Photo- and video-sharing social networking service Instagram has introduced Security Checkup, a feature that seeks to beef up Instagram user accounts with added security.
Security Checkup guides users through various steps, including reviewing profile information, checking login activity, confirming accounts that share login information, and updating account recovery contact information, such as e-mail or phone number, according to the company.
“Over the past few months, we’ve seen a rise in malicious accounts DMing people to try and access sensitive information like account passwords,” explains the Facebook-owned app on its blog.
“These messages are often scams and violate our policies. Instagram will never send you a DM. When we discover these kinds of scams, we take action against them. But we also encourage you to report the content and block the account. We’ve sent notices at the top of people’s inbox to warn them about these messages over the past two months.”
Instagram also recommends other steps that will make users’ accounts more secure:
- Enable two-factor authentication and, once this is done, enable login request.
- Update phone numbers and e-mail addresses.
- Report questionable content and accounts.
“While we are always improving our technology to combat new trends and techniques that hackers and spammy accounts may use, you can also report individual pieces of content to us by tapping the three dots above a post, holding on a message, or by visiting an account and reporting directly from the profile,” adds the social networking site.
According to cyber security experts, the hacking of social media accounts is on a continuous rise, with hackers targeting politicians, celebrities, brands, other high-profile accounts and even the heads of social networks.
Security firm ZeroFox says in the first six months of 2020, it saw a 95% increase in company executive-related threat activity compared to the last six months of 2019, within its pool of clients.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend, with the volume of attacks significantly increased in April and June 2020, notes the company.
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