With the increase in the popularity of Instagram, especially amongst key figures, the number of hackers who want to access valuable accounts has also risen. Taylor Swift and Kris Jenner are some of the popular names who have temporarily lost access to their accounts.
Until now, only a username and password were needed to be granted access into an account. But now, this is going to change, as Instagram will let you verify your phone number with an account. From then on, any time users try to log in to their account, they’ll receive a text message with an authentication code. The code will be necessary in order to complete your login.
It’s good to see that Instagram is taking such proactive steps to make sure that users’ accounts are safe. Though, to be fair, this move is quite late, as it has been more than five years since its parent company, Facebook, has released the two-way authentication.
If a hacker gains access to your Instagram account, they could delete your photos, attack your friends, and spam the feed with e-commerce products and scam offers.
For the average user, the data that they can lose with this is minimal and limited to discomfort when compared to key figures and companies. For celebrities, getting hacked could scare away followers, squandering promotional opportunities. And for brands, it can affect their reputation with the public and hurt sales.
The first time that we saw a brand name facing the brunt of the issue was when Rachel Ryle, an Instagram star who shares artful stop-motion animations drawn by hand, had been hacked. Occasionally, she does sponsored animations that feature a brand. At that time, she had bagged a large sponsorship and when she got hacked she lost 35,000 followers and the brand pulled out, costing her a big paycheck due to the spam.