Latest Ways To Hack Instagram Account

With more than 1 billion active users, Instagram is the second most used social networking website next to Facebook. So it is not a wonder to know that “hack Instagram” is a widely searched keyword across the internet. There are tons of online websites and Android / iPhone apps that claims to hack someone’s Instagram account but merely none of the password hackers do the job for you.

Do you know why?

Because Instagram (owned by Facebook) takes security seriously. They don’t want their users to suffer from such hacks. But still we see some people get their insta account hacked, that is major because of social engineering attacks like phishing, definitely not because of Instagram password hackers available online. So don’t become a victim of those downloadable apps and websites.

What we are going to see is a list of all the techniques possible to hack someone’s Instagram account and their respective prevention techniques.

Please remember that this article is written with the aim of educating people about how Instagram hacking works and how should they prevent such hacks. Therefore don’t use these techniques for malicious purposes.

1. Remote key loggers / Spyware

A remote keylogger is a piece of software (also called spyware) that records whatever you type on your mobile or computer and sends it to the person who installed it. So the passwords, credit card details, and other sensitive information you input on your mobile or computer can easily be spied on.

Most operating systems (including android & iOS) require root access before any app could record sensitive information. That’s why rooting / jail-breaking your phone isn’t a great idea when security is concerned.

Mobile spyware is a very useful software for parents who want to monitor their kid’s mobile activity. There are hundreds of free and paid spyware mobile apps and remote keyloggers available on the internet. You can google it for more details.

All key loggers require physical access to install unless the device is rooted.

How to protect yourself from mobile key loggers?

Never root your mobile device. Rooting makes your device vulnerable.
Install any anti-spy app to detect malicious application that has the power to access your inputs.
Don’t use third-party keypad apps unless you really trust the publisher.

2. Phishing

Phishing is a very successful technique used by hackers to hack an account’s password. It involves the creation of a duplicate copy of a website’s login page to steal a user’s password. When a common user lands on such a page, he/she might enter their username & password thinking that is a legitimate login page and so they get their account hacked.

Look at the image placed above, you might not have noticed a discrepancy in the URL (https://www.instagramm.com). The spelling of the domain name, .com, and forward slash is a crucial piece of information to note whenever you find a login page. A legitimate URL should be https://www.instagram.com/, there shouldn’t be any change. If you notice any change, it must be a phishing page.

Instagram is a mobile app, we hardly use its web-based login and hence phishing is not an easy way to hack Instagram’s password.

Since everybody is aware that a Facebook account is enough to get started with Instagram, hacking someones Facebook account’s password leads to Instagram hacking. Therefore phishing your Facebook account password gets your Instagram account hacked.

Creating a phishing page isn’t rocket science. Thousands of websites provide direct download of phishing pages. Basic programming knowledge like PHP/HTML is pretty enough for anyone to get a phishing page done. So be cautious of phishing pages. Learn more about phishing.

3. Plain password grabbing

This is one of the most common methods exploited by hackers to hack Instagram accounts. We have this bad habit of using the same password for all the websites we use. I call this a bad habit because all the websites are not equally built and secured. Facebook.com might have more security mechanisms in place than poor xyz.com. Therefore a hacker who gains access to poor xyz.com’s database can hack your Instagram account easily.

A password should always be hashed before storing it in a database. But small and medium-sized website owners store passwords in plain text and hence it is easy for a hacker to steal your all-in-all password from the vulnerable website.

How to protect yourself from hacking passwords?

Never use a common password for day-to-day websites such as Google, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
Have two kinds of passwords.
1. A strong password for important websites.
2. A common easy password for other unimportant websites. Hence avoiding the need to remember multiple passwords.

4. Weak Passwords

Guessing the password through social engineering allows one to hack an Instagram account. It isn’t a simple task if you have a strong password.

How can we say the password is weak?

Any password that is easily guessable by a third person or someone you know is a weak password. Some common weak passwords are given below.

Mobile Number
Nickname / Name and Date of Birth Conjunction
Boy Friend’s Mobile Number / Girl Friend’s Mobile Number – Most the lovers
Girl Friend’s / Boy Friend’s Name – Most the lovers
Boy or Girl Friend Name Combination
Bike Number
Unused / Old Mobile Number
Pet Name
Closest Person Name (can be friends too)

So if you have any one of the passwords listed above, you should change it immediately. Weak passwords are not limited to the list. We should avoid any password that is guessable.

As I have said earlier, always have two passwords. A strong password for important websites/apps and a common weak password for insignificant websites/apps.

5. Mobile Operating System Vulnerabilities

Android and iOS rules the world of mobile operating system and therefore vulnerabilities affecting the android and iOS can ultimately hack your mobile itself, Instagram is just a part of it. These vulnerabilities are often addressed as zero-day exploits. You really can’t do anything to prevent these vulnerabilities since we don’t have control over it.

Few things you can do to protect yourself

Always upgrade your operating system once an update is available. System upgrades include important security patches, so it is mandatory to do.
Don’t ignore minor security updates from the mobile vendors.
Never install apps from unknown sources.
Install apps only from trusted publishers of the app store.

6. Instagram zero-day vulnerabilities

Last but not least is Instagram vulnerabilities. Zero days are vulnerabilities that are unknown to the software vendor i.e Instagram. Black hat hackers find vulnerabilities affecting Instagram in order to hack accounts.

Being a commoner we can’t do anything if the vendor itself is vulnerable. All we can do is enable some basic security measures like two factor authentication.