Bob Sullivan does a lot for his trusty golden retriever Rusty, including the maintenance of a busy social media presence. So, you can imagine his horror after losing his phone and with that his access to Rusty’s account. How’d it happen? Cyber! 

All jokes aside, Bob’s predicament illustrates a major Big Tech flaw. When something breaks, especially in social media, there’s not always someone you can call to fix it. And with so many threat actors, big and small, setting their sights on social media assets (big and small) we tend to hear a lot about people getting locked out of their accounts.

This week’s Tin Foil Swan explains why you probably shouldn’t use those third-party apps that track follows and unfollows on social media accounts–and how to stop if you already use one.

“What the Hack with Adam Levin” is available wherever you get your podcasts. If you like it, consider rating us on your favorite podcast service or writing a review. It really helps people find the show.

Adam Levin is the former Director of Consumer Affairs for the State of New Jersey, serial entrepreneur and author of Swiped, which he wrote with his sidekick, writer and cyber mensch, Beau Friedlander. With expert commentary from Travis “Here’s What Actually Happened” Taylor, the show gets everything sorted out—or not—but either way you’re going to have a great time. Something weird happen to you? We’ve got your back.

What the Hack with Adam Levin is a production of Loud Tree Media and is produced by Andrew Steven and Beau Friedlander.