6 Security Lessons from Riot's VALORANT Instagram Hack

AI has fueled an explosion of sophisticated hacking attempts across social media platforms. Crypto scammers have rapidly adapted their tactics, putting businesses at unprecedented risk. What was once a rare occurrence has become an almost daily headline – another major brand falls victim to a social media breach.

Your business has worked hard to build its social media presence. The followers, engagement, and reputation you've earned represent countless hours of effort and significant investment. But without proper security measures, all that hard work can vanish overnight.

In this blog post, we'll explore what happened during the recent VALORANT Instagram hack, what makes this attack notable, and six essential security measures your business should implement to avoid becoming the next victim.

What Happened to VALORANT's Instagram Account?

VALORANT is an incredibly popular first-person tactical hero shooter that's been around since June 2020. With 2.2 million followers on Instagram, their account represents a prime target for hackers looking for maximum impact.

On March 20, 2025, VALORANT's Instagram account briefly shared a post claiming that Tyson Ngo had invested in a newly released MotoGP crypto coin. However, this information was quickly flagged as false when Riot told PCGames that their official VALORANT Instagram account had been hacked.

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What makes this breach particularly interesting is that the hackers targeted Riot (the developing company) and managed to compromise multiple Instagram accounts simultaneously – both VALORANT's and League of Legends' profiles – to spread their crypto scam to millions of followers.

Fortunately, Riot acted quickly and regained control of their accounts, minimizing potential damage to their brand and followers.

How To Protect Your Instagram Account From Hackers

Unfortunately, Instagram accounts face constant targeting from hackers regardless of business size. The security of your social media presence can't be an afterthought – it must be a priority. Here are six effective strategies to ensure your Instagram account remains secure against emerging threats.

1) Create A Social Media Policy

A social media policy is a document that outlines clear guidelines for how an organization and its employees should behave online. This covers both professional and personal social media activities that could impact your brand.

This policy serves as a crucial component of your business code of conduct, dictating how employees should represent themselves and the brand across all social platforms. Everyone from interns to executives should understand these guidelines, especially when discussing or mentioning the company on personal accounts.

Organizations need social media policies primarily to protect brand reputation. A single ill-advised post can quickly damage customer trust. Given the prevalence of cyber threats on social media, a well-defined policy helps mitigate security risks by including guidelines that protect both the company and employees from hacking, phishing attempts, and fraudulent accounts.

Your policy should also clearly define social media account ownership, clarifying who controls and is responsible for your company's social accounts and their associated content.

2) Create A Rapid Response Team (RTT)

A Rapid Response Team (RTT) is a dedicated group within your organization tasked with managing and responding to security incidents. In cybersecurity, this team (sometimes called a Computer Security Incident Response Team or CSIRT) quickly identifies, contains, and recovers from security threats or data breaches that could compromise your digital assets.

However, the concept extends beyond cybersecurity to include teams designed to handle social media crises, public relations emergencies, and other business disruptions demanding immediate action. For social media specifically, an RTT predicts, plans for, and responds to any situations that could threaten your online reputation or operational stability.

With a properly trained RTT in place, your organization can significantly reduce the impact of social media security breaches through faster detection, containment, and recovery – turning potential disasters into manageable incidents.

3) Regularly Train Your Team On Cybersecurity

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Threats targeting social media platforms constantly change, demanding that organizations continuously evaluate and adjust security measures. Many employees, even digitally savvy ones, lack understanding of the unique security risks associated with using social media for business.

This awareness gap makes regular training necessary. Employees need to recognize phishing attempts, social engineering tactics, and other digital threats specifically targeting social platforms. If you empower your team with this knowledge, they’ll make smarter security decisions in daily online interactions.

Implementing robust training on social media security significantly improves your organization's overall security posture by strengthening what security experts call the "human firewall" – your employees' collective awareness and vigilance. When your team is able to recognize and avoid potential threats, you substantially reduce the risk of human error, often identified as the weakest link in the cybersecurity chain.

4) Use Strong, Complex Passwords

Passwords serve as the primary gatekeepers to your online accounts. Strong, complex passwords protect your accounts and devices from unauthorized access. The more intricate and unpredictable a password is, the harder it becomes for attackers to guess or crack it through brute-force attacks.

Using unique passwords for each account reduces the risk of credential stuffing attacks – where cybercriminals use passwords obtained from one breach to gain unauthorized access to other accounts.

That’s why you should avoid reusing passwords. Password recycling dramatically increases risk by making all your accounts vulnerable if one is compromised.

To create highly secure passwords, organizations should follow the following key practices:

• Use at least 14 characters – longer passwords take exponentially more time to crack.
• Incorporate uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special symbols.
• Avoid easily guessable information like birthdays, names, or common dictionary words.
• Create random passwords without discernible patterns or sequences.

5) Enable Two-Factor Authentication For Teams

Organizations should mandate two-factor authentication (2FA) for their teams to significantly improve account security. 2FA demands two different identity verification methods, creating a strong protective barrier that increases difficulty for unauthorized access, even when passwords get compromised.

Implementing 2FA strengthens your defenses against common cyber threats like phishing attacks aimed at stealing login credentials, keylogging software that records keystrokes, and brute-force attacks. According to Microsoft, enabling multi-factor authentication can prevent 99.9% of attacks targeting online accounts.

While traditional 2FA focuses on securing individual user accounts using methods tied to personal devices (like SMS codes or authenticator apps), team-based 2FA addresses the unique challenges of managing shared social media accounts. For example, traditional methods become cumbersome when multiple team members need access to a single account – sharing personal codes or constantly switching authentication methods creates inefficiency and security risks.

Team-based 2FA solutions provide secure ways for multiple team members to access verification codes without compromising on security. Spikerz 2FA for teams offers solutions specifically designed for social media teams, combining complete security with practical features:

• Centralized Access Management: Spikerz integrates with your social media, ensuring only authorized users access company accounts.
• Phishing Protection: AI-powered threat detection identifies and blocks phishing attempts before reaching team members.
• Device-Free Authentication: Browser-based 2FA eliminates the need for specific devices, ensuring smooth workflows.
• Simultaneous Multi-Device Access: Multiple team members can log in to the same account from different devices simultaneously while maintaining security.

Are You Already Using 2FA For Teams?

If you haven't implemented team-based 2FA yet, you're gambling with your brand's reputation. Don't wait for a breach to take action – protect your social media presence today with Spikerz.

6) Use Social Media Security Tools

Social media security tools are software applications designed to protect social media accounts, data, and online presence from various threats. There are many different types of social media security tools like password managers, 2FA tools, content checkers, social media monitoring, and all-in-one social media security tools like Spikerz.

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Spikerz is a platform designed specifically for businesses and individuals who want to safeguard their online presence. Our platform provides 24/7 monitoring for hacking attempts, bot attacks, spam, and protection against shadowbanning and impersonators.

Beyond monitoring, Spikerz offers complete content backups to ensure your business can recover social media accounts and content in case of security issues. We also provide a free chatbot solution for account recovery, helping businesses regain access to their accounts without additional fees.

With Spikerz, your business gains:

• Real-time monitoring of your accounts for suspicious activities
• Protection against phishing attempts targeting your team
• Detection and removal of fake accounts impersonating your brand
• Automatic content backup that preserves your social media assets
• Alerts about potential security threats before they cause damage

Listen, your brand took years to build but can be damaged in minutes by a social media hack. Why leave your digital presence vulnerable when protection is just a click away? Take control of your social media security today before hackers make you wish you had.

Conclusion

VALORANT’s Instagram hack is one of thousands of social media hacks that happen every single month. However, if you implement the six security measures outlined above – creating a social media policy, forming a rapid response team, training your staff, using strong passwords, enabling team-based 2FA, and utilizing specialized security tools – you’ll dramatically reduce your risk of becoming the next victim.

Social media security isn't just about preventing embarrassing posts or temporary account loss. It's about protecting your brand reputation, customer trust, and the digital assets you've worked so hard to build. Don't wait for a breach to prioritize your security. The businesses that survive in today's threat landscape aren't just the largest – they're the best prepared.