The top ten accounts most frequently compromised by hackers in the US
New research has revealed the accounts Americans are losing to hackers the most, with Facebook accounts coming out on top.
The study by online privacy experts VPN Central analyzed average monthly Google searches to see which platforms had the highest searches for hacking-related terms such as “hack”, “account hacked”, and “hacking”.
It found that Facebook accounts are most lost to hackers, with 67,940 hacking-related searches every month. Facebook has suffered several serious data breaches in recent years – in 2021, it was reported that a data breach on the site exposed the personal data of 530 million users.
Instagram takes second on the list, with the photo and video-sharing social network seeing 36,220 hacking-related monthly searches. Due to the number of accounts being hacked on the platform, a new hub was introduced in December of 2022, with several methods available for users to retrieve access to their hacked accounts.
Coming in third place is Spotify, as the first non-social media service to appear in the top ten, with 25,920 hacking-related searches every month. With around 456 million monthly active listeners as of 2023, the platform has also been hit by several data breaches, although less recent than other sites, with the last in December 2020.
Twitch takes fourth place on the list, with the live streaming service seeing 10,800 searches for hacking-related terms each month. While the platform offers a strict two-factor authentication service, this hasn’t stopped hackers from making their way into the site, with many high-profile live-streamers and general users being targeted.
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Rounding out the top five is Amazon, which attracts 6,170 hacking-related searches monthly. With the e-commerce site allowing users to make huge purchases, an account hack on the site can be devastating, as 2021 findings showed that Amazon hackers made $832,135 in just ten days.
| Rank | Platform | Hacking-related searches per month |
| 1 | 67,940 | |
| 2 | 36,220 | |
| 3 | Spotify | 25,920 |
| 4 | Twitch | 10,800 |
| 5 | Amazon | 6,170 |
| 6 | Snapchat | 6,100 |
| 7 | Coinbase | 5,900 |
| 8 | 5,190 | |
| 9 | Gmail | 4,920 |
| 10 | Microsoft | 4,000 |
Commenting on the findings, a spokesperson for VPNCentral said: “The variety of platforms and their purposes on the top ten highlights how much all kinds of accounts are being targeted and how it is important to protect all your passwords as much as possible. VPNs, in this case, can assist, with the added benefit of users being able to browse these sites and their connections with more privacy.”
The study was conducted by VPNCentral, a team of VPN experts and privacy advocates who strive every day to keep the public informed and up to date on everything that is VPN-related.
