The theft of accounts on the social network Instagram has long been put on stream. Having taken possession of a user's page, a hacker can fill it with pornographic content, borrow money on behalf of the profile owner, and reveal secret correspondence in Direct.
If the account has a large audience and is used to make money, hackers can easily resort to blackmail. It is possible to restore a stolen account, but as practice shows, for this you will have to communicate with the support service for a long time. So how do you protect yourself from such a situation? Remember 6 important profile safety rules.
Check what your account is linked to
On Instagram, you can link your account:
- To the mobile phone;
- Email;
- Facebook page.
It is important that you have access to everything, remember the login and password from both the email and the Facebook page. Otherwise, you won't receive a notification about the change of your Instagram profile password, you won't be able to recover it.
Check the security of everything your profile is linked to. On Facebook, it will not be superfluous to put a login confirmation by SMS, so that attackers will not be able to hack the page. Set a complex password for your email.
Create a second email to contact you
Under no circumstances should you publicly indicate the email to which the pages in social networks are linked. If possible, it should be a secret mail, which does not receive mailings from stores, and where people do not write with offers of cooperation. The fewer people who know your email address, the lower the risk of targeted hacking.
Always Have Access to Linked Email
It is to the email address that you will receive a notification about the change of the account password, as well as about all unlinked and vice versa linked numbers. If a hack does happen and you have an email at your fingertips, you'll receive an instant notification and nip the theft in the bud.
Add Multiple Portrait Photos to Your Profile
Often, the pages of companies and bloggers are so impersonal that they do not have a single photo of the owner. If your profile is the same, add portrait photos urgently. They will help determine the owner of the page in a disputable situation. Please note that the support team may request a scan of your passport. Therefore, it is advisable to include your real name and surname in your profile.
Do not enter your username and password on third-party sites
It is this mistake that becomes fatal for the owners of the stolen pages. There are a lot of fake websites out there, with classic Instagram designs. Scammers wait for the victim to enter all the account details and steal it even without hacking.
Always check if you are exactly on the official website of Instagram. Remember that by using promotion apps and giving them access to your profile, you can become a victim of fraud.
Don't click on links
In Yandex.Direct, you can often find an offer to follow a link. It can be a link to a store, a request to vote for someone in a contest, or to read information. Behind a seemingly innocent link, there may be malware that will automatically download to your phone or computer. As a result, you can lose not only your page, but also valuable data such as photos and passwords from bank cards.
The most effective method of protection today is two-factor authentication. The essence of its operation is simple - by turning it on, no one will be able to log in to your account, without a special password, which will come in the form of an SMS to your mobile phone. You can turn on this security feature in your account settings.
Do not forget to follow all the security rules, change your password from time to time, check the email to which your page is linked, and then attackers will not be able to ruin your life.
