Six million Instagram accounts are apparently at risk following an alleged cyber-breach. And if that was not bad enough, apparently, the hackers are selling the results for $10 per search!
Although this is coming to light through celebrities' account details being leaked, it poses risks to all businesses. It does this through the fact that users tend to use the same passwords or 'pattern' for passwords across multiple systems. This is a very bad habit, but not unsurprising given the number of passwords users must remember.
Therefore, there is one piece of immediate advice that extends beyond the Instagram advice to "...users to protect their account and change their password" - if you have an Instagram account and reuse the same or similar passwords, then change them all! And better still - break the habit of using the same passwords on multiple systems - especially those that cross-over between your professional and personal lives.
For businesses, they should be ensuring that their users follow good cyber-hygiene rules and avoid reusing passwords they use elsewhere, especially those related to their own personal use and profile. It is through measures such as this that businesses can help protect themselves again cyber-attacks.
Six million Instagram accounts are at risk of a major privacy breach after hackers claimed to have personal information about the account holders. The hackers have threatened to reveal email addresses and phone numbers. After leaking personal details of celebrities online, hackers have also created a dark database that lets anyone access the information by just paying $10 per search. On knowing about the hack, Instagram initially said that only a “low percentage” of accounts had been compromised, but now hackers have claimed that they have access to six million accounts. Since then, Instagram has advised users to protect their account and change their password.
