Instagram users will finally have something to smile about as the Facebook-owned app has added a second lock to its security doors.
This is a measure aimed at keeping any attempts by hackers to access your account at bay. There is no doubt that this is a magnificent move, especially considering the number of people using this photo and video sharing application. At the moment, the app homes over 400 million users – among them top brands, celebrities as well as artists that make a living out of the platform.
After testing the feature and rest assured that it is fine-tuned, Instagram has begun rolling out two-factor authentication to all users. Using this newly introduced feature, users will have to provide their number for verification purposes. In case of any attempt to log in to the account using your email and password, a message will be sent to your phone with an authentication code. You must provide this code in order to gain access to your account.
Hackers have been finding it easy to get into innocent users’ Instagram accounts thanks to the easy access they have to emails and their passwords. This is no more as they will also need to have your phone number too.
A much-awaited update for Instagram users
Instagram has been around for quite some time now. The fact that it has not been offering two-factor authentication is kind of surprising, especially considering that Facebook has had this feature for more than four years now. Without this feature, users of the most popular photo and video sharing platform were at great risk. In fact, this issue has led to quite a number of high profile hacks that have resulted in financial damages for the company.
What hackers do when they access your account is varied. Some may delete your photos, jam your entire feed with spam offers and products, attack your friends, and steal your personal information and lots of other things. This is something you don’t want to happen to your account since recovering it can be very tough.
In cases of top brands and celebrities, upon realizing that the account has been hacked, customers, followers and fans can be scared away easily. In the long run, this becomes detrimental to the promotional opportunities provided by the platform while at the same time screwing up the reputation of top brands.
Instagram is one of the leading social networking sites in the world right now. It is important that its doors are kept safe and secure from the reach of hackers. Hopefully, this feature won’t be buggy and sophisticated to some users.