Her second mistake was that her account was not to set up 2FA, which is free and easy to implement in all social media and email accounts. How things went wrongĮllie’s first mistake was that she had used a relatively simple password on the account and had reused it on other accounts, so this password was either compromised or attacked via brute force to gain illicit entry. At any rate, when she called, I refrained from “I told you so!” and asked her what had happened. As a result, she has simply “put off” adding extra security layers to her social media and email accounts.
If I’m honest, I was actually a little excited at the opportunity to test Instagram’s recovery methods to see if I could learn anything.Įllie is quite computer savvy and understands technology however, she is also very busy with her small business and young children. I had heard of both good and bad outcomes in similar situations, online, but I had never attempted it first-hand. She went on to ask me if I knew of any tips to regain control. Her panic was evident as she told me her password had been changed and that the hackers had added two-factor authentication (2FA) to the account. Her Instagram account had been hacked and she was locked out. A friend – let’s call her Ellie – recently called me with a devastated tone in her voice.
