#instahacked

WARNING: This post contains language that may offend some people.

With over 400 million accounts, 30 percent of internet users are regularly on Instagram. Whether it’s to share selfies, dog pics or coffee snaps, it’s undoubtedly the most popular photo network on the planet.

However just how secure are your snaps? Hacking is personally one of my biggest digital fears, closely followed by someone discovering one of my cringeworthy vlogs on YouTube...

With nearly 400 Instagram followers, I guess you could say I’m a pretty big deal online (ahem), and it would be the end of the world if I was hacked.

For popular YouTuber and prominent fan-girl, Tessa Netting, this became a reality. She has over 100 thousand followers, is regularly featured in the 'explore' section and possesses the all-powerful blue verified tick. However, in a matter of minutes her account went from a homage to Harry Potter to something straight outta the Chamber of Secrets.

Over the course of an hour, the account name changed at a dizzying pace. Flicking from ‘tessanetting’ to ‘nikebasketballni**a’ to ‘asappuntilidie’, it became increasingly difficult for Tessa’s followers to keep track of the account. Tessa's perky Potter profile was swapped out for one of two masked figures.

I flicked them a message to see what they were all about.

Me: What are you trying to prove by hacking this account?

Hackers: Nothing just proving how shitty Instagram security is lmao I think its important you got to sleep and stop giving us your time.

After briefly applying aloe vera to my savage burn, I pressed on.

Me: Just how bad is Instagram’s security?

Hackers: Write this down: to get hella hoes you need to have some bangs, go to ogflip.com and buy a username.

After some quick research, ogflip.com is an online marketplace which is often used to sell and trade illegally hacked Instagram, Twitter and kik accounts.

I also asked my hacker friends what ‘hella hoes’ were and how hacking an Instagram gets you them…

Infallible logic right there. I wanted to find out a bit more about Tessa’s hackers and tried to gain some insight into who they were.

Me: Firstly, what are your names and where you're from?

Hackers: The US and Undisclosed.

Me: Right, so I take it you’re not comfortable telling me? How about screen-names?

Hackers: Casey and Skeme

Me: Can I ask how old you both are?

Hackers: Sixteen

Sixteen years old? At their age I could barely get our copy of The Sims to run on our copy of Windows XP.

It’s at this point in the conversation that I’m left only chatting to Skeme as Casey has stopped messaging me. I can't think why. Don't worry, I was polite and said "L8er Sk8er" so he knew I was cool.

Me: So Skeme, how long have you been hacking for?

Skeme: I’ve been doing social media related hacking for about a year. Doing the basics of SQL injection (inserting extra lines of malicious code into databases) and website exploitation for about five years.

Me: Do your family know about what you’re doing? How do you think they’d react?

Skeme: Nope. My mom would be so proud.

It’s at this point that I think it’s time someone invented a font specifically for sarcasm.

I then get curious about what they do with an account once they’ve hacked it…

“Either sell it on a forum or use it to promote myself”.

As it turns out, hacking and selling Instagram accounts can be extremely profitable, which is the motivation for most social media hackers. According to Skeme, a verified account can sell for more than $1000USD. And if it’s still attached to the original username, we’re talking over $10,000USD.

I asked Skeme what the most prominent account was that he’d hacked.

Katy DeGroot, or as she’s known online, @Lustrelux, had 1 million followers when Skeme successfully hijacked her account. Katy's account was held to ransom and she was forced to pay $500USD to regain control.

I asked if Skeme felt guilty about what he was doing.

"Really don't give a damn because it's ez money"

What do a couple of 16 year-old insta-hackers do with all of this cash? I asked what the most expensive thing was that they’d bought with their profits.

“Oh I bought some $200 jeans the other day”.

I was surprised by how restrained their spending was. I’d expected that a couple of 16 year old hackers would go nuts and spend their profits on a lifetime supply of Mountain Dew and Doritos, but hey, I’m stereotyping.

Then again - wouldn’t your mum get a tad suspicious if you suddenly rocked up to a family dinner in a premium 'Yeezy Season 3 destroyed jumper'?

There ain't no amount of paper runs that are gonna fund one of these. That jumper costs more than two thousand dollars. I'm starting to suspect that Kanye West is actually just a homeless man who's very clever with his online marketing.

So how do people get hacked? Most of us think we're pretty savvy with creating passwords, but obviously we’re all vulnerable to hacking in some capacity.

“People are just dumb. They click on a fake login page. Other times we use things like date of birth, first name and old passwords for reference.”

And the advice from the hackers?

“Use a different password for everything, and don’t sign up for sites with bad security, and change up your passwords monthly.”

For those who were curious, Tessa Netting regained control of her Instagram account early this morning, and is restoring the photos that were deleted by her hacker. You can follow her here.

Ax

#Instagram #hackers