For today’s influencers and celebrities, visibility is a double-edged sword. The same content that grows your audience also expands your attack surface. Every livestream, podcast appearance, behind-the-scenes post, or branded collaboration unintentionally exposes pieces of your identity, routines, and digital life.

Criminals aren’t guessing passwords anymore. They’re using AI to synthesize your voice, scrape your digital history, map your online relationships, and infiltrate your accounts through the people around you.

Let’s break down the high-impact protections every influencer and public figure needs to know to halt—and prevent—the cyberattacks that damage careers.

How influencers & celebrities became prime targets in 2026

In recent months, public figures and influencers increasingly have become the target of cybercriminals. That’s because of their unique risk profile:

  • Massive digital footprints: Every interview, video clip, story, livestream, newsletter, and public comment is searchable, collectible, and usable as AI cyberattack training data.
  • Highly engaged audiences: Scammers can weaponize your fanbase as a means of fraud, impersonation, and phishing.
  • Distributed teams: Managers, assistants, editors, stylists, brand partners, and PR teams all touch your digital assets. One weak link = full compromise.
  • Valuable private content: Drafts, unreleased collaborations, DMs, home footage, financial documents, travel details—everything can be monetized, sold, or used for blackmail.

Real-world examples of influencer & celebrity cyberattacks

  • Influencer account takeovers: Frequently, creators with millions of followers on Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube lose control of accounts to hackers. The FBI has warned the visibility and trusted nature of verified accounts makes them desirable targets for scammers looking to spread malware to account followers at scale.  
  • Celebrity deepfake scams: AI-generated videos of celebrities (recently Taylor Swift, MrBeast, Scarlett Johansson, and many influencer accounts) have been used to push fake products and investment scams. In some cases, criminals even used AI voice clones to trick personal staff into sending money.
  • Home break-ins triggered by posts: Celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Rihanna have been targeted by burglars who used social media clues (posting patterns, reflections in windows, travel announcements) to know exactly when they weren’t home.
  • The iCloud celebrity leak: In this infamous widespread attack on female celebrities, attackers didn’t hack Apple—they hacked individual identity details. Using answers scraped from interviews and social media (pet names, birthdays, hometowns), they accessed iCloud accounts of dozens of female celebrities and leaked private photos and messages. 

These attacks have become even more advanced in 2026, as today’s attackers are using AI to automate these same identity-mining techniques at scale.

3 Emerging threats public figures must prepare for

In 2026, these are the infiltration tactics most influencers and celebrities should be aware of:

1. AI-driven identity attacks: Synthetic media is now the #1 rising threat for celebrities online. With only a few seconds of your voice, attackers can:

  • Impersonate you in messages
  • Request access resets
  • Trick brand partners into wiring funds
  • Produce deepfake ransom calls

2. Account takeovers through other channels: The “broken window” in an account takeover attack is rarely your main, public account. Instead, attackers first enter through other channels, like:

  • A forgotten email alias
  • A dormant social media manager login
  • An old sponsor portal
  • A shared Google Drive folder

3. Metadata leaks from your content: Attackers scrape all of this to build a predictive model of your life. Your content reveals more than you think:

  • Window reflections may show your street
  • A couch pattern can reveal your hotel
  • Posting times expose when you’re home or traveling
  • Digital firmware data in video files reveals device model, OS version, and vulnerabilities

How influencers & celebrities can protect accounts from attacks

These are the highest-impact actions public figures can take to address account vulnerabilities.

1. Create a secure “second layer” for account management

Think of your online identity like having two phones: one everyone sees, and one only you and your team use for safety. By keeping your public accounts separate from the private email and number that control them, you make it far harder for hackers to break in—even if your public-facing accounts are everywhere. 

To do this, establish two layers:

  1. Public layer: Your main social accounts, branded email addresses, fan-facing fan communication, anything the public sees and associates with you
  2. A second, “operational” layer: Unlisted email with no connection to your name, a phone number only used for multifactor authentication and account recovery, a backup device not stored at home

2. Lock down your accounts (and team accounts) with best practices

Your cybersecurity is only as strong as the least-trained person with access. All team members should follow:

3. Minimize home-based filming risks

If you film in your home—your home network must be secure. This is one of the biggest blind spots in data protection for influencers. To create a “home network fortress”:

  • Disable geotagged metadata on all devices
  • Avoid showing entrances, windows, security systems, or routers
  • Time-shift posts so attackers cannot track your presence in real time
  • Secure your network gear by minimizing router and firewall vulnerabilities
  • Password protect your Wi-Fi and ensure all network devices are updated with the most current security patches 
  • Create a guest Wi-Fi to segment your network access

4. Rotate access & permissions regularly

Most celebrity data leaks come from old access that was never removed.

Public careers evolve constantly—new assistants join, managers change, collaborations start and end. Each of these shifts creates new points of access to your digital world, and if you don’t keep track, old logins and shared folders can linger long after someone stops working with you.

Every time someone with access leaves, ensure:

  • Passwords are updated
  • All access is revoked
  • Cloud folder permissions are audited

5. Monitor your devices & accounts

Threats often appear long before you see them. Early detection lets you shut down impersonation, deepfake misuse, and account breaches before they harm your reputation or audience.

Consider professional monitoring for:

  • New impersonation accounts
  • Deepfake videos appearing on fringe platforms
  • Leaked credentials on the dark web
  • Identity data surfacing in breach repositories
  • Unusual login attempts from global locations

Additionally, consider data broker removal services, as they’re an effective means of reducing the amount of publicly-available personal information.

Influencers & celebrities: What to do if you suspect a breach

High-profile individuals should never “wait and see.” If anything feels off—act immediately.

  1. Change passwords, freeze password resets, revoke all shared access: These steps stop an active attacker from escalating privileges.
  2. Alert your inner circle: Use a verified, private channel—not email or text. Use identity verification services if you already have access to them. 
  3. Engage a digital protection service immediately: Containment is time-sensitive. Every hour matters.

How BlackCloak protects influencers & celebrities

BlackCloak delivers concierge personal cybersecurity built specifically for influencers, celebrities, and other highly visible individuals. We secure your entire digital footprint, including your personal devices, home networks, major accounts, cloud storage, and collaboration tools. These protections also extend to the people closest to you—managers, partners, and household members. We also safeguard your identity and likeness online, offering protection and/or monitoring for impersonation attempts, dark web exposures, and leaked credentials.

Our approach includes cleanup, but goes far beyond that with a proactive service. BlackCloak prevents breaches by eliminating the blind spots most public figures don’t even know exist, keeping your digital life safe, private, and resilient.

Contact our team today.