Instagram is launching Security Checkup
Press release: Instagram
Instagram is launching Security Checkup, a new feature to help people keep their Instagram accounts secure. Security Checkup will guide people, whose accounts may have been hacked, through the steps needed to secure them.
This includes checking login activity, reviewing profile information, confirming the accounts that share login information, and updating account recovery contact information such as phone number or email.
Security Checkup is another way that we are working to keep Instagram accounts as secure as we can. But there are several other steps that we recommend everyone also take to make their account even more secure:
Enable two-factor authentication: We strongly recommend enabling two-factor authentication. If you’re using WhatsApp, in the coming weeks you will be able to protect your account using your WhatsApp number in certain countries. Alternatively, you can enable two-factor using your phone number, or an authenticator app like Duo Mobile or Google Authentication. For more information visit our Help Center.
Update your phone number and email: Make sure that the email and phone numbers associated with your device are up to date. That way if something happens to your account, we can reach you. These steps let you recover your account even if your information has been changed by a hacker. For more information visit our Help Center.
Instagram will never send you a DM: Over the past few months, we’ve seen a rise in malicious accounts DMing people to try and access sensitive information like account passwords. They may tell you that your account is at risk of being banned, that you are violating our policies around intellectual property, or that your photos are being shared elsewhere. These messages are often scams and violate our policies. Instagram will never send you a DM. When we discover these kinds of scams, we take action against them. But we also encourage you to report the content and block the account. We’ve sent notices at the top of people’s Inbox to warn them about these messages over the past two months. If Instagram ever wants to reach you about your account, we will do so via the “Emails from Instagram” tab in your settings, which is the only place you will find direct and authentic communication from us on the app. For more information visit our Help Center.
Report content and accounts you find questionable: While we are always improving our technology to combat new trends and techniques that hackers and spammy accounts may use, you can also report individual pieces of content to us by tapping the three dots above a post, holding on a message or by visiting an account and reporting directly from the profile. For more information visit our Help Center.
Accounts that impersonate others, use their verification status to hack and target people or generally conduct spammy behavior with the hopes of misleading people on Instagram break our rules. Instagram is constantly improving our technology to find and stop this behavior.
