Abstract:
The researcher carried out an inductive research that investigated the effect of Facebook user account security systems on preventing Facebook user account hacks among university students in Mbale City. The study objectives were to; investigate the effect of pass words, verification and log out on prevention of Facebook user account hacks among University students in Mbale City. A descriptive design was used by the researcher with both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The sample size was 92 respondents that included students from Universities in Mbale City and only 93.5% responded. Data was analyzed by the use of computer aided SPSS data analysis software.
Presentation of data was done by the use of tables and percentages. Descriptive statistics and
correlations were used to establish the contribution of mitigation mechanisms to prevention of
Facebook user account hacking. Findings in this study indicate that; 75.6% recommend that
Passwords are a good security mechanism against Facebook hacking but there has been laxity among Facebook account users on issues of strength of pass words, 77.9% say of use verification has been effective in mitigating Facebook user account hacks but it has not been embraced by a significant number of Facebook account users and that logout has been an effective ant-hacking mechanism but some users have not been effectively logging out timely or on other electronic gadgets hence opening a hole for hackers. The researcher recommends that; users to be educated to always have strong pass words that should be between 10-15 characters long, a mix of uppercase and lower case letters and include numbers or symbols; avoid sharing pass words and keep on changing pass words with the reminder by automated dates of password expiry dates; Verification is a helpful can be extended to ensure that it starts with user name apart from waiting at the point of pass word insertion; User account log out should be in such a way that users should always logout after every session and Automatic security alerts to be installed within the Facebook user account system
