Threat Management, Network Security

Australian fashion blogger’s Instragram account reportedly hijacked

The Instagram account of Australian fashion blogger Rozalia Russian was hijacked by an American hacker, who extorted $5,000 from her before handing back her credentials, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Russian, who has over 181,000 combined followers on her @rozalia_russian Instragram page and her @rozalia.com.au Instagram online store page, knew something was amiss when fake followers started posting ads on her page, the report explains. Meanwhile, legit followers were un-following her after receiving irritating spam. Russian attempted to log in, but someone had changed her credentials.

Russian said her own IT expert traced the attack to a college student in the U.S., who demanded the $5,000 payment when Russian called him directly. Russian said she and a travel blogger friend who was also hacked paid the ransom together.

Bradley Barth

As director of multimedia content strategy at CyberRisk Alliance, Bradley Barth develops content for online conferences, webcasts, podcasts video/multimedia projects — often serving as moderator or host. For nearly six years, he wrote and reported for SC Media as deputy editor and, before that, senior reporter. He was previously a program executive with the tech-focused PR firm Voxus. Past journalistic experience includes stints as business editor at Executive Technology, a staff writer at New York Sportscene and a freelance journalist covering travel and entertainment. In his spare time, Bradley also writes screenplays.

Get daily email updates

SC Media's daily must-read of the most current and pressing daily news

By clicking the Subscribe button below, you agree to SC Media Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.