Instagram Launches Feature to Help Users Restore Hacked Accounts
Jakarta. Instagram announced a new feature on Tuesday aimed at helping users restore hacked accounts and to prevent hacking.
The photo-based social media platform performed a trial run of the feature, which will help users to take control of their hacked accounts.
Access to this feature becomes available once Instagram detects that users are having trouble signing in, for example, after repeatedly entering the wrong password, or when a tapping the "Trouble Logging In?" link on the "Forget Password?" page.
Users will then be prompted to enter their personal details, such as email addresses and phone numbers associated with their accounts.
Instagram will next send a six-digit code to the chosen contact method to allow users to retrieve their accounts. After users succeed in accessing their accounts, Instagram will take several extra measures to ensure hackers cannot use the code sent to users.
"Through this feature, users could restore their accounts even though the usernames or contact information associated with the accounts have been changed by hackers," Instagram said in a press statement the Jakarta Globe received on Tuesday.
Instagram said it would continue to develop the new feature so users could restore their accounts directly from within the app without intervention by the company's operational team.
Additionally, Instagram also developed a way to ensure users' old usernames remain safe and available for a while after they change to new usernames.
"We saw that if someone lost their account username because they were hacked or changed it intentionally, their old username could be taken by someone else in a short time," Instagram said.
This could also prevent any unauthentic accounts on Instagram that usually take advantage of the hacking of accounts belonging to businesses or public figures.
This feature is available for the Android version of the app and will gradually be rolled out to the iOS version.
More information is available at Instagram's help center inside the app.
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