Several hundreds of Instagram accounts have been reportedly hacked over the past few weeks, according to users on Twitter and Reddit. There has been speculation regarding Russian ties of the attacker since some users have reported that their accounts were hacked via a Russian-linked domain’s email accounts (.ru).
My Instagram was hacked and deleted? I’m fuming. Is there anything I can do?
— Mackenzie Douthit (@DouthitKenzie) August 14, 2018
Instagram has been terribly slow in resolving
And with north of a billion users and more and more users jumping on the bandwagon of getting hacked, the issue seems serious.
Did you report it as a hacker or something else? I tried filing it as “someone is impersonating me” and sent a picture with it so I’m hoping they’ll respond to that. It’s been over a week for me! 😫
— Ani Pogarian 🇦🇲 (@AniPog) August 14, 2018
But Instagram has finally acknowledged the attack
Their press release says, “We are aware that some people are having difficulty accessing their Instagram accounts.” and they’ve lined out a number of ways to keep your account secure. Here is how you might be able to retrieve your Instagram account back and keep it safe in the future.
Also read: How secure are your photos on social media? And how to protect them
How to keep your Instagram account safe
- If you’ve received an email from Instagram notifying you that there has been a change in your email address and if you didn’t do it, please scan the email for a link — revert this change — and then change your password.
- If you can’t find the email from Instagram, be sure to check your spam, bin, social tab on Gmail. If you haven’t received it, try getting in touch with Instagram and Facebook via their support website or email.
- It’s recommended you pick a strong password, which is usually considered a combination of letters, numbers and special characters (!@#$) — a total of six or more.
- It’s also advised that you do not keep the same password for logging into other platforms — a unique password for each account is more secure.
- Be careful of the third-party apps you authorise app access to. If you smell something fishy, revoke access immediately.
- The company also recommends to turn on the two-factor authentication (2FA) but that is also only available via SMS-based authentication system, which has proven to be not so reliable in the past.
Update: Instagram has introduced third-party authenticator app support too. Learn how to set it up and learn more about it in our article.
“We have dedicated teams helping people to secure their accounts. If you have reached out to us about your account, you will hear back from our team soon,” Instagram adds.
Also read: How to access new tools to manage your time on Facebook and Instagram?
How to retrieve the account via the Instagram mobile app?
Android
- Open the Instagram app on your device
- Tap on Get help signing in (located below Log in) on the login screen
- Tap on Use Username or Email, enter your username or email
- Tap the → (arrow) located on the top right
- Tap on Need more help? and then follow the on-screen instructions
- If this doesn’t work with username, try it again with the email address
iOS
- Open the Instagram app on your device
- Tap on Get help signing in (located below Log in) on the login screen
- Tap on Use Username or Email, enter your username or email
- Tap on Need more help? (located below Send Login Link) and then follow the on-screen instructions
- If this doesn’t work with username, try it again with the email address
In the recent attacks, the usernames are also being changed, so you can ask one of your friends who has been in contact with you via the Instagram chat messenger to check out your latest username.
Also read: Here is how to encrypt your Gmail