Instagram: Hackers might have accessed your account, here’s how to know for sure

Instagram is all fun and games until your account gets hacked. You don’t need to be an Instagram influencer or have a crazy number of followers to be the target of hackers. Every person on the image-sharing social media app is vulnerable and it isn’t always evident that your account has been hacked.

How to know if your Instagram account has been hacked?

Instagram has about a billion active users currently and getting your Instagram account hacked straight-up means that your phone number and email address are at risk. Digital security experts at F-secure – an IT security company – have explained warning signs to look out for to check if your Instagram account has been hacked. Here’s how to know if your account is hacked:

• The most basic sign to know for sure is that your registered email address and phone number would be changed. Hackers do this so you stop getting change notifications. Go to your profile settings and check if the details updated are accurate there.
• If your account has been logged in to unusual devices or has unusual activity, it is a red flag. Logins from suspicious locations are also something to look out for.
• Your profile has sent out messages to many people, your account is following random accounts or if your account is blocked for spamming are other signs to check.

The best way to secure your account is to have a strong password made of upper- and lower-case characters along with some numbers and special characters. In case, you notice any suspicious activity, immediately change your password and update other details.

Why would your Instagram account be hacked?

The main reason why any social media account is in an attempt to steal confidential information. While everyone is at risk of a scam, accounts with surplus followers are more at risk. Tom Gaffney, the principal security expert at F-Secure confirms:

Instagram scams are rampant right now, a result of its growing popularity and influence. The power of Instagram is in how many followers you have – the more followers these brands can build, the more they can push other nefarious activity.

Hackers don’t tend to differentiate on the target as their attacks are automated and at scale, this means they will affect users even with very few followers.

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