Instagram Phishing Attack

A recent trend in online social media marketing revolves around a new spamming technique known as "instagram phishing". The Instagram phishing attack works like the more traditional phishing techniques where hackers create websites that mimic popular websites to attract users into giving them access to information or potentially buying a product. This attack also takes the form of an erroneous warning that a non-owner has inadvertently broken the rules on Instagram and therefore risking being permanently locked out of their own account. The full Instagram phishing attack is obviously dressed up as a more elaborate Instagram procedure. However, there is one particular aspect of it that bears watching.

Instagram phishing attacks have grown in sophistication, many security measures have been developed to counter them. Two-factor authentication was one such measure and it's still a viable option on some Instagram pages. With two-factor authentication, a visitor is asked for one of two factors before they are allowed to enter information on their page. They can either use their username and their email address, or they can provide a payment method, like PayPal. If an Instagram user falls for one of these scams, there are two possible outcomes.

In the first scenario, many Instagram users may fall victim to the Instagram phishing campaign because they input the incorrect value for one of the security questions. They may provide either their email address or their password, which are the two most common ways attackers have chosen to gain access to user's accounts. In the second scenario, the Instagram users' personal information is intercepted. This includes address book entries, photos, videos, and contact details. Most attackers will not go to the trouble of trying to use two-factor authentication in this instance, but they may resort to tricking the user into revealing their financial accounts, bank passwords and other sensitive information.

The easiest way to avoid the Instagram phishing attacks is for users to be more cautious about any page asking for financial information. They should also look out for an Instagram landing page that looks familiar. The technique used by attackers is to trick users into clicking a link, which then downloads a malicious Trojan horse or virus into the victim's computer. It usually installs a key logger and steals bank passwords, credit card numbers and other personal information. 

To protect themselves from these fake Instagram users, it's important for users to make sure they are aware of what is going on with their account. If an owner posts any messages regarding a service change or a new account, they should ensure they have placed the correct details and that they have posted the message from the official Instagram account. This will help prevent the Instagram phishing campaign from working. If an owner finds any unauthorized post, they should contact their credit card provider and ask for advice on the steps they need to take.

A number of tools have been released to help owners check if their Instagram accounts are under any kind of attack. The main threat is that an attacker could set up a blog and start posting some DMCAs to try and steal personal information. If legit Instagram members respond to the DMCAs, they can easily be tricked into thinking it's part of the Instagram service and allow the hackers to install spyware, spy-ware or even malware onto their computer. The best way to protect against this is to sign up with an account that has an opt-out facility where people can input their private details and only allow others to read their content if they have explicitly opted out.

As soon as you spot an Instagram phishing campaign, you should contact Instagram directly using the contact email that you normally use when you're chatting to someone online. You can then send them a snapshot of the screen showing a suspicious looking link that you've copied and pasted on your Instgram page. In most cases Instagram will not have a visible notification area for DMCAs so you'll have to mark the image as "private". Within 48 hours the offending picture will have been removed and you can take this link and paste it onto a new instgram page where you're going to direct all of your followers to. It's important that you also give your followers the option of seeing this page, because even though it may look fine there are a lot of Instagram users who will still be in the dark about what's going on.