Instagram adds to hacking row, users locked out of their accounts

A hacking campaign on Instagram has left users stunned and locked out of their account. Many of the hacked users have had their profile pictures replaced with pics from popular films and actors.

Although it is still to find who is behind the hack of Instagram accounts, the use of the email addresses originating from Russian email provider mail.ru indicates a Russian hacker which may or may not be true.

One user tweeted

Instagram took to address the situation in a blog post and pacify the angry users.

“We are aware that some people are having difficulty accessing their Instagram accounts. As we investigate this issue, we wanted to share the below guide to help keep your account secure. If you received an email from us notifying you of a change in your email address, and you did not initiate this change – please click the link marked ‘revert this change’ in the email, and then change your password.”

Also, they suggested to use strong passwords with a combination of at least six numbers, letters and punctuation marks (like! and &).

Instagram is using two-factor authentication, which is believed to be less secure than other app-based 2FA methods, but the company has previously said that it is working on improving its 2FA settings.

There is no information about what kind of techniques are used by attackers and what was the exact motive of hackers.