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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?

#81

Post by savolai »

My account seems to have gotten hijacked too. Someone has (apparently) posted something that's against community standards in my profile, as a consequence of which FB has disabled my account and says if I don't appeal in 30 days, the account will be disabled.

The strange thing is when I try to appeal I get this page.

"Security check To confirm your identity, we will text a confirmation code to your phone."

I select my phone number, and receive the right SMS, but it says

"Error Sending SMS Could not send confirmation SMS. Please check the phone number and try again."

So I cannot actually enter the code.

I also have 2FA enabled and this doesn't seem to have been breached.

On deviced that are still logged in I see them telling me I have posted something that is in typical photos grid format, but they don't show me what the photos were. When I press the button to request review, it does nothing.

https://savolai.net/uncategorized-en/banned-from-facebook-an...>

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

#82

Post by Apreche »

gkoberger wrote: post #27
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/

Here's another podcast episode about it, and I remember it being really really good. They actually befriend a scammer who is pretty open about how it works: https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/v4he6k

TL;DR: The only methods discussed in this episode are SIM swapping and password guessing. Neither of which are relevant for OP. Unless OP is lying, there must be some other method used.

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

#83

Post by waschl »

zemnmez wrote: post #69

I would look at your email forwarding filters. It's common to see compromises with this pattern where the email for your account was compromised and all the email is being forwarded to an attacker.

This! Have seen this personally in multiple friend’s mail accounts. This way it is “surviving” password changes, 2FA changes etc

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

#84

Post by Jamie9912 »

gaws wrote: post #80
iKlsR wrote: post #34

I'd auction and sell it and be done with the headache personally. It's likely one day your meta well will dry up and that will be it, years of back and forth to see the handle gone and promoting crypto eventually or some crap.

> I'd auction and sell it Where could you even do this?

I believe there's a website called ogusers, I can't personally vouch for it, but I've heard from friends that's what they use

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

#85

Post by [deleted] »

gaws wrote: post #80
iKlsR wrote: post #34

I'd auction and sell it and be done with the headache personally. It's likely one day your meta well will dry up and that will be it, years of back and forth to see the handle gone and promoting crypto eventually or some crap.

> I'd auction and sell it Where could you even do this?

[deleted]

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

#86

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

> My current theory is there is some employee at Meta that's ultimately stealing the account.

This was my first thought given the e-mail address change. Someone e.g. bribing a support person.

My (uninformed) guess would be that given that you got the account back, this probably got escalated, someone looked at it, fixed it, and hopefully got the criminal support person's access disabled, until the next one gets bribed...

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

#87

Post by cruelty2 »

barbazoo wrote: post #44
jmnicolas wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Someone at Facebook stealing your domain is quite an accusation. NSA employees do it, why would META employees would be better than the average?

I wouldn't count a NSA employee as "average", I'd assume they have access to tools the "average" doesn't have. Comparing that to someone at Facebook just doesn't make sense.

No post body was provided.

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

#88

Post by jakub_g »

china wrote: post #28
jsnell wrote: post #12

What devices are you using the account on? If it's on a desktop browser, my assumption would be that you've got malware. That allows them to trivially steal the session cookies, steal the passwords the next time you log in, steal any device identification cookies that are used to control not using 2FA on logins from trusted devices / sending new device notifcations, and also hijack your recovery and notification emai…

99% of the time I am on an iPhone, the other 1% (which is generally right after I have been hacked) is on a fully updated MacOS install.

Any browser extensions installed?

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

#90

Post by hamburglar »

vineyardmike wrote: post #78
caseyohara wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OG means "original gangster": https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/OG (see History and Etymology section) > slang: someone or something that is an original or originator and especially one that is highly respected or regarded

Old Gang of people... the original gangster. This doesn't seem wrong. OG directly translates to Original Gangster, but is used to refer to the old crowd, the original people, the firsts, etc. In extreme example, it would not be considered incomprehensible (but perhaps strange) to say something like "native americans are the OG north american inhabitants"... really nothing to do with gangsters.

Technically true, but... if you say it means "old group" or "original gaggle" or "oldest goat," you should probably expect to be corrected, because it sounds like an implication that that's what OG actually stands for.
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