How to protect your Instagram account from hacking
Did you know that Instagram is one of the most hacked social media platforms?
Yet, so many people ignore how important it is to secure their accounts (especially if they are using them for business).
The good news is that protecting your Instagram account isn’t particularly hard. The entire point of strong cybersecurity is to reduce your attack surface as much as possible and to add as many layers of security as you can.
Here are some simple things you can do today to secure your account:
1) Change your password
Your password is your account’s first layer of security. As such, it should be as secure as possible to reduce the likelihood of getting hacked.
To create a strong password, create a randomly generated password that is at least 20 characters long (the longer the better), uses special characters, lower and upper case letters, and numbers.
Here’s an example of a strong password: NUG4nu0q#jaYv&NU0W%8 (just don’t use this one as it’s already public)
Also, avoid reusing passwords. They make it easier for hackers to compromise multiple accounts at once.
If you worry you won’t remember them all, use a password manager like Proton Pass, 1Password, or LastPass to securely store them and access them.
2) Enable 2FA
We’ve seen some people in the r/Instagram and r/Facebook subreddits say that 2FA is complex and it doesn’t add extra security, but that’s not the case. In fact, it’s actually quite simple to set up and research shows that it helps stop 99.9% of brute force attacks.
Still, just because you have 2FA doesn’t mean you can’t get hacked (it significantly reduces the likelihood of it happening though). That’s where the rest of the security layers on this list come in.
If you didn’t know, 2FA is a secondary layer of security. Think of it as adding a second lock to your house’s front door. All you have to do is use an Authenticator app on a separate device to ensure high security. Here’s a step by step guide on how to set up Instagram 2FA.
3) Securely store your one time codes
When you enable 2FA, the platform automatically generates one time codes that you can use to log back into your account in case you lose access to your 2FA or password. Save them somewhere secure where they can’t be lost or stolen (print them or write them down if you need to).
4) Enable account monitoring
This isn’t absolutely necessary for everyone, but if you are a company or content creator that uses your account for business, strongly consider using it.
There are tools like Spikerz that monitor your social profiles for suspicious activity. When they notice suspicious activity, they kick out the intruder and alert you to the problem.
Another important thing they do is, if someone tries to change your account settings like recovery email and phone number, they are automatically blocked and kicked out.
Also, if you have multiple people in your team and you don’t know who has access to your social accounts, they allow you to easily identify who has access, who has excessive access, and to easily revoke them when someone leaves your organization.
And that’s not all. Spikerz does so much more. If you feel like you’d benefit from this level of security, visit our website to find out how Spikerz can help protect your social media presence.
5) Revoke access to third party apps
Over time we add connections to our Instagram account that often ask for more permissions than necessary. These apps create weak points that can be exploited to gain access to your account. Revoke access to any app you no longer use.
All you have to do is:
- Head to account settings.
- Under “Your app and media,” select “Website permissions.”
- Select “Apps and websites.”
- Select “Remove” on the apps you no longer use or want to give access to.
6) Avoid clicking sketchy links
Social media messages and emails (phishing) are the most common ways attackers hack accounts. Always check where links will take you. You can do this by hovering your mouse over the link and checking the bottom left section of your screen. If you don’t recognize the website, don’t click through.
If you use a social media security tool, it will automatically analyze all your direct messages (DMs) and comments for phishing links. All that would be left for security is your email, never click links you receive from random people or businesses.
7) Use antivirus software
If you use Instagram (or Facebook) on your desktop, use antivirus software to protect your local environment against infostealers. We recommend you check r/BitDefender, it works amazing.
Note:
Infostealers are a type of malware designed to infiltrate computer systems to steal information. This is how some hackers are able to bypass passwords and 2FA entirely. It’s called session hijacking.
Session hijacking is when hackers take control of your web session by stealing the browser cookies that tell websites you are already logged in.
There are other things you can do but honestly, this should be enough for most people.
If you think there’s something we are missing, share it below. 👇 We’ll edit this post with all the necessary information to help as many people as possible.
Posted Nov 28, 2025, 3:17 PM UTC