Just as any social media platform, personal profiles on TikTok can be hacked and then used to try to scam friends and family. The sheer popularity of TikTok makes it a fertile ground for bad actors to do the same kind of hacking that they are often successful with on other social media situations. In some cases, it’s the users themselves that make it easier for hackers to break into their accounts. It’s not uncommon for hackers to hijack a profile and then imitate the individual to ask for money or worse. Knowing how they do this is a way to protect yourself from falling prey.
Passwords
There are two areas of concern regarding passwords; the use of weak passwords and the use of the same passwords in all of your social media or other accounts. Weak passwords can be guessed and yes, there are a lot that use the name of their pets or children. Using the same password online opens the possibility of hacking if it’s found out or ends up on the dark net. Always use a strong password and when available, MFA (multi-factor authentication). Don’t use the same password for all your online activity.
How did someone hijack my TikTok profile and scam others? Password managers can be used to save your passwords securely, make sure your master password is strong.
Spyware Software
This is software that has become increasingly popular and is rather sophisticated. Spyware software is often used as parental monitoring. Although the developers of this software indicate that users must give their permission for the download, some have no idea that the software has been added. As indicated by the name, it monitors all actions online and on a computer, and this includes logins and passwords. Malware is the other form of download and this is usually done without the users knowledge. A good firewall and anti-virus software will assist in protecting from malware and always make sure that you read “the fine print” on any spyware software.
Brute force Software
Also referred to as “brute force attacks,” this is software that is easily available and uses a method attempt of trying many different passwords to break into a profile. Weak passwords are the easiest for them to break and once in they will often look to other social media platforms to access the user profile to do the same hijacking actions.
Malicious TikTok Link
This is a common method of hacking on TikTok and other social media platforms. In some cases it will be behind the scenes while in other cases a warning appears to say “you’ve been hacked – click to download software that will fix it.” Of course, the software is malware. In still other situations if will simply direct you to a website that requests that you do something that looks innocent such as activate javascript when in reality it is harmful software.
Social Engineering
A popular method by cybercriminals is social engineering. They will use human nature responses and often make contact via email or text message while impersonating trustworthy officials or organisations. Once they gain a user’s confidence they can manipulate them into exposing more personal information and use that to hack into TikTok.
How did someone hijack my TikTok profile and scam others? It could be any of the above methods.
“DaVinci Cybersecurity remains an expert on the topic of social media hacking efforts by bad actors. We continue to emphasise the kind of protection that users of TikTok and all client social media platforms and share all of the latest cyber hacker information to assure safety.”
Sharon Knowles, CEO DaVinci Cybersecurity
Sources:
moonlock.com/tiktok-hacked?ci=20676254109&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Search_DSA_US_en&utm_term=&adgroupid=155613837598&adpos=&ck=&targetid=dsa-19959388920&match=&gnetwork=g&creative=677683957903&placement=&placecat=&accname=Moonlock&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwmMayBhDuARIsAM9HM8f0G3AYPHuRrivsM7sP0i6S78k-KKOfziThtxUC6zAHxXXF88sCqroaAv7IEALw_wcB
