Despite dominating headlines for much of 2021, ransomware isn’t the only form of cybercrime where a victim’s data and livelihood are held hostage in exchange for a ransom. Social media account takeovers are an ever-growing threat to professionals who rely on maintaining a public presence to earn a living, or use the platform to communicate with clients.
With over a billion monthly users and relatively bad security, Instagram accounts associated with influentials are being increasingly targeted by hackers. The methods vary–spoofed login pages, phishing messages and other forms of social engineering–but the result is the same: an account is taken over and held for ransom. Fail to meet the demands of your hacker and you could pay with your reputation, your account, or both.
On this week’s episode, we spoke with eyewear designer John Juniper, whose account was compromised and ultimately shut down with little to no recourse other than to restart his account from scratch.
Listen to the episode to find out the methods hackers use to compromise social media accounts and how to recognize them before it’s too late.
“What the Hack with Adam Levin” is available wherever you get your audio. Oh, and a small favor: If you like WTH, consider giving us 5 stars on Apple or writing a review. It really helps people find the show.
Read the transcript here.
