This is how an Instagram trend could help hack your account

Many Instagram users have been partaking in a trend in which they publish answers to general questions about themselves on their stories for the past month. Because the questions are similar to standard security questions on numerous social media sites, a cyber security expert says the answers could be a gift to hackers.

The trend began to encourage Instagram users to learn more about their followers. People responded to an 11-question template on Instagram, easily giving away personal information like their height and date of birth and numerous details about topics they care deeply about, such as favorite foods and phobias.

In a video with almost two million views on TikTok, content creator Eliana Shiloh, who happens to be a cyber and strategic risk analyst at Deloitte based in Chicago, called for not partaking in the trend and deleting all online traces of it.

Explaining how she almost started filling in the template and stopped, Shiloh said “These are the answers to a lot of my security questions, this is hacker niche right here, this is the creepy creeps of the cyber web they’re gonna have a field trip with this trend.”

However, the comments disagreed with the cyber analyst, stating that their security questions have nothing to do with the trend.

She explained that through security questions, hackers could know a lot about a person through something as simple as a birthday date. Shiloh recommended people choose harder security questions to avoid any risk, change passwords every other month, and be very aware of what personal information they put online.

The expert explained the concept of data mining in a separate video, emphasizing the risk of sharing lists of personally identifiable information and how it helps hackers who use data mining.

“If you want to post a list of your favorite things, go ahead, I’m just saying stay vigilant,” added Shiloh.

In the comments, many users did explain that their accounts registered several security breaches after the trend.