YOU GUYS.
Did you know my Instagram was full-on hacked?
That’s right, HACKED.
Picture this: I was casually in Aspen adjusting my skis, getting ready to head up the beautiful, snowy mountain & naturally, pre-slopes, I checked my Instagram.
Only natural right?
I mean to check your Instagram before an activity where your phone will be zipped away tight in your North Face ( & even more than that, you’re wearing huge chunky gloves making it actually physically impossible to tap your passcode into an iPhone ) is totally normal.
So there I was logging in to Insta when SUDDENLY, it said in red font: WRONG LOGIN/PW.
Bad feeling immediately in my stomach.
WAIT, WHAT?
Why isn’t my login working?
Shaking, perspiring, sweating upper lip, you get in.
I tried 284394 million more times, I couldn’t login.
Okkkkkk…so I tried every which way in the world to login & guess what? Someone changed my e-mail associated with the account.
FUN TIMES.
Here’s the thing: I work on my Instagram account. It’s not for play, it’s for work. I work on the filter, the aesthetic, the feed, the caption, & when you work hard at something & some random person TAKES it away, it’s highly annoying.
…You kind of freak.
And then you know what else was fun?
When my friends started calling me because the hacker was posting SPAM.
Not just like any spam though. Spammist-spam possible. AKA ‘WIN A FREE COMPUTER, #BLESSED, LINK IN BIO TO WIN’ kind of spam. & UGLY spam.
At least the hacker could have fit a little better with The Skinny Confidential aesthetic. Their photos were so dreadful that EVERYONE ( YOU GUYS ) started calling them out. So funny, so cool. People were like “UM NO, SPAM, BYE.”
Anyway, the whole thing just felt like a major violation.
( For the record, I didn’t let it ruin my ski run, I put on my beanie & said ‘F IT’ & went down the slopes with Michael ).
Ultimately, we ended up contacting the Instagram Team, Facebook, & the AMAZING Jillian Harris- who’s been hacked before- ( thank you Bailey for putting us in touch! )…& with all their help, I got my account back in 6 hours.
YAY.
The main reason for this post is not to complain, it’s to INFORM.
INFORM YOU.
After this happened to me I was introduced to Sudo.
Basically Sudo is a platform that helped to put the control back into my own hands. Specifically online.
Ever had anything bad happen online ( online shopping, overloaded inboxes, card theft, spam, data leaks, etc. )? Feels like we all have? If you haven’t, you are lucky. Seriously lucky.
Sudo has helped me protect my online privacy & personal data when I’m socializing and connecting online. Sudo not only provides safe communication with custom numbers & email, but it all happens within a SECURE browser. With SudoPay, you get a one-time use credit card that protects you from credit card/identity theft.
Rad, right?
This is very, VERY important considering my line of work! Honestly I wish I joined sooner.
You guys can check it out here, let me know how you like it. AND of course, please share your online horror stories? We can totally swap because I have like 10 more.
#BLESSED.
Chat soon! – lauryn
** the hacker blocked some readers who were standing up for me ( thank you! ), if you were blocked from my Instagram e-mail me at Lauryn@theskinnyconfidential.com & I’ll unblock you asap. X
+ this post is in collaboration with Sudo.
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That is one of my biggest fears! That is so terrible! I had that happen to my facebook a few years ago and it was really embarrassing. I am interested in this app! I will try anything that helps with online security.
UGH! It’s happened to my FB too. Highly annoying. I hope you like it! : ) Enjoy
Yea, I was hacked once too. It was terrible and put some of my professional relationships in jeopardy.
SO annoying, right. Worst feeling. Thanks for reading Rebecca! x
That is a huuuuge fear of mine. I’m glad you didn’t let it ruin your vacay and that everything ended up okay!
coffeeslag
COFFEESLAG Snow Day
Thanks lady! I definitely tried to put it out of my mind. We still enjoyed skiing : ) x
Ugh I remember this. Everyone was like – Lauryn would never do this shit. LOL.
I got my phone stolen and all my photos taken (OH YES) and was blackmailed for a few months (this turned heavy I know) so honestly keeping my shit secure is SO IMPORTANT. This was a great reminder, I need to check out this app.
Have da best weekend – love ya!
xo
Krista
YES right.
I’m sorry your phone was stolen! Let me know what you think of the app, girl. x
Thank god, I’ve never been hacked but I feel for you nevertheless!
So happy you’ve found something to make things more secure.
Oh and, your work on Instagram doesn’t go unnoticed, I LOVE your account! 🙂
What an awful experience! I’m so glad you were able to get it back so quickly!
Ah I’m so sorry to hear that! Once some random person took my picture and created a fake facebook account pretending to be a new student at my university. So creepy. Glad you were able to get it back okay!
I was immediately shocked by the sudden change in image quality back when this happened to you! And their caption was 500x longer than yours are usually! I was so happy to hear you got it fixed so quickly!
*knock on wood* I haven’t had any of my social media accounts hacked yet, BUT last weekend we had our Netflix account hacked and talk about a hassle! The asshole hackers (not ladylike at all to say but I’m still pissed) deleted 2 of the 4 Netflix profiles on our account, 1 of them being mine & Netflix can’t recover them. ? I don’t watch Netflix that often, but when I do I love having MY shows at the top, along with good recommendations for me and now that’s been ruined. LOL ?
I’m definitely going to check this out because I’m so fed up with people and the lack of privacy these days! Thanks for sharing!
Damn. This is happening more and more… it happened to me too! This post on Brains over Blonde helped me a lot (plus it also has some great philosophical thoughts on the industry in general): https://brainsoverblonde.com/please-help-my-instagram-account-was-hacked/
The best thing you can do is to reach out to anyone you know at Facebook or instagram internally. Otherwise it’s a very slow process.