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> So you're maybe thinking "Instagram must have a process for this, something you can do when your account is hacked?" and the answer is... kinda, but also it's
by aqme28 4y ago
> So you're maybe thinking "Instagram must have a process for this, something you can do when your account is hacked?" and the answer is... kinda, but also it's completely useless. You follow the account hacked form on the website and it just endlessly redirects you to the "I need help logging in" page. If I follow the "I can't login" process for the handle they stole Instagram wants me to enter a previous password for the account, which I can't do because it's brand new (I tried).
My mom got hacked last week and I helped her recover her account and was absolutely appalled at the state of Instagram for this stuff.
* As they said, the official process to get your account back is an infinite loop back to the beginning of the process. If you follow the steps in their guide, you end up clicking a link that takes you back to the guide.
* Craziest to me, the "New Login to your account" email that you get when someone logs in from a new device includes a helpful "click here if this wasn't you" link, but that link is a 404.
* If someone hacks an account without 2FA, the first thing they do is enable 2FA on their own device, and the published process to recover your account no longer works whatsoever. The original owner is not able to turn 2FA off or to confirm it wasn't them. This makes 2FA weaponized as a hacking tool rather than a security tool.
* At this point, the only tool is an automated process where you submit a video of your face to prove it's your account. Online you can find endless complaints by people who run e.g. brand accounts because this facial recognition system doesn't have a face to key off of, and just fails on repeat. Plus I'm pretty sure I could use this to hack an account with a few NVIDIA tools.
- DamnInteresting 4y agoI never used Instagram much (anything attached to Zuckerberg is rotten), but I recently tried to log in to check something via desktop. I have email-based 2FA set up, so it said to check my email for the code (while showing me my correct email address). The email never arrived, I checked the spam folder and all that. After a while I clicked "Send a new code" and got the error "Select a valid choice. 0 is not one of the available choices." Oooooookay. I cleared cookies etc and tried again, and it continues to demand, while failing to send, a confirmation code. But this second login attempt did cause them to send me an automated "New login to Instagram" email. Lastly, I clicked the Get Support link, and it just pops a dialog that says "If you’re unable to get the security code, you need to use the Instagram app to secure your account." I do not have the Instagram app, and newly installing it while my account is locked would be pointless. So, I guess that account is unrecoverable now. Great work, Meta.