Facebook-owned Instagram is improving its safety features. Users with earlier compromised accounts can now use a new security check feature. Users whose profile has been hacked will get an alert when they log in asking if they want to start a security checkup.
The feature will give the user a tour of the security steps including confirming other accounts that share login information, keeping recovery contact information updated, and reviewing login activity.
Instagram is also planning to add support for two-factor authentication through WhatsApp along with authenticator apps and options for phone numbers.
Currently, Instagram to authenticate accounts sends emails and can check if an email is authentic by looking at the “Emails from Instagram” tab in settings. Instagram came out with the security feature after it noticed an uptick of accounts claiming to be Instagram in direct messages to get people to share their passwords.
The streamlined security feature will be a change from password resetting emails cluttering inboxes. Sometimes the emails come from Instagram bots trying to access a bunch of accounts at one time and that necessarily does not mean the account has been hacked.
