Stay on alert, Instagram accounts are being hacked

Instagram needs to step up their security game, as more and more users are reporting incidents of their accounts being hacked.

According to Mashable, hundreds of Instagram users have reported similar attacks since the beginning of the month. Data from analytics platform Talkwalker shows there have been more than 5,000 tweets from 899 accounts mentioning Instagram hacks just in the last seven days. Many of these users have been desperately tweeting at Instagram's Twitter account for help.

Krista, an Instagram user who has around 4500 followers, reported her account to be hacked on Saturday. 

She got logged out uninformed. When she tried logging back in, Krista received a message that reported her username to be non-existing instead. Not to mention, her password, profile picture and information got changed mysteriously. When she tried to reset the password, she realised she has been hacked.

Just like Krista, there are many other Instagram users who reported similar issues. 

Megan, another Instagram user, reported noticing her username, password, profile picture getting changed within a night. 

Just like these ladies, there are numerous reports of hacks on Reddit and a Google Trends search shows a rise in searches for "Instagram hacked" on August 8, to August 11, reports Mashable. 

Regarding the safety concerns, an Instagram spokesperson responded: “We work hard to provide the Instagram community with a safe and secure experience. When we become aware of an account that has been compromised, we shut off access to the account and the people who’ve been affected are put through a remediation process so they can reset their password and take other necessary steps to secure their accounts.”

Unfortunately, their safety measures seems problematic as another Instagram user Chris Woznicki failed to stop his account from being hacked even after using two-factor authentication option. 

"The maze that Instagram sends you on to get your account back is laughable and leads to broken/dead links and emails from robots which lead nowhere," says Abagail Nowak, whose Instagram was also hacked.

One common thing to notice among these hackers is they do not change the pictures or videos uploaded on the accounts right after hacking. They just change the username and password to prevent the original users from logging back into their accounts.