Posted in: Security

Thanks to our friends at HowToGeek.com, comes a great security tip this week for Instagram users.

Attackers are compromising Instagram accounts and locking out users, so take a moment to lock down your account.

A growing number of users are taking to Twitter and Reddit to complain about compromised Instagram accounts, and there seems to be a pattern.

It’s not clear how hackers are gaining access to these accounts, or if it’s the result of a coordinated attack. But we’ve identified several commonalities among the hacking victims—like a changed handle and profile avatar (often to an animated character from a Disney or Pixar film), deleted bios, and a new .ru email address on the account. In most cases, the Instagram users did not have two-factor authentication enabled at the time of the hack, but it appears even this setting may not be enough to deter hackers.

The changed email addresses are a big deal because they make it really hard to recover your account. With this in mind, we think prevention is key. Here’s our advice:

• Change your password, particularly if you’ve been re-using one on various accounts. Set up a password manager so you can quickly generate random ones.
• Enable two factor authentication on Instagram right now (instructions included in the linked page). Yes, some people have been hacked with this on, but it’s still better to have this on than to not have it on.

These steps aren’t a guarantee, but it’s a start. Stay safe out there!