst of them all. Every internet-user needs to carefully choose what he/she shares online in order to avoid a big data breach. Hackers can get through your personal and professional details, your bank account details or hack your other social media accounts and the consequences of it can be bad, extremely bad.

Where did Zuckerberg go wrong, or what can we do to not succumb to such hacking? Here are a few tips that can help you stay safe online:

1. Choose a strong password

The more complicated a pssword it, the harder it is to crack. Do not include your name, your partner's name, your pet's name, birthdays or any such personal references. Such details can be easily tracked through your Facebook or Twitter accounts and hackers have a method to automate guesses. Use a password that is a combination of alphabets, numerics and symbols. Though, it might be a little difficult to remember but, it will no doubt save you from a lot of trouble.

2. Do not reuse passwords

It is strictly advisable that you keep different passwords to protect different social media accounts. Even a slight change in the password can help you to be secure. In a time, where people have accounts on a numerous social media websites, it is very troublesome to retain so many passwords. To manage different passwords, there are certains aaps that are also available that can help you to go about it.

3. Change your passwords regularly

It is extremely necessary to change your passwords on a regular basis. Do not change alter your old passwords, instead form new passwords. The longer the same password stays, the more likely it is to be caught. And if you hear news like Zuckerberg's account hacking or LinkedIn security breach, change your password right away.

4. Make it stronger

Always use multi-factor identification. It means that users are asked to enter an additional form of identification, such as a code texted to their registered phone number or answering a security question. This method offers more protection to your account as it typically asks for this second identification when your account has been logged in from a new device or browser.

5. Flush the accounts you no longer use

Delete, or better, deactivate accounts you no longer use. If you have a mail account, like Gmail or Yahoo, and it is lying dormant for a while or its spam folder is clogged; maybe it's time to say goodbye. Got a spam-filled Juno or AOL email account lying dormant? Maybe it's time to say goodbye. If you have moved to new social media accounts, like a move from Orkut to Facebook or a move from AOL to Gmail, you should get rid of the ones you access. You just need to alter your account settings, as long as you have a password to do so.

6. Clear your social media trash

You should be very careful when you put anything on social media and you should always restrict your posts to you actual friends. You should always check your account settings to customize your posts and also, limit the users that can see yous posts. Personal information can not only help hackers to crack passwords, they can also be used to answer security question that are used in multi-factor identification. So, to avoid this, never put any persnal information on any social media account.