Oh shock, my Instagram has been hacked

You want to log in - wrong password. Profile picture gone. Mail address changed. Meta is not responding. Welcome to the most stressful message of the day.

And it is precisely these requests for „Can you help“ that often land on our desk. Whether self-employed, small companies (or large ones ...) or content creators, where the whole thing naturally takes on an existential character. And it's almost always not the hack that's the problem, but the time afterwards. Between the wrong advice, countless forms and „friends who used to have the same thing“, the most important things often get lost - calm, structure and a system.

Instagram hacked: What to do now

Before you panic and google whether your profile is „lost forever“, take a deep breath.
The first step leads to instagram.com/hacked. This is the official Instagram page for hacked accounts. Here you can check whether your account has actually been compromised and start the recovery process right away.

Then it gets technical: change all passwords linked to your account - Facebook, Meta Business Manager, Gmail or Outlook. Remove unknown devices from the login sessions and activate two-factor authentication via an authenticator (I recommend the one from Google) – NONE SMS or Whatsapp - they probably got you into this mess in the first place.

If you work in a team, inform everyone who has access to the account. Hectic actions („I'll post a quick warning“) usually do more harm than good.

How you really achieve meta

Meta support is - to put it kindly - special. There are hundreds of forms, but only a few paths really lead to the goal.
The best way to do this is via the Meta Business Manager. There you can create a ticket in the support area or connect via chat.

Meta reacts even faster if you report via an active advertising account.
We see it every day: Whoever places ads gets priority. And yes, it feels unfair - but it's a fact. As a Meta Blueprint certified agency, but also due to the not-so-small amount of advertising money that we manage for our customers on Meta, we also have a direct contact person here and can therefore act even faster for our customers, but we know that the world is unfair, not everyone has this and it also costs money for us to use this feature.

That leaves the last option: the form for proof of identity. Meta requires a selfie with a code here - sounds absurd, but it works surprisingly often. If you take this step, have your ID and the email address to which the account was originally linked ready.

How to make your meta account secure

After a hack, you want one thing above all else: never to end up in this situation again. Jap been there, done that 1,000 times.
So make sure that your account is as secure as your online banking - or more secure.

Use an authenticator app instead of SMS, regularly check the admin rights in the Business Manager, remove old partners or employees and choose a password that you can't remember (and no one else can either).
Even better: Have the account checked technically on a regular basis - access rights, API links, ad access. This costs less time than a lost channel costs you.

What you should not do under any circumstances

If your account has been hacked, despair is a bad advisor.
Avoid the reflex of hiring „recovery agencies“ that promise to get your account back in 24 hours - many of these are themselves scams.
Don't give up too soon either: an account can often be restored even weeks later.
And please don't create a new account. This will make it almost impossible for Meta to reactivate the old one.

Stay safe in the long term

An Instagram hack rarely only affects Instagram.
Facebook, WhatsApp Business or advertising accounts are usually also involved. It is therefore worth going through all accesses once a quarter - who is an admin, who is a partner, who is an employee?
It is best to use the central access via business.facebook.com/settings and set up a backup admin who has access in an emergency.

Why cyber security insurance makes sense

Even as an agency manager who can now sleep very well at night again, I can recommend one thing: a solid Cyber security insurance. Among other things, this covers the costs of reputable service providers - i.e. partners like us (a little self-promotion in passing...) - who will help you get your account back in the event of an emergency.

Our partner, the Rosenstatter Insurance, provides very competent and uncomplicated advice.
This is not an advertisement, but an honest recommendation.
I pay for this insurance myself - and the feeling it gives me is priceless.

Because yes: even a specialized, experienced agency can be hacked. It can happen that customer accounts are affected or meta accesses remain blocked for weeks.
That was my personal nightmare.
And that's exactly why this protection helps me to stay calm - and to act calmly in an emergency instead of reacting in panic.

Security is not an extra - it is part of your brand image. And to be honest: it saves money, nerves and trust.