Estonian musician Säm loses Facebook and Instagram accounts to hackers

Estonian musician Säm had his Facebook and Instagram accounts compromised last week. He later acknowledged that two-factor authentication would have prevented the incident, having mistakenly believed it was already enabled on his accounts.

Estonian musician Säm found himself locked out of both his Facebook and Instagram accounts last week after falling victim to a cyberattack. The incident left the artist without access to his social media presence, which is a key tool for musicians to connect with fans and promote their work.

In the aftermath of the breach, Säm reflected on what went wrong. He admitted that he had assumed two-factor authentication was active on his accounts — a common security feature that requires a second verification step beyond just a password. As it turned out, that extra layer of protection was not enabled, leaving his accounts vulnerable.

«I thought I had two-factor authentication turned on,» Säm said, acknowledging that the added security measure would likely have stopped the attackers from gaining access in the first place.

The case highlights a widespread issue with online account security, where users often overestimate how well-protected their accounts are. Cybersecurity experts consistently recommend enabling two-factor authentication on all social media platforms as a basic but highly effective safeguard against unauthorised access.

For public figures like musicians, losing control of social media accounts can have significant professional consequences, disrupting communication with fans, promotional activities, and potentially exposing followers to fraudulent content posted by the attackers.