As you may have seen, hacking attacks on Instagram accounts are rising these days. You probably saw friends’ accounts showing content that they wouldn’t usually share, or maybe you’re receiving odd links from them. Sadly, there is a high chance those accounts have been hacked, and shockingly, their hackers may be sending messages to you. But how can we protect our Instagram accounts from being hacked? Luckily there are some easy steps you can take.
But how can we avoid getting hacked on Instagram?
There are some steps you can take in order to protect your account and not get hacked. First, let’s start with a feature we all have on our Instagram: two-factor authentications. It’s very easy to do, and it literally takes two minutes of your time, and it could really save your account. What the two factor authentication does, it sends you an email if you log from a different device or a different location. In this way, you can immediately be notified if there’s any activity you don’t recognize. You can follow the steps in this picture.
Once you do that, you can continue with the step 4, where you can add your phone number, or you can download an authentication app (Instagram suggests this choice).
Now that we covered the two-factor authentication, there’s something else you should do to keep your account safe. Change your password, and make sure you use a strong one, and difficult to guess. It’s very easy to do, if you look at the picture above, you need to follow the first two steps, then click on Password.
How to check if I’m currently hacked?
If you take a look again at the picture, in the Step 2 there is Login Activity. When you click on that one, it will tell you all the devices that are currently logged into your account. If it shows as the device you’re using is the only device where you’re currently logged in, you’re safe. But if you notice some devices you don’t recognize, change your password immediately.
Phishing can come from people you follow!
As I was telling at the beginning, if you’re following someone and they suddenly start sharing content they usually wouldn’t, there’s a good chance they might have been hacked. Sometimes, this isn’t even that obvious, their feed could look as usual, without new content, but you start to get messages in DMs from them. This is a very common technique, they start talking to you, then they send you a link. This is a trick they use, so that when you click on their malicious link, they have what they need to hack your Instagram account. So it’s very important that you don’t click on those links, even if they come from someone you know.
