Being eSmart
Social Media Hacks

*Please note that this article is not meant to cause alarm, but it is important to be vigilant when using social media.*

There have been increasing reports of student social media breaches and hacks this year, especially on Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat accounts. While a lot of hacked accounts are used to forward on spam messages, financial scams and viruses from a position of a trusted (but compromised) face, there is an unfortunate trend in schools of students breaching into accounts to use them to cyberbully, harass and defame others by impersonating other students.

There can be several reasons as to why someone may choose to do this, but increased access to hacking tools, sharing of information online and lack of complexity of passwords and security questions is meaning that some accounts are being compromised easily. Bad actors are then using these accounts to:

Send harassing or threatening messages to others from compromised accounts.
Impersonate the hacked account’s identity to defame or commit fraud.
Access private messages and media that can be used to blackmail, extort or publicly embarrass.
Enable access to other devices that use those accounts.

Regardless of the reasons, these breaches can have devastating effects of individuals, families and communities and can have significant criminal consequences due to new updates to our digital security laws. The State and Federal Police and eSafety Commissioner have new powers (through the Online Safety Act) and better technology to investigate these hacks and impose appropriate penalties on those who are found in breach.

Harassment and bullying over a “carriage service” (phone provider) has been illegal for a long time now, other activities have been included under the fraud laws. These include:

Using another person’s account without their knowledge or consent.
Impersonating another person online without consent.
Sharing personal/private information online without consent.

As part of the new Online Safety Act, the eSafety Commissioner also has more enforcement powers over breaches of accounts and other cyber safety concerns and can impose civil penalties and fines against people who have used online platforms to bully or harass and do not remove the offending material. An overview of the Online Safety Act is linked here.

The best method of preventing access is to be proactive in securing your information:

Make sure your password is strong and change it every month. Use a sentence or a phrase as part of your password to make it easier to remember and harder to hack.
Check your emails to see if there are any suspicious account requests and block them.
Don’t click on links from text messages or emails that you don’t recognise or trust.
If you see a friend or family member posting strange messages online, check in with them to make sure they haven’t been hacked.
Don’t share your account information with anyone.
Have a different email account that you use to sign up for apps/online stores/games and other services that you want to separate from your personal information.

If your account has been compromised and you can’t access it:

Contact the police or the eSafety Commissioner and report that your accounts have been breached.
Contact trusted people who you know can see that account to see if it is being used. Ask them to gather evidence of it’s misuse.
Begin the process of recovering your account. You can use the information in the link to help you with this: How To Recover Your Hacked Email or Social Media Account | Consumer Advice (ftc.gov)

Please feel free to contact the school’s eSmart Team or your child’s House Leader if you have any questions or concerns about ensuring your child is safe and happy online.

If you would like to read more into this, please find some articles and information below:

Being eSmart Social Media Hacks

Being eSmart
Social Media Hacks