Surviving & Thriving in 2025: The Ultimate Cybersecurity Strategy for Content Creators & Influencers

2024 was a big year for content creators and influencers. AI generated freaky fakes were everywhere, anger over algorithm changes soared and micro-influencers became the next ‘big’ thing.

Sadly, as follower counts grew, so to, did the threat landscape and there are annoyingly no signs of this slowing.

I’m not into spreading fake news so it’s difficult to share credible stats on social media hacks due to the sheer number of users and inevitable under-reporting, however, perhaps the biggest player on the internet - Google, has reported that 20% of social accounts will be compromised at some point, and that I can eaaaaasily believe.

Why Influencers are Prime targets for Cyber Criminals

Cybersecurity for content creators is a particularly big deal on my priority list. Mainly because those with greater followings and significant platforms are more attractive targets due to their ability to, well, ‘influence’ their audience.

For example, as Instagram lurker, I’m way more likely to click a link that my favourite stylist has posted than a smaller account in my ‘requested messages’ on Instagram. With account takeover attacks, AI powered deep fakes and other cyber scaries, who’s to say that link isn’t malicious?

Furthermore, criminals know that influencers who have spent years building their platforms, multiple income streams and loyal communities, would be way more willing to pay a heavy ransom compared to those with smaller accounts.

Platform building takes a lot of time, effort and persistence, and for it to disappear or be exploited can be crushing.

Lastly, prevention is way better than cure. According to some reports, over 50,000 creator accounts on Instagram alone are hacked every year - not including all accounts as a whole. That’s one account 10 minutes.

You can therefore imagine how difficult it is to get help from the platform in recovering your account and there’s only so much cyber experts can do to help - other than mitigating the effects.

With this in mind lets look at what I suggest are content creators immediate priorities for the year ahead, and take a look at what we can learn from the last.

Key Trends in 2024

1. AI-Powered Social Engineering Attacks

Social engineering is the art and science of hacking human behaviour, usually in order to manipulate and exploit others.

The rise of sophisticated AI tools has dramatically transformed the social engineering and cybersecurity landscape, enabling cybercriminals to create highly convincing phishing emails that mimic legitimate authorities, contacts and opportunities and fool even the most careful of victims.

These AI-powered attacks often combine social engineering tactics with machine learning to analyse targets' behavior patterns and craft personalized scams that are increasingly difficult to detect.

2. Account Takeover (ATO) Attacks

In 2024, it was reported by security.org that 29% of people have experienced account takeover. These attacks often target multiple platforms simultaneously to maximise impact and ransom potential.

Cyber stress: Girl looking at phone defeated

3. Content Manipulation and Deepfakes

In 2024, deepfake videos targeting content creators and celebrities surged compared to 2023.

These AI-generated videos were primarily used in cryptocurrency scams, fake endorsements, and targeted harassment campaigns. Several high-profile cases involved deepfakes being used to spread misinformation or manipulate stock prices, with some creators reporting significant financial and reputational damage before the content could be removed.

The time to detect and remove a deepfake video can take days, during which they often reach million of views.

4. Ransomware Targeting Content Archives

Cloud storage containing creators' content has become a prime target, with ransomware attacks on content management systems. These attacks specifically target creators' video archives, raw footage, and scheduled content, often demanding substantial ransoms for file decryption.

The Impact

The financial impact can be significant. Reports on the average cost of a successful cyber attack on a professional content creator's account vary but can be significant once lost revenue, recovery costs and long term damage to the brand is accounted for.

Just as importantly, the emotional impact can be dramatic and is something nobody should go through alone.

The Impact of bad cybersecurity on content creators and influencers

Emerging Solutions

Multi-factor authentication adoption among creators is on the rise (woohoo!)
Content verification platforms using blockchain technology have seen an increase in adoption. Blockchain is a technology that creates permanent, tamper-proof records to verify and track digital content ownership, authenticity, and distribution across platforms.
Professional cybersecurity insurance for creators has developed and is becoming the norm

Predictions for 2025

Based on current trends and expert analysis, here are my key predictions for 2025:

AI-driven content authentication will become standard for major platforms, with platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube implementing automated systems to detect and flag manipulated content, verify creator identities, and authenticate original content through digital signatures and blockchain technology
Biometric security measures will be integrated into content management systems, including facial recognition for account access, fingerprint authentication for content publishing, and voice verification for live streaming. These measures will provide an additional layer of security beyond traditional passwords and help prevent unauthorised access to creator accounts
Decentralised content storage solutions will gain prominence, with creators increasingly adopting blockchain-based and distributed storage systems to protect their content from single points of failure, ensure data redundancy, and maintain control over their digital assets even if traditional platforms experience outages or security breaches
Platform-specific security certifications for creators will emerge, with major social networks introducing specialised training programs and verification badges for creators who complete cybersecurity courses. These certifications will likely include modules on account security, content protection, and threat detection, becoming a new standard for professional creators and potentially affecting brand partnership opportunities

Priority Areas for Content Creators in 2025

A videographer taking his CYBERSECURITY seriously

1. Security Infrastructure

Implement tiiight security measures including:

Regular security audits of all content platforms including checking account access settings and permissions; reviewing connected third-party apps and services; testing authentication methods and backup processes and scanning for unauthorized account activity
Professional password management systems that generate and store complex, unique passwords, enable secure password sharing across teams and support multi-factor authentication integration
Encrypted backup solutions that provide secure cloud storage with end-to-end encryption; enable easy recovery in case of device loss or failure and support versioning to restore previous content versions

2. Prioritise advanced authentication methods:

Biometric verification for account access: this is your unique physical characteristics to authenticate use, such as fingerprints, facial recognition, or voice patterns. It provides an additional layer of security beyond traditional passwords.
Hardware security keys for critical accounts: these are physical authentication devices that provide an extra layer of security for your online accounts. When logging in, you must physically connect or tap the security key in addition to entering your password. This makes it much harder for attackers to gain unauthorised access, even if they have your password.

3. Content Protection

Focus on protecting intellectual property:

Digital watermarking: A technique that embeds invisible identifying information into digital content (images, videos, etc.) to prove ownership and track unauthorised use. This digital signature remains intact even if the content is modified or shared across platforms.
Blockchain-based content verification: Adopt blockchain-based content verification to authenticate and track digital content. It helps to verify the authenticity and ownership; create a record of when content was created and track content distribution and usage across platforms
Regular content audits: Systematically reviewing and documenting all published content across platforms helps to identify potential unauthorised use, verify content integrity, and ensure all security measures remain effective. This includes checking watermarks, metadata, and tracking any unauthorised duplicates or modifications.

This has been a whopper of a blog but I hope it gives you a little head start on your security this year. I appreciate you have a lot to juggle in your online world but success in 2025 will depend not just on the quality of your content but on robust security measures that keeps it safe and thriving. Therefore I urge you to treat cybersecurity as a fundamental aspect of your business strategy, not just a bullet on your long to-do list.