Spikerz Security

#Hollywood #loses $600M every #year to #social #media #attacks, with #stars #increasingly #targeted by #deepfake #scams, #account #hacks and #impersonation, according to #Spikerz #report tinyurl.com/yey4wa9b

If you run socials for a brand, run this quick audit before the end of the month: 1. Do former employees and agencies still have access to your social accounts? Kick them out. 2. Have you changed your PWs recently? Go do that. 3. Are impersonators posing as your brand? Report.

Man Utd captain Bruno Fernandes’ X account was hijacked, pushing crypto scams and tagging celebs. The blast radius was huge. Man Utd themselves posted to warn fans not to trust posts from their captain. Massive reach makes you a massive target. Lock down your account security.

Australian broadcaster @abcnews didn’t post porn. Their Facebook account was hacked. A single compromised staff account gave an attacker access to the brand page. When's the last time you checked if former employees still gave access to your brand accounts?

Verified badges were supposed to reduce impersonation. Instead, they taught attackers exactly what users trust. Predictable signals are easy to weaponize, and it takes more than a blue tick and 2FA to keep hackers from exploiting your brand, and your customers.

Soccer has a social media problem. Clubs and players are being targeted by hacks, impersonation, and coordinated abuse. Fake posts are pushing crypto scams. Abuse is spreading fast. Fans are losing money... and patience. Clubs, it's on you to protect your fans.

Most social media hacks don’t start with “advanced malware.” They start with a fake DM that looks legit, because it's been crafted with AI. Brand impersonation is winning because platforms still aren't taking identity theft seriously, leaving brands to clean up the mess.

AI influencers are being run at scale. A recent breach exposed a phone farm controlling hundreds of AI-generated accounts, promoting products without disclosure and pushing scams. Deception is becoming automated. It's time to upgrade your social media security stack.

The Super Bowl is more than the Big Game. It’s also a big target for hackers. In 2020, 15 NFL teams were hacked days before the event. 6 years later, sports brands are still getting hijacked to push scams. High attention = high risk. Protect your brand before the spotlight hits.

“Brand safety” isn’t only about where your ads appear. It’s about what appears in the comments under your ads. It's time for marketing teams to treat comment integrity as part of your brand safety program.

Brand social media managers talk about “trust” a lot. But impersonators steal it faster than any competitor can. Set weekly impersonation reviews: top 20 lookalikes + takedown workflow. Who owns it on your team?

A simple impersonation check for marketing teams: search your brand name and common misspellings on each platform once a week. It’s annoying. But it’s also how you catch fake accounts before they spread.

A good security habit for marketers: anytime you onboard a new tool or agency to your social media channels, add a calendar reminder for “remove admin access” on the contract end date. Most breaches happen because someone forgot to clean up.

Most marketing teams don’t know who still has access to the brand accounts. Former agency? Intern? Freelancer? That’s how “small” risks become big incidents. Do a 10-minute access audit once a month. You'll thank us later.

The most common way brands get hacked isn’t by some elite hacker. It’s a team member clicking a convincing link in a DM that says “verify your account” or “brand partnership request”. If your team handles DMs, you need a simple rule: never open links from strangers.

If you manage brand social accounts, you’re not “just posting.” You’re safeguarding an asset that could be used to scam your customers in minutes. Basic rule: treat social logins like finance logins. Tight access, strong authentication, constant awareness.

Quick social media security audit for 2026: ✅ Strong unique passwords across all platforms ✅ Account access reviewed to remove former employees and ex-vendors ✅ Keyword filters created for comments ✅ Suspicious logins monitored If you’re missing 2+… fix it today.

BREAKING: New findings by social media security company Spikerz have uncovered how gaming brands became prime targets for fraud in 2025, and they highlight the three most damaging scams of the year (@GamesBeat) Read more: gamesbeat.com/spikerz-wants-…

2025 has been the year of AI, and next year, it will only get more advanced. Now, anyone with a laptop or phone can easily create realistic phishing emails, harmful comments or brand impersonators in seconds, meaning the threat to brand security is at an all-time high.

If you still rely on 2FA as your only layer of protection, you're putting your brand at risk. Modern hacks can bypass traditional security measures, and lead to account takeovers and costly scams. It's time to bring your brand protection into the 21st century.