Instagram this week announced plans to improve its two-factor authentication mechanism by supporting third-party 2FA apps. The announcement came two weeks after a wave of stolen accounts on the platform, some of which had 2FA enabled.
Until now, Instagram only provided 2FA via SMS. Starting today, users will be able to use one-time codes from third-party apps (certified by Instagram itself).
To use this feature, you must enable it from your account settings.
From your Profile, by clicking on “settings” at the bottom of the menu, there is the “Two-Factor Authentication” option. Select “Authentication App”, and if you already have an app of this type installed, the Instagram application will detect it and send a code for Login. In case you do not have a 2fa application installed, you will be directed to the Google Play Store, where you will find the available options. After downloading, return to Instagram to complete the process.
According to Instagram, this option will gradually become available to all accounts within the next 2 weeks.
However, this is not the only change Instagram is making. The “verified accounts” add-on will soon be released, as well as a form of history for each account.
Both of these add-ons will be very useful, as each account will have public information about the date the account was created, the country it is located in, the number of followers, the changes to the username that have been made in the last year, and whether the specific account is "running" any advertising during the specific time period.
This change comes just weeks after Facebook admitted that Russian and Iranian accounts were used for political influence campaigns.
However, the account history tool will be very useful in determining if an account has been stolen and renamed.
