Internet may have its many perks and advantages but on the social media one always have that fear of having their information leaked to third parties. Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram aren’t helping the cause of security either. A Security researcher Saugat Pokharel has discovered a bug which is capable of exposing an Instagram user’s personal information to attackers on the internet, which is a major cause of concern for users who have accounts on these platforms and use it daily. The bug was immediately reported to the security team of Facebook, however, it was still exploitable by business accounts which were given special access thanks to a new feature that Facebook was reportedly testing.
In contrast, the company were in the mix of testing an experimental feature which would enable business accounts to link to Instagram and view someone’s alleged private information by using the Business Suite tool. All the attackers had to do to serve their cause was to simply send a direct message on Instagram to call up the information. This would in turn show them a person’s additional information alongside any direct messages. In addition to things, researchers have discovered that it was possible to hack private accounts or accounts which do not accept direct messages from the public. If the account would not accept any direct messages, they would not even get a notification that their personal information has been viewed by any third parties.
Facebook responded to this discovery swiftly by claiming that the bug was only accessible for a short time and that it was because of a new feature which they were testing. After investigation, Facebook also told their users that no one had abused or exploited the information which was obtained by Instagram users’ personal information. Researcher Pokharel also said that Facebook fixed the issue within hours of being notified.
