Businesswoman and broadcaster Lorraine Keane has described the "frightening" experience of having her social media accounts hacked over the weekend.
She lost control of several of her accounts after scammers used a "really sophisticated phishing scam" to get her password and access her various accounts.
Lorraine told Lunchtime Live she has long known the advice to never give away her password or account details.
However, she was thrown off guard after receiving simultaneous messages across two different platforms.
She explained: “They sent me a message on Instagram itself, querying a post I had up - saying maybe it violated the sponsored post laws, where you have to hashtag ‘ad’ or ‘SP’. At the same time, they sent me an email saying exactly the same thing.
“The fact it came up on my Instagram account as well… I clicked on it, and I entered my password, even though I’ve known not to do that for years. Then they had my password.
"I used the same password for everything - now I know never to do that again."
The hackers completely deleted Lorraine's Twitter account, but she managed to secure her Facebook account before they deleted that as well.
However, they've held on to her Instagram account and have been threatening her over the weekend.
She said: "[They've been] looking for ransoms, calling me on WhatsApp.
“I haven’t engaged with them at all, because I knew not to. But it has just been really upsetting - frightening, really.”
She has reported the incident to the gardaí, something she says was very helpful as they've also been trying to contact Facebook to help her get her Instagram account back.
Cyber security tips
Lorraine said the last few days have left her "absolutely shattered".
She noted this is something happening to more and more Irish people, and she'd "hate for anybody else to go through".
She observed: “It was so scary - it was like somebody lighting a match, and just watching the business I’ve built up over the last six years just going down in flames.
"On Saturday morning, they were deleting my posts one-by-one - but messaging me at the same time saying the full account was next.”
For now, Lorraine urged others to follow the advice she's gotten from cyber expert Paul Dwyer since the hacking incident:
- Have strong passwords - "nothing to do with your dog’s name or your mother’s maiden name or date of birth… have a really weird password with asterisks, exclamation marks etc…"
- Have different passwords for every single account
- Make sure to have your phone and devices updated to the latest operating system firmware
- Back-up all of your data on services such as iCloud
- Make sure two-factor authentication (2FA) is in place to further secure your account
