Nowadays hackers are targeting influencers and local businesses with good following. Hackers take over the social media pages like instagram, facebook or even the website of the entity in order to progress their attack. Primary motive of these hackers includes financial fraud, defaming the entity or to upload negative campaign materials or to confuse or bring disrepute the entity.
Upon getting control of the account/page, hackers could also ask ransom for restoration of the page. Account hacking could result from stolen credentials or exploitation of certain vulnerability. Additionally, hackers can create a look alike page/account of victim and contact followers/friends for transferring money to them by making the situation look like urgent.
For instance, the social media pages of a city-based jewellery brand in Kolkata and its owner were disabled without any kind of notice towards the end of 2022. The owner’s account was restored earlier this month, again without any communication whatsoever. As per the owner, "The admin team and I were completely locked out of our brand page, but it was still live. I mailed Facebook repeatedly."
An example of a bigger and recent hack was Ferrari where customer data was exposed and asked for ransom.
Recommendation
Look for signs of potential financial fraud, for e.g., someone unexpectedly asks for money through social media accounts
Verify the account you are communicating to either through the social media "verified" tag or by confirming with any authentic sources.
Store credentials securely
Do not fall victim to phishing emails which could lead to identity compromise.
Informing police is the first duty of the owner of a hacked
Komen