In 2021, I am seeing an increased takeover of social media accounts e.g. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. The targets of the attackers vary, but you may notice increased hacking activity. I helped and analyzed burglaries on the example of several cases.

Attack Vector

Most often, the attack occurs on old accounts with two-factor verification disabled with known logins and passwords. Because people who approach me are usually not technical, such as influencers or people from a previous era, and they are unaware of the danger.

Password leaks

Passwords from several leaks have been made public. Virgin Mobile. If you have had similar or the same passwords for several sites, they may be public.

How to protect yourself?

You can check your passwords on this page. When the result is red, it means that our password is already made public somewhere on the internet and it is worth changing it immediately. You might also want to enable two-factor verification with a hardware passkey, Google Authenticator app, or Microsoft Authenticator, eventually SMS codes, or email notifications.

Why two-factor authorization is important

If our password is leaked, it will be made public on the Internet or on hacking forums. When you sign in from a new device, you’ll need to confirm with a code from the second authorization component, it always significantly increases security, because if someone knows your password, they must authorize it in the next step and won’t access our account.

Increased attacks

Currently, a massive attack is underway not only for financial purposes so far but for account acquisition, propaganda, and advertising purposes. Recovering an account is always a hassle, we do not have access to it for some time, it may even be impossible to recover the account (e.g. when we have an account with imaginary data).

Summary

Social networks have taken care of security features that can help users protect their accounts. Since hackers are not vain, it is worth securing your data right now. Thanks to this, you can avoid breaking into the profile and many unpleasant consequences. Prevention is better than recovery.