Police in the UK have warned about a surge in social media hacking incidents in which the attackers flood the victims’ accounts with indecent images of children. The shocking campaign does not appear to have any financial motivation behind it, as the victims did not receive a ransom demand. In some instances, the attackers uploaded videos as well as pictures. Many of the account owners were unaware of the hack until they received an email from the social media platform indicating that their account had been suspended due to the indecent images.
The UK police stated that any indecent images of children detected on the internet should be reported to police immediately. The police force also added that the images should not be screenshotted, even as proof of the hack. Social media users should protect their accounts with two-factor authentication, which may help to mitigate the risk of account takeover via phishing, password guessing, and brute force attacks. Password security should also be improved. Although social media account takeovers are common, the nature of this campaign makes it a severe risk.
Read More: Social Media Accounts Hijacked to Post Indecent Images