Imagine getting your social media account hacked by Russia. Hackers are able to find ways to take control of anyone’s social media account. Sometimes these hacks are out of the ordinary because your page is not deleted and new photos are not leaked.
According to Digital Trends, many users will find themselves logged off of their accounts. The hackers will change the phone number, password and email address. the emails will change with a .ru, a domaine typically used in Russia.
“I’m confused on what they are gaining from hacking people in America’s Instagram accounts,” biology and criminology major Alyssa Clark said.
According to Mashable, more than 1 billions Instagram users have been a target for these hackers. Instagram does not want to comment on the process of regaining the account back due to all of the negative comments.
Digital Trends says that these hacks have been happening since the beginning of August. According to Mashable, many of the frustrated users took their anger to Twitter and Reddit to complain about the hacks. In Twitter alone there were 5,000 tweets that spoke about the hacks.
“I’m sort of indifferent at this point,” senior Aichata Couli said.
An Instagram user named Chris Woznicki used a two-factor authentication. Even then hackers were still able to get into his account. He received notifications that his email had been changed to a .ru address.
“There is no secrets that there would be a national security risk hidden on my account,” Couli said..
Instagram has mentioned their solving these hacker issues but many of the users find their approach lacking. Many users say that it feels like they are going in a maze reign on Instagram to recover their accounts. Some people have reached out to Instagram concerning the hacks but, they have yet to respond.
Hackers Hit Home
This is what exactly happened to the Loquitur ‘s Instagram account on Sept. 23. Editor in Chief Connor Tustin found himself locked off of the Loquitur’s Instagram that morning. Alongside Tustin, many of the other Loquitur staff editors could not log into the account. The staff, including Dr. Jerry Zurek and Jillian Smith, continued to try to log into the account but the correct password was still not working. Zurek continued to try to get the account back. In his findings he realized that the email to the account was changed and ended in “.ru”. Once the Loquitur requested to change all of their information, they were able to get a hold of their Instagram again.
“I feel as though that’s an invasion of someone’s privacy,” Clark said.
How to Keep Hackers Away
Instagram’s security tips encourage users to use a combination of letters, number and punctuation marks. Another tip they give is to change you password regularly especially if you are getting message telling you to do so. Another tip they encourage you to do is, when logging into Instagram on a phone or computer do not check off the “Remember me” box. Following those tips may keep the hackers away from your account.
“My account hasn’t been hacked but I change my password everyday for precautions,” Clark said.
