Instagram users are without access to their accounts due to a hacker attack that altered an email and other profile information, making it difficult to recover.
If you tried to access your Instagram account, there are reports that accounts have been compromised by hackers, even if you have enabled two-time log-in (2FT), the one where Instagram also sends a code to your cell phone or email so you can access your account.
Thousands of Instagram users have reported that their accounts have been hacked in the past few weeks.
According to reports made to Mashable, the hack involves users who have had their emails changed to the .ru (Russian) domain.
Hackers were able to disable two-factor authentication (2FT) on at least some user accounts.
As reported by one of them to Mashable, Instagram even warned of this access and change via email but did not have time to take the necessary measures.
Hackers changed many avatars (profile pictures) from victims to animated characters from Disney and Pixar Films, also erasing their biographies.
However, there were no reports of deleted photos or other suspicious activity on compromised accounts, meaning that hackers could be planning these account hijackings to use as spambots or other future events.
How to avoid your Instagram account from getting hacked?
If you haven’t been hacked yet, log in to your account right now and follow some recommendations below:
Enable two-factor authentication (2FT)
Enable Two-factor Authentication. This option is available by going to the profile editing option (bust icon), go to “Privacy and security” and “Two-factor authentication” you will have the opportunity to activate (as long as you have a cell phone registered to the account).
Change your password
Also, change your password to a stronger one that is not used anywhere else. We often use the same password on more than one website.
If this site is compromised and they can identify your username and password, they will try to log in to other sites and platforms (including Instagram).
Therefore, it is vital to keep the password challenging to identify and different for each site, even if you put a different letter or number at the beginning or end. It helps and a lot.
Just access your profile (bust icon) and go to” Change password” here:
Check authorization for third-party applications
Sometimes specific sites or apps, to assist in the quick registration of their users, provide the option to register using their Facebook, Google, Instagram account, among others.
However, in some instances, they may be asking for more information than they should, to start scouring your profile on the internet and later trying to hack your account.
Of course, not all services do this, but it never hurts to check the credentials and websites and applications that are using your information. You can check this by going to your profile (bust icon) and going to “Authorized apps”.
A list of external services that use some of your data on Instagram will be shown. You can delete or even edit specific permissions. If you don’t use it anymore, you can also delete them.
These tips and others can be viewed on the official Instagram blog, written yesterday precisely with the proposal to help users keep their account more secure in the face of hacker attacks that they are suffering: https://instagram-press.com/blog/ 2018/08/14 / issue-affecting-access-to-instagram-accounts /
I got hacked; what should I do?
If you were one of the hacked users and had trouble accessing your account, you will have to be patient in the recovery. Especially if you have not registered a valid cell phone or activated two-factor authentication, because as they changed emails, this method of recovery by forgetting username and password will not work.
One of the users reported to the Mashable website that he tried to contact Instagram, but the emails they send back have broken or invalid links that make recovery even more difficult.
Anyway, try to follow these official Instagram help topics to see if you can recover your account again.
And please, you have any tips or methods that managed to reclaim your account after changing your profile data, insert it in the comments so you can help more people.