It seems like every time you log in instagram, several friends had to post the ever-dreaded forced message: “I’ve been hacked, please don’t click on the link I apparently DMed everyone with to get Ray-Bans free.” It’s a fairly common phenomenon: about 13 out of 100 Americans have been hacked on Instagram, according to NordVPN.
There are, of course, preventative measures you can take to avoid an attack. You can enable two-factor authentication, which is sometimes referred to as “two-step verification” or “multi-factor authentication”. When you activate this feature – something you can do on just about any social media platform – you give your phone number to a service that will send an access code to your device when you enter your password to login. You can also make sure you have a strong password and complete Instagram Security Check.
You can also just decide not to have an Instagram, but as we’ve learned time and time again, abstinence-only education really doesn’t work. That’s why Instagram has introduced a new feature designed to help users if and when they lose access to their account due to a hacking issue.
Instagram.com/hacked is a “complete new destination people can rely on to report and resolve account access issues”, according to Instagram’s feature blog. If your account has been hacked, visit Instagram.com/hacked, indicate that you have been hacked or any other reason why your account is locked, such as if you forgot your password, lost access to two-factor authentication or if your account was deactivated. Next, Instagram offers you a series of questions that should help you recover your access.
“We know losing access to your Instagram account can be stressful, so we want to make sure people have multiple options to recover their account if they lose access,” Instagram wrote in a blog post. Or you can always take a hack as a sign from above for Delete your account absolutely and get off the grid.
