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Ask HN: How does my Instagram keep getting compromised?

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Re: Ask HN: How does my Instagram keep getting compromised?

#61

Post by boppo1 »

supercoffee wrote: post #30
pkrotich wrote: post #9

Your situation is apparently common nowadays with OG usernames and can get very dangerous. I had no idea this was a thing until I listened to an episode on Darknet Diaries [0] recently. In the old days, I remember people going after short domains in the same manner. ICANN ended up adding locking (auth codes) - perhaps IG and other social sites can learn from it. Be safe! [0] https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/106/

Reply All also did an episode about this a few years back. https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/v4he6k tl;dr There's underground marketplaces where shady people buy and sell OG usernames for money, which creates an incentive for shady people to steal them from the original owners.

How is my username made in the last 4 years different from an OG username?

Re: Ask HN: How does my Instagram keep getting compromised?

#63

Post by JSONderulo »

pkrotich wrote: post #9

Your situation is apparently common nowadays with OG usernames and can get very dangerous. I had no idea this was a thing until I listened to an episode on Darknet Diaries [0] recently. In the old days, I remember people going after short domains in the same manner. ICANN ended up adding locking (auth codes) - perhaps IG and other social sites can learn from it. Be safe! [0] https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/106/

Halfway through this pod. This is terrifying.

Re: Ask HN: How does my Instagram keep getting compromised?

#64

Post by wyclif »

edoceo wrote: post #43
heurisko wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not up-to-date with what OG means. Apparently OG "original gangster" usernames refer to common words such as "@Miracle", that were registered by early adopters. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/04/style/instagram-account-f...

Or that guy @slack on Twitter. Or @gusto on same

The ultimate example to me is the nissan.com guy.

Re: Ask HN: How does my Instagram keep getting compromised?

#65

Post by fragmede »

boppo1 wrote: post #61
supercoffee wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reply All also did an episode about this a few years back. https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/v4he6k tl;dr There's underground marketplaces where shady people buy and sell OG usernames for money, which creates an incentive for shady people to steal them from the original owners.

How is my username made in the last 4 years different from an OG username?

Because all the good obvious ones are already taken. Simple ones like "kevin" or "a". Unless your name is super unique, your username from the last 4 years has some sort of quirky thing, like a weird spelling with extra letters or numbers to get around that.

Re: Ask HN: How does my Instagram keep getting compromised?

#67

Post by layer8 »

boppo1 wrote: post #61
supercoffee wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reply All also did an episode about this a few years back. https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/v4he6k tl;dr There's underground marketplaces where shady people buy and sell OG usernames for money, which creates an incentive for shady people to steal them from the original owners.

How is my username made in the last 4 years different from an OG username?

OG names are names that are (and always were) in high demand, and therefore were quickly taken. The fact that your name was still available means that it wasn’t in high demand. OG names are being pilfered because they are in high demand and therefore highly valuable.

Re: Ask HN: How does my Instagram keep getting compromised?

#68

Post by leeroyjenkins11 »

Ok, so I had a similar situation. What it was is that I signed up for insta pre Facebook merger. Then I connected my Facebook account to insta. So my old username password combo were compromised because I re used them when I was a moron when I was younger. So someone gained access via the original Instagram password and username, changes my email. Then I would login via Facebook and have access at the same time. The different geo locations and unusual activity caused my account to be locked periodically. When they unlocked it I logged in quick, changed the email address and password on the account on the Instagram side and enabled 2 factor and haven't had an issue since.
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