Instagram users are reporting the same bizarre hack

guest · Aug 15, 2018

Instagram users are reporting the same bizarre hack
August 14, 2018
https://mashable.com/2018/08/13/instagram-hack-locked-out-of-account/?europe=true#dJGBnL5MWqq3

[...] When she tried to log back in, she got a message that her username didn't exist. She soon realized her handle and photo had both been changed, as had the email address and phone number associated with her account. She tried to request a password reset, only to see the new email linked to her account was now a .ru email: she had been hacked.

Megan and Krista's experiences are not isolated cases. They are two of hundreds of Instagram users who have reported similar attacks since the beginning of the month. On Twitter, there have been more than 100 of these types of anecdotal reports in the last 24 hours alone.
[...] Many of these users have been desperately tweeting at Instagram's Twitter account for help.

There are numerous reports of hacks on Reddit, and a Google Trends search shows a spike in searches for "Instagram hacked" on Aug. 8, and again on Aug. 11.
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Rasheed187 · Aug 19, 2018

I would sure like to know how they bypassed the 2FA security measure. Perhaps Yubico keys should really become the standard.

guest · Aug 28, 2018

Instagram adds support for third-party authenticators to let you bypass text-based 2FA
August 28, 2018
https://venturebeat.com/2018/08/28/...henticators-to-let-you-bypass-text-based-2fa/

Two weeks after an unusually high number of users broadcasted complaints of hacked accounts, Instagram is giving users more ways to keep their accounts secure — and view information about other accounts they interact with.

Instagram is adding an “about this account” tab for some prominent accounts, which will tell users when and where an account was created. Instagram is also enabling support for third-party authenticator apps like Duo Mobile and Google Authenticator so Instagram users can get a login verification code sent to these apps, instead of by text message.

The ability to use a third-party authenticator app has already started rolling out, and will be available for all users globally in the coming weeks.
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guest · Sep 29, 2018

Hackers Are Holding High Profile Instagram Accounts Hostage
Hackers have hijacked the accounts of at least four high profile Instagrammers recently, locking them out and demanding a bitcoin ransom.
But Instagram is silent.
September 28, 2018
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/...ile-instagram-accounts-hostage-ransom-bitcoin

“Your Instagram has been hacked,” the message sent to various high profile Instagrammers reads. If the victim doesn’t pay up a Bitcoin ransom, “we will have to delete your account within 3 hours,” the hackers’ message continues.

Kevin Kreider, a fitness-focused Instagrammer from Los Angeles, told Motherboard that paying $100 in cryptocurrency didn’t save his account. The hackers still deleted it, and Kreider lost more than 100,000 followers and an important part of his social media focused business.

Kreider eventually got his account back—it’s not clear how though, Instagram didn’t say—but Kreider is not the only person to fall victim to these hackers this month. The hackers have hijacked multiple targets’ accounts, with an apparent focus on ‘lifestyle’ accounts [...] A second victim wrote on her personal website, “Instagram doesn’t care.”

“I never heard from Instagram. Not one word. I don’t know how they fixed it,” that fourth victim, lifestyle blogger Anna Wood, wrote.
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guest · Jan 17, 2019

Hacked Instagram Influencers Rely on White-Hat Hackers to Get Their Accounts Back
January 17, 2019
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/...fluencers-get-accounts-back-white-hat-hackers

Comerford is an influencer, a high profile, heavy Instagram user part of a multi-billion dollar industry who shares not only their own content but also advertises for brands and posts promo codes on behalf of companies.
[...] wrote about the hacking experience on her website.

“Instagram did nothing except for [the] automated procedure which did not help,” Manon van Os and Bram School, the Instagram duo known as The Flip Flop Wanderers with around 57,000 followers and who were hacked on Christmas Eve, wrote in an email to Motherboard.
Most of the victims Motherboard spoke to ended up getting help from someone who goes by Juan Diego J Pelaez, a Colombian who bills himself as an Instagram expert.

[...] Palaez implied that he hacks the hackers themselves. “Some of them give the passwords cause I do attacks to their devices,” he told Motherboard in an email, without providing more clear details.
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guest · Feb 13, 2019

Scammers Are Filing Fake Trademarks to Steal High-Value Instagram Accounts
February 12, 2019
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/zma3w4/scammers-fake-trademarks-steal-instagram-accounts

But Instagram scammers have another, sometimes more effective method too: just asking Instagram to hand over the account.

Scammers do this by creating fake companies and trademarks to convince Instagram they should be the legitimate owner of a username in question, with fraudsters using “trademarking,” as the technique is known, to get ahold of sought-after, valuable handles, according to posts and evidence of the process in action obtained by Motherboard.

Instagram allows users to report handles that a person or company believes infringes on their trademark
Screenshots and a video shared with Motherboard by a source in the underground Instagram account trading community shows how some of the scammers’ conversations go.
Instagram told Motherboard in a statement that it is “aware that bad actors may attempt to gain access to Instagram usernames using falsified trademark reports.”
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guest · Feb 28, 2019

How a Hacking Group is Stealing Popular Instagram Profiles
February 28, 2019
https://blog.trendmicro.com/trendla...group-is-stealing-popular-instagram-profiles/

Social media influencers build and expand their business or brand through credibility and authenticity to their audience. For hackers, however, they could be seen as trophies. That’s what happened to a photographer with more than 15,000 followers on Instagram, when she had her account stolen.

A closer look into the incident revealed that the hacker got into her account through phishing.
And by abusing Instagram’s account recovery process, they were able to keep the stolen account even if the victim squarely followed the process.

The group also engages in digital extortion. Once a victim tries to reach out to the hacker, they would be wringed to fork over a ransom or nude photos and videos to get the account back. Of course, the hackers never give it back.
Attack chain
The compromise starts with a phishing email pretending to be from Instagram. [...]
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guest · Mar 16, 2019

Instagram accounts hijacked with fake copyright infringement notifications
March 15, 2019
https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/instagram-hijack-new-wave/25997/

You’ve got copyright violation notification
“Your account will be permanently deleted for copyright infringement,” claims an e-mail notification that looks very official. It has the usual Instagram header and logo, and the e-mail address in the From field is extremely close to a legitimate one

As soon as you click the “Appeal” link, you are invited to input your Instagram credentials. And that’s not the end. Immediately, another message appears: “We need to verify your feedback and check if your e-mail account matches the Instagram account,” it says.
Click “Verify My E-mail Address,” and you’ll see a list of e-mail providers. If you choose yours, you’ll be invited to submit both your e-mail address and (surprise!) the password for your e-mail account.

It’s not the first time when Instagram influencers are targeted by scammers. The first wave of phishing was tempting users to apply for a blue “Verified” account badge.
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guest · Apr 7, 2019

Instagram or Twitter account hacked? Good luck
Tech giants slow to respond to or resolve issues of people who use their free services
April 5, 2019
https://www.siliconvalley.com/2019/04/05/instagram-or-twitter-account-hacked-good-luck/

Your Instagram has been hacked. Who are you going to call? There’s nobody to call.
This is true of most tech giants’ free services. If your Facebook account gets hijacked or you lose access to your Twitter account, your options are limited to submitting an automated online form and hoping an actual human being gets back to you.

When someone from Instagram responded to her request for help, she said was told she had violated the company’s terms of service. She wrote back to explain she had been hacked and could no longer access her account.
She followed the steps the company asked her to take to try to get her account back, including taking a selfie and sending it along. That didn’t work, and after trying about 10 more times to reach the company and receiving no response, she gave up and opened a new account in January.

In his book “Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe,” longtime Silicon Valley investor Roger McNamee criticized tech companies’ approach to user service: “The customer service department is reserved for advertisers. Users are the product, at best, so there is no one for them to call.”. That’s by design at most companies that offer free online services.
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guest · Jun 17, 2019

Instagram Is Testing An Easier Way For Users To Recover Hacked Accounts
June 17, 2019
https://www.ubergizmo.com/2019/06/instagram-test-easier-way-record-hacked-accounts/

There is a good reason to choose strong and secure passwords and also to enable 2FA whenever you can. Sure, it might be more troublesome, but the trouble now might be worth it in the future compared to trying to recover a stolen account.
This is especially true when it comes to Instagram where we have heard countless horror stories of users who have had problems trying to recover their hacked account [...]

It has been revealed that Instagram is currently testing out a new and easier way for users to recover their hacked accounts. This includes asking users to provide proof that they own the account by answering some questions, such as their original email address and phone number, after which they will receive a 6-digit code on their contact info of choice to verify themselves. It will also prevent the hacker from trying to take over your account from another device.

This new method does have a couple of advantages, one of which is that it will make the entire process a lot easier. It will also make it faster and somewhat automated, meaning that it will not have to rely on Instagram’s security team which could make it more efficient.
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guest · Jul 15, 2019

Instagram Account Takeover Vulnerability Earns Hacker $30,000
July 15, 2019
https://www.securityweek.com/instagram-account-takeover-vulnerability-earns-hacker-30000

India-based bug bounty hunter Laxman Muthiyah discovered the security hole while analyzing Instagram’s password recovery system for mobile devices.

The researcher noticed that if he sent 1,000 requests containing possible verification codes, 250 of them would go through while the rest would be blocked. He then used what he described as a combination of a race condition and IP rotation to send out a total of 200,000 requests.
He achieved this by using 1,000 different IPs and he said an attacker would have needed 5,000 IPs to hack into any Instagram account.

“It sounds big but that’s actually easy if you use a cloud service provider like Amazon or Google. It would cost around 150 dollars to perform the complete attack of one million codes,” Muthiyah explained.
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guest · Jul 16, 2019

Foodpanda experiences Instagram breach
July 16, 2019
https://www.thedrum.com/news/2019/0...tagram-breach-sees-account-name-changed-osama

Food delivery start-up Foodpanda saw hackers gaining access to its Singapore Instagram page over the weekend.
The hack saw Foodpanda’s Instagram followers fluctuate throughout the day, from more than 20,000 to various numbers. All of its posts were also removed and replaced by troll content such as Batman and anime videos.

Commenting on the hack to The Drum, Charles Tidswell, the vice president for Japan and Asia Pacific at Socialbakers suggested the hijacking could have been a stroke of luck by a random hacker, or a more targeted attack by a disgruntled employee, or ex-employee, with a clear intention of menace.

“With social media now playing such a vital role in building a brand, it is the responsibility of the management to ensure that protocols are implemented and followed,” added Tidswell.
"Failure to prevent data breaches will raise questions on whether Foodpanda can be trusted to hold on to sensitive information that is core to their operations and deter both consumers and partners from engaging with the brand."
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guest · Aug 19, 2019

'My Instagram got hacked and I lost my business'
August 19, 2019
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49397038

Twenty-three-year-old Bree Kotomah almost gave up on a burgeoning career in fashion design when hackers compromised her business's Instagram account in November 2018.

"Unfortunately, at the time I ran everything on Instagram, so when that was gone, that was the whole business gone," she told BBC Radio 5 Live.
Ms Kotomah would invoice her customers using PayPal and mobile app Invoice2go, and her reputation grew by word of mouth and through shares of her outfits on Instagram and Twitter.

After her Instagram account was compromised, she struggled to get Instagram to take action, and feels her reputation suffered as a result.

"Instagram and Facebook are really, really hard to deal with because they're an American-based company."
A spokesperson for Facebook, which owns Instagram, told the BBC: "We use sophisticated measures to stop hackers before they gain access to accounts and we are continuously working to improve our recovery process.
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mirimir · Aug 20, 2019

That seems like a horribly risky way to run a business. Just sayin'.

Minimalist · Aug 24, 2019

Here's why hackers want your Instagram account

Instagram is now considered the king of social media, with a billion users worldwide. While it's a fun way to post cute pictures and stories, it's also a growing target for hackers.

Cyber thieves are snatching accounts not just from the rich and famous, but from ordinary folks as well. Two Bay Area residents are among the latest victims -- a college student and a first-grade teacher. Why would anybody want to steal their Instagram accounts? What are the bad guys doing with them, and why won't Instagram help them recover their accounts? When they couldn't find a way to snatch their accounts back from the hackers, they came to 7 On Your Side for help.
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https://abc7news.com/technology/heres-why-hackers-want-your-instagram-account/5486854/

guest · Aug 26, 2019

mood said: ↑

Instagram Account Takeover Vulnerability Earns Hacker $30,000
July 15, 2019
https://www.securityweek.com/instagram-account-takeover-vulnerability-earns-hacker-30000
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Chennai techie finds flaw in Instagram again, wins $10,000
August 26, 2019
http://www.theweekendleader.com/Hea...inds-flaw-in-instagram-again-wins-10-000.html

Barely a month after winning $30,000 from Facebook for spotting a flaw in Instagram, Chennai-based security researcher Laxman Muthiyah on Monday said he again discovered a new account takeover vulnerability on the photo and video-sharing app. This time he has won $10,000 as part of the social network's bug bounty programme.

The new vulnerability that Muthiyah spotted was similar to the one he reported in July and allowed anyone to hack Instagram accounts without consent permission.
Facebook has now fixed the vulnerability that Muthiyah reported.
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guest · Sep 4, 2019

Aussie influencer's Instagram account held for ransom by hackers
September 4, 2019
https://www.9news.com.au/national/c...nal-news/df5eb874-4ec9-48eb-9d9e-ba0c861cfa1b

A Victorian influencer says she wants to warn others about security issues on social media after her Instagram account was taken over by hackers who then tried to hold it for ransom.
Grace King runs a photography page on Instagram with almost 8000 followers, as well as a travel blog account.

"I had my two-factor authentication turned on and I got a text message on my phone that someone had tried to log in to my account," she said.
Ms King said she knew for certain someone had hacked her account when she chose the "forgot my password" option and a message came up that a new password link had been sent to an email address that wasn't hers.

But another curveball came when Ms King sent a message from her other Instagram to her hacked one, asking who was on her account.
"We don't have anything against you. This will be sold back to you or the first person who buys it for US$150."
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guest · Sep 9, 2019

Hacked Instagram Account of Robert Downey Jr. Pushes iPhone Giveway
September 9, 2019
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...nt-of-robert-downey-jr-pushes-iphone-giveway/

The actor's Instagram account was hijacked by unknown individuals that tried to capitalize on the move by posting fake giveaways for Apple products.
It is unclear how the hackers managed to take control of Robert Downey Jr's Instagram, but followers of the account could see an enticing announcement that the actor was allegedly sharing his wealth by giving away 2,000 iPhone XS devices and directing followers to his Story page for more offers like this.

This was not all that hackers modified on the account. A link in the account bio pointed followers to a survey page designed to collect personal information.
J.A.R.V.I.S. was probably caught unaware on this one, but as the actor's Twitter followers started to ask questions about the legitimacy of the giveaway, Robert Downey Jr's publicity team posted a warning for fans to "steer clear" of the Instagram account until the issue was sorted out.

I'm sorry to say my Instagram has been compromised... Please steer clear for the time being until it's sorted. Thank you all. I love you 3000.
— Robert Downey Jr (@RobertDowneyJr) September 6, 2019
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guest · Sep 16, 2019

Nicole Scherzinger Target of Explicit Hack On Instagram
September 16, 2019
https://www.nova969.com.au/entertainment/nicole-scherzinger-target-explicit-hack-instagram

Nicole Scherzinger is the latest celeb to fall victim to a social media hacker.
The image showed Nicole’s head superimposed on the naked body of a woman with a different skin tone (mistake number one pal). It was visible on her feed and story for around 20 minutes on Sunday.

This is the second time the singer has been targeted by hackers in recent months.
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guest · Sep 19, 2019

Celebrity Instagram Accounts Being Hacked to Push Scams
September 19, 2019
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...nstagram-accounts-being-hacked-to-push-scams/

The streak of hacked celebrity Instagram accounts continues as a group of cybercriminals targets them to promote scam sites to their huge followership.

Victims of the group count actor Robert Downey Jr. (43.3m followers) - hacked last week, singer-songwriter Nicole Scherzinger (3.9m followers), and TV personality Yanet García (11.5m followers).
Same pattern
Each of the Instagram accounts were hijacked over the past couple of weeks and the attackers were in control enough to rotate multiple shortened links leading to webpages with surveys that collect personal information; this is sold for marketing purposes, typically of a darker shade.
Furthermore, for each survey completed, the attackers earn a "commission" for generating the lead.

The group follows the same pattern: after hijacking an account they change the bio to announce a fake giveaway for iPhone XS devices; BleepingComputer has found that it is the same message in all three cases.
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guest · Oct 8, 2019

[...] The compromise starts with a phishing email pretending to be from Instagram [...]
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A new Instagram feature helps you identify phishing emails
The tool can tell you whether that email claiming to be from Instagram is fake
October 7, 2019
https://www.cnet.com/news/instagrams-new-feature-will-help-you-identify-phishing-emails/

Instagram users who have doubts about whether emails they receive from the social network are legitimate have a new tool that could give them peace of mind.

On Monday, the Facebook-owned photo sharing site said it's introducing a new way for users to check if Instagram really sent them an email.

"Bad actors are getting better at imitating emails from Instagram, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to distinguish between a genuine email and a fake one," an Instagram spokeswoman said in a statement.
To access the new feature, you go to the site's settings and click on the security tab. There will be an option to see "Emails from Instagram." One tab, labeled security, will show you a list of emails the company sent you within the last 14 days that are tied to account security. The "other" tab will display emails Instagram sent that aren't related to security issues.
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guest · Nov 5, 2019

San Diego man said hacker stole his Instagram account and demanded ransom
November 5, 2019
https://www.10news.com/news/team-10...ole-his-instagram-account-and-demanded-ransom

One San Diego man building his travel brand on Instagram said hackers tried to take it all away.
Recently, he received an email from Instagram saying his email had been changed. “I clicked on ‘forgot my password,’ even though I know my password,” Copiano said.

He still could not log in and started to panic. Then, he started to receive emails from someone who said he hacked the account. The hacker demanded $300 in Bitcoin for the return of the account. Copiano said he sent dozens of emails to Instagram with no luck.
He said Instagram sent security codes to access his account, but it was sent to the hacker’s email.

“The reason you don’t pay the ransom is that [it] just further incentivizes other bad guys to keep doing this,” Harrington said. He also encourages people to contact the FBI if they believe they are a victim of a crime to file a report.
Harrington also said two-factor authentication is vital to keeping an account safe. It is something Copiano did not have at the time, but added it right after he got his account back.
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guest · Nov 6, 2019

mood said: ↑

Hacked Instagram Influencers Rely on White-Hat Hackers to Get Their Accounts Back
January 17, 2019
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/...fluencers-get-accounts-back-white-hat-hackers
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Influencers Pay Thousands to Get Back Into Their Hacked Instagram Accounts
November 6, 2019
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/...get-back-into-their-hacked-instagram-accounts

Even after Instagram introduced new measures designed to help hacking victims, an increasingly shady underground trade in pulling back control of Instagram accounts is growing.

"I charge depending on the difficult[y] to access the account," Juan Diego J Pelaez, who describes himself as an Instagram expert, wrote in an email.
When Motherboard previously covered Pelaez and multiple hacking victims, he helped those particular ones for free. But now he usually charges $1,500—which can be more than the fee asked by hackers—Pelaez wrote in an email.
Typically Pelaez asks clients for their Instagram details and email login credentials to handle the account recovery process on their behalf. Paleaz also previously suggested to Motherboard he may engage in hacking in order to help people.

"Of course the number of people who contact me increase so much! Cause there is not help from Instagram. They received the answer that they has to start again a new account," he said.

Pelaez told Motherboard, "I can't work for free."
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guest · Mar 23, 2020

Inside an Instagram Celebrity Hacking Campaign
Hackers targeted an adult film star. A white hat hacker decided to help
March 23, 2020
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/z3bkjy/inside-instagram-celebrity-hacking

"Hello. We just hacked your account," the text message read. The hackers had just taken over the Instagram account of an adult entertainment star with nearly two million followers, and were now asking her for $5,000 to hand the account back to its owner, according to screenshots of the messages obtained by Motherboard.

The adult entertainment star didn't want to pay, and her friend asked for help from a white hat hacker in Los Angeles who protects celebrities from hacking, stalking, and other digital threats. The white hat said they managed to regain access to the account through contacts at Instagram, but not before they discovered which hackers were behind the extortion attempt.
The white hat found an exposed server the hackers used which contained phishing pages, scripts, and Instagram usernames and passwords the hackers had seemingly harvested from victims.

"I see these phishing attempts and account takeovers happen all of the time. Every single day," the white hat told Motherboard.
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Judging by the data linked to the targeting of the adult entertainment star, these most recent hackers took control of a legitimate website owned by someone else, and then used that as a platform for launching their own phishing attacks. [...]
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guest · Jun 19, 2020

Aussie surfer’s hacked Instagram sent sexually explicit images to her 40,000 followers
June 19, 2020
https://www.grahamcluley.com/surfer-hacked-instagram-explicit/

18-year-old Blaze Angel Roberts is a talented surfer.
So good in fact that the Sydney-based surfing star has managed to collect 40,000 followers on her Instagram account.

Unfortunately, her popularity also seems to have drawn the unwanted attention of hackers, who successfully tricked her into clicking on a phishing link, and handing over the password to her email account.
Roberts told Nine Network’s “A Current Affair” TV show that the hackers used the compromised email account as a springboard to hijack her Instagram account:

When Ms Roberts regained access to her email, she found photos of the hackers in her sent messages.
When an account has been hacked, Instagram asks users to verify their identity by sending their security team a photo of themselves holding a piece of paper with a handwritten code that they have provided. [...]
“For some reason Instagram didn’t think it was concerning that three people had sent them different photos,” Ms Roberts told A Current Affair.
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We’ve spoken before about the problems hacked Instagram users have faced in their attempts to regain control of their Instagram accounts.
All too often it seems Instagram is unable or unwilling to assist, and hacked users find their only remaining option to be to set up a new Instagram account from scratch.
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