Instagram announces campaign to tackle phishing

Instagram will now help users identify and deal with phishing attacks through raising awareness and providing flexible tools for the same said Nadia Diab Caceres, public policy manager for Instagram in the Middle East and North Africa region. In the Middle East, the platform has partnered with Arab social media stars such as Khaled Mokhtar, Amr Maskoun, Aly Osman, Adel Aladwani, and Mazen Yaseen to increase awareness of the issue as well as safety tools provided to deal with it.

Phishing is an increasingly common way to gain access to a user's personal information, usually done by the perpetrator sending dubious links impersonating a known website or page to collect details. This may be a link to the website of a bank, social media platform, or email service to encourage users to download an attachment or click on a link. Some even impersonate Instagram, which only communicates through notifications or emails.

Instances of phishing through Instagram have grown in recent years especially from regions like Turkey and Romania.

"Phishing on social platforms is an evolving issue that has been increasing in both frequency and sophistication...We are constantly evolving our safety and security features to protect our community from cyberattacks. We have strong defences in our existing security tools and features, and we continue to upgrade these in line with the needs of the times," said Diab Carceras while speaking to Arab News.

These tools include two-factor authentication for accounts, steps guiding users to recover hacked accounts as well as keeping updated emails and phone numbers linked to their account so that Instagram can inform them of suspicious activity.

Users are also encouraged to report suspicious accounts.