Where is the gatekeeper
Human is the product part 2
Technology is now a critical component of everyone’s everyday life. Social media platforms are ubiquitous in many lives on this little blue ball we live on called the earth. We all just take it for granted that it is a safe thing to do. You assume these new media platforms are secure because you just think so! You don’t think an entity is monitoring or metaphorically looking over your shoulder. The story I am about to tell you, I apparently joined not an exclusive club but a club of many members that i wouldn’t believe exist. It is one of those that it happens to other people.
Let’s run through some facts about hacking and hackers to clear the decks:
The first hack according to The Atlantic magazine was in 1903 on Guglielmo M Marconi (the godfather of modern radio) was ready to transmit a message via the first wireless broadcasting technology. It used the same system as the telegraph. When he was prepared to send the message, the apparatus began to tap out a message in Morse code the word RATS, repeated over and over again. The first of many hackings in history to come, had commenced because the radio’s channel wasn’t as private as Marconi thought. Now a century plus later and after incredible technological advances, we still face similar problems.
It is said 20-25 percent of all social media accounts can expect to be compromised at some point. There is a hacker attack every 39 seconds according to Security Magazine.
Cybercrime is more profitable than the global illegal drug trade according to Cyber Security Ventures.
66 percent of businesses are attacked by hackers weren’t confident they could recover. Cyber Seek
Three types of hackers: Black hat hackers are hackers with criminal intent. White hat hackers are hired to test the security of a system. Grey hat hackers don’t have criminal motives, but once they start exploiting a system, they can break some laws. Cyber Seek #CyberSeek
444,259 ransomware attacks took place in 2018.
There will be 3.5 million cyber security jobs opening in 2022. Cyber Security Ventures #CyberSecurityVentures
Companies protect only three percent of their folders. Juniper Research
The cost of data breaches will increase to a 150 million in 2022. Juniper Research #Juniperresearch
When I wrote the “Human is the product’’ column, I couldn’t imagine I would be here now so soon, writing a Defacto sequel to the story which validates what was said. I am part of the story because it is related to music which is a massive part of my life. In my 2021 narrative ‘‘The 2020’’ I brought up the power of random in our lives. This situation is right of a TV series. When people talk of getting hacked, I do not feel that would be part of my life! I felt you had to be a large celebrity with major status. However, I was very incorrect in that assessment. The vocalist and recording artist that I work with is TRAEDONYA! In the traditional sense, she is not a big celebrity. In fact, we have not been too active since 2017. We still maintain a presence, however. Well, the both of us got a wakeup call very recently.
TRAEDONYA! contacted me to brief me on her Instagram being hacked. I didn’t believe her. We are an independent label/artist. The people who know us, know us, but she is not famous like that! I was wrong! I felt it had to be a sensible error on Instagram’s behalf and things would clear up. She was correct because, I got a random email from the hacker. Here is the timeline:
9/3/22 release new song
9/7/22 I get briefed on the allege hack.
9/9/22 Hacker contacts me via email.
The thing is she has 2665 followers on I.G. In this world that is puny! TRAEDONYA! has her network and largest platform on Twitter, it’s at 25k. On Facebook her fan page is at 7.3K. You Tube channel 2.475k. She has a base, yet I would not even imagine getting hacked, especially on Instagram. I guess her I.G is more influential than I imagined. The pitiful hackers as you will see below approached me about the ransom of the page from the dreaded random Gmail account. On Instagram I am the business contact. I didn’t respond to the hackers, because I am no way we are negotiating with hackers, aka hijackers. This is not the 1970’s when airplanes were getting hijacked frequently and then the hijackers requested ransom! In the digital time we live in, these hackers are the modern-day hijackers! I just burst out laughing to be honest. I said they can’t be serious. Yes, they were…. lol!
Obviously, these hackers didn’t do their research. Independent labels/artist are always short of capital! We can’t pay hackers, ransom demands! I.G is a Defacto free site/platform on top of that. I told her to reach out to Instagram asap for assistance. I was flabbergasted that of all of the things that we have to do, now we have to deal with a legit ransom hack job! I say I am flabbergasted because hacking happens to important people not an independent artist/musician. Now I get into old school ‘‘Geraldo Rivera’’ and start investigating what happened. TRAEDONYA! briefs me she was in touch with one of old producers Tony Ozier who is an incredible producer/artist. He is an independent artist. Tony Ozier produced one of our 4 DJ Times National club charting records ‘‘I’ll Give It 2 U’’ during the period of 2004-2011 when we were active moving around from San Diego to Moscow.
I said reach out to him again because that made the most sense. Tony told her he was hacked over a year ago and has not been in control of the site for over a year. Now I am glad we got ahead of this and had reached out to Instagram. However, days went by, and we heard nothing. I assumed, there would be swift and actionable assistance. I was incorrect. Tony also told TRAEDONYA! Instagram hadn’t given him any assistance. Tony is also an independent artist. I couldn’t believe what he said. His page was then a ‘‘ghost page’’ and that the hackers were operating pretending to be him to all of his contacts, for an entire year. Now we had the source of how we got hit! Tony had to get a new account and rebuild his new Instagram from scratch! That is a lot of time and work. Who has time for this? Here are some critical stats on Instagram according to Similar Web:
Note: A “user” is not a paying customer. A “user” to the “digerati”, is a tool to execute their business model of “free”. Essentially, you are an unpaid employee that works for free 24/7. As well, an example of the “digerati”, would be Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey.
The Instagram app has over 78 million monthly active users, making it one of the most popular apps today.
55 percent of the Generation Xers are users.
27 percent of the baby boomers are users.
Over 50 percent of video marketers rank Instagram as the best platform for ROI. This means Instagram is a very viable and credible option, for folks like us.
The funny part of this story is how the ‘‘quote unquote hackers’’ behaviour! The hackers have been in close touch with TRAEDONYA! It has been quite comical. Instagram has been very slow in assisting us in finding a credible solution. How I see it, the I.G page ultimately belongs to Instagram/Facebook. TRAEDONYA! and Tony Ozier are just placeholders as ‘‘Users’’. In fact, most folks on Instagram are Users, if you do not become a customer by placing an ad! Please refer back to part one
https://akcidentalwriter.substack.com/p/the-human-the-product
Independent artists/musicians, who are massive in numbers on Instagram, really were instrumental in putting Instagram on the map. TRAEDONYA! and Tony Ozier are part of that global vanguard of independent artists, that were part of I.G, when Instagram launched in 2010. The indie music world globally was all over the platform and still is. Music artists are a huge part of the Instagram platform. Being a boutique label business model, we have always lived in the world of the limited budget. During this time, we were ‘‘going hard in the paint’’. We were anywhere we needed to be. I.G had just started, and Twitter had started in 2009. All indies were signing up.
“I have been writing, recording and producing music with XBlankson, an amazing, on the bubble, international recording artist out of the country of Ghana, for a few years now. We have a full music project coming out, as I am currently embarking on the African marketplace. I am really upset that Instagram is giving me such a tough time getting back into my account, I have so much tied to the release of my new record right now”.
“My new record “Remind Me” featuring XBlankson, was scheduled to be visually released on Instagram two weeks ago, along with several live chats with XBlankson while in his hometown of Accra, Ghana. I am very upset that this is happening with Instagram because it’s ruining our timelines and scheduled promotions. XBlankson is also 5 hours ahead in Africa, all of our live interactions through Instagram were planned very finely, now we are confronted with this major halt and have to wait to do them. I’m very disappointed. The first week that a record is out is important!” TRAEDONYA! says.
I do not understand Instagram not having a quicker solution construct in place due to the enormity of the platform. Not being able to market our new single via her Instagram page has been a tremendous negative. We have noted the importance during the story but will go very direct here with this statement coming up. Instagram is considered the MTV of this time for the music industry. What #MTV was for the music industry in the 80’s - 00’s……Instagram and Tik Tok have replaced it. Independent artists have many strikes against them in this new ‘‘attention network economy’’ that the #technologists have given us. Artist and indie labels will probably not have an on-site hacker on their team. We are always overwhelmed and understaffed but we love what we do. We grind on passion and tightly focused energy bursts. The hackers are pathetic because they are picking on and targeting indie artists, attempting to get ransom money.
I.G finally did get in touch with us because of persistence! TRAEDONYA! also did two Facebook lives talking about the incident. Now here is where it gets funny! The hackers got hacked themselves because Instagram has taken back over the site! The hackers are now locked out! The jokes keep coming. They are now saying to TRAEDONYA! that they can’t get into the page! You can’t make this up. Now everyone is locked out. The hackers have communicating with TRAEDONYA! like they have a relationship! This is like some reverse ‘‘Stockholm Syndrome’’! I always say if you hang around long enough you will see much more that you couldn’t imagine. I am so glad that Instagram locked out the hackers. A wrong doesn’t make a right!
I am monitoring my email to hear back from Instagram! I expected so much more from them. How could you not have a much more fluid department and pro-active department to handle situations like this? I would have definitely thought so. They must know the statistics that were quoted in the beginning of this piece. They must know that the majority of people are ill equipped to deal with this type of situation. they must know that the masses are not hackers. They know of hackers because I would think Facebook has to have some White hat hackers working for them. While we wait on this our I.G promotion plans are still on hold. Our critical first week numbers were hindered by this hacking. As of June 2021, Instagram had over one billion accounts. They must know hackers are targeting their platform!!
In closing, why are hackers picking on the indie artists? I will assume they figure easy pickings. We have sent the evidence of the hackers to Facebook/Instagram as requested, yet we are on hold and have to jump through hoops. They are victimizing the victim. You can see below, the interaction with Instagram. I felt that with the evidence things would move quicker but I guess not. People put in tons of hours on their platform they have the resources to have a proper department for this! It just shows to me that we are just users! That the human is the product. It shows that the users are not considered important because when they get hacked a very lackluster response takes place. Tony Ozier story is incorrigible and TRAEDONYA! has a hack story that is still playing out. All of the users are feeding Instagram’s algorithm as ‘‘unpaid employers’’ of Instagram. Without all of the keystrokes from the many users Instagram would come to a screeching holt. The algorithm would not be fed 24/7 by the global mass of users. This is why Facebook is placing a new undersea cable around the continent of Africa! They need to get all of Africa’s 1.3 billion feeding their platforms which is the real story here.
Here is an idea that these companies could do, they could do a disclaimer like this:
The probability of you getting hacked is very likely based on the statistics available. Please be aware and careful with what you post and make available on our site/platform. We do our best to make it secure, but internet security can never be considered one hundred percent. Please be conscious and aware of this.
I am making a personal plea to spread this story around. Share it on all of your socials please. This is a grass roots effort we are doing here. The indie artist needs to be acknowledged as being an important part of the digital eco system. If anyone can assist in getting this story to old media, please do! Thank you and cheers to all. Now what will your mind allow you to do.