Fortnite Hacks Are Out In Force: How To Protect Your Account

Being one of the biggest games in the world at the moment, Fortnite is attracting all sorts of unsavory folks. We're not just talking about in-game trolls here, but also people who would attempt to gain unauthorized access to your account and lock you out of it. Hackers are out in force, and if you play Fortnite regularly you've probably heard of them compromising accounts left and right. So, what should you do to keep your account safe?

The most important thing you can do to keep your account safe is something you should do with every online identity you have: use a unique password for your Epic Games account. While you should use a unique password for every account you have, at the very least you want to make sure that you're using different passwords for your Epic Games account and the email associated with it, otherwise you put yourself at even greater risk of losing your Fortnite account.

There really isn't any excuse to be using the same (sometimes easy to guess) password across your important logins. Password managers like LastPass, 1Password, Keeper, or Dashlane make this very easy, and though many of them require some kind of fee, it's well worth the cost – especially if you've invested money in your Fortnite account. Making you sure you have a unique, difficult to guess password for your Fortnite account is the best defense you'll have against getting hacked.

For a little added security, you can enable two-factor authentication on your Epic Games account as well. That way, you'll be emailed a code any time your password is entered, and without that code, access to your account won't be granted. Assuming you keep your email login protected, two-factor authentication will prevent someone from accessing your Epic Games account even if they have your password. To enable it, login to your account at epicgames.com, go to your account settings, and then click on "password and security."

Even if you take the appropriate precautions by using a unique password and two-factor authentication, someone can still try to brute force their way into your account if they have your email address. To see if your email address may have been part of any previous data breaches, check out Have I Been Pwned – if this service is able to find instances of your email address floating around, there's a good chance it's been published online in a past breach.

That doesn't necessarily mean your account is at risk, but it does open you up to brute force attacks, where someone attempts to guess your password over and over until they get it right. Epic defends against this by locking your account after a certain number of failed attempts, which is something that actually happened to me today. You'll be alerted by email when your account is locked, but strangely enough, the "contact us" link included in that message points to an email address that isn't monitored (accounts@unrealengine.com).

If you need to get in touch with Epic about the status of your account, try emailing help@epicgames.com – an address that isn't listed in that message – instead. This is a particularly frustrating oversight on Epic's part, especially if you want to gain access to your account as quickly as possible so you can beef up its security.

However, all of the preparation in the world isn't going to protect your account if you lack common sense. It seems like this should go without saying, but if you see a link promising free V-Bucks (Fortnite's in-game currency), don't click it. It's a scam meant only to farm account information from people who are easily fooled. Epic itself says that there's no such thing as a free V-Buck, so if you encounter something that seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is and you should stay far away from it.

Finally, keep in mind that Epic Games is never going to ask for your account information unless you're logging into epicgames.com or the Epic launcher. Anyone asking for your information anywhere else is doing so maliciously, so if it's requested, don't give it up.

The number of Fortnite and Epic Games account being hacked is definitely scary, but by taking the measures outlined in this article, you can protect your account from falling into the wrong hands. The good news is that these hackers are, for the most part, using old and well-known methods to obtain login information, so if you know what to look for, it's easy to keep your account safe. Stay vigilant, and good luck in your quest for a bunch of first place finishes in Fortnite.