A Hacked Instagram Account

I woke up this morning and started the day with my usual routine. Shortly after I got out of bed, my wife received a phone call. I initially thought it to be a work associate but then I discovered her sister called. My wife's Instagram account got hacked and her sister wanted to warn her to update her password. My wife immediately went into her office and changed her Instagram password. My son also sent my wife a text message letting her know her account had been hacked.

Now I will confess that I don't even own an Instagram account so I am not sure how my son and wife's sister knew the account had been hacked. When I talked to my wife she said they both received "Follow" requests and incoherent messages. I assume that meant the hacker tried to contact all of my wife's Instagram connections. If I hacked my wife's account I assure you I would have been much more intelligent in my actions. I probably would have promoted my YouTube channel or something equally beneficial to me.

After changing Instagram credentials my wife logged into her Facebook account and changed her password there. Facebook owns Instagram and the two services are tightly linked and a breach in one account could lead to a breach in the other. Unfortunately my wife's Facebook account initially wouldn't let her change the password. She had to force a security code to be sent her and then she could change it. My guess is that the IP address associated with our Google Fiber account recently updated and it looks to Facebook like my wife is using an unknown computer to access the service. Ultimately my wife updated both Facebook and Instagram login credentials.

Now the question I have is how someone hacked my wife's account in the first place. Unfortunately all I can do is guess. Perhaps they discovered her password that is common with another account. That would be my first guess and underscores the importance of using separate passwords for all of your different logins. Other additional security measures include 2-factor or multi-factor authentication and passphrases that rely on face recognition or fingerprints. Unfortunately we live in a time when passwords may not be enough.

Instagram and Social Media

I know it sounds kind of weird when I say that I am not a big fan of social media. It probably sounds even more strange when I write it in a blog as a blog is a form of social media. There are a number of different social media tools though and it is some of those other tools that I think are unworthy of my time.

One of the Monday morning regulars that I fly with from Salt Lake City to the Bay Area was telling me about how his daughter's weekend was ruined by Instagram. I am not much of a photographer and don't feel the need to post pictures of my various events for people to see and so I must confess that I disliked Instagram even before I heard his story.

My friend's preteen daughter was busy this weekend with soccer games and missed out on getting an invite to a party. The next day she checked into Instagram and saw all sorts of pictures of her friends having a good time without her. It was devastating to her self-esteem. My friend had to sit down with his daughter and comfort her. I didn't get the details of what he said but he did mention that social media has gotten out of control. I agree with him. My takeaway from his story was that his daughter got out of the house and actually did something worthy of her time by playing soccer.

While I may think that social media tools like Instagram and Facebook are a waste of time, there are some benefits they do provide. Last Friday we were at work watching the Mavericks Invitational that came about because of Twitter.  My understanding is that on Monday the weather was predicted to be perfect for the event on Friday and so everyone leveraged Twitter to organize the event and get the competitors in place.

I think the important thing to remember with social media is true with anything we find desirable: moderation. While a jelly doughnut tastes good, too many of them will have you looking like the Michelin man. Furthermore you may think you were the life of the party and want everyone to bask in your glory but reality is you probably look like a dork . . . and if you have been eating all of the hors d'oeuvres, the Michelin man too.