Instagram Privacy Flaw Exposes User Details (Again)

[HarryNyquist]

https://www.macrumors.com/2019/05/23/instagram-website-flaw-exposed-users-details/

 

Quote

A security researcher found a flaw in Instagram's website that caused thousands of users' email addresses and phone numbers to be exposed online for several weeks, it was revealed on Thursday. David Stier, a data scientist and business consultant, told CNET the website source code for some Instagram user profiles included the account holder's contact information whenever it loaded in a web browser. Although the contact information was available in Instagram's mobile app if users chose to reveal it in their profile, it was never displayed on the desktop version of the Instagram website, so it's unclear why the details were exposed.

 

The leaked contacts are said to have come from thousands of accounts belonging to private individuals, including minors, as well businesses and brands. Stier alerted Instagram to the problem shortly after discovering it in February, and the photo-focused social platform issued a patch in March. According to Stier, including the details in the source code could have let hackers scrape the data from the website relatively easily and use it to compile a database listing the contact information of thousands of Instagram users.

Of note: this is different than the breach Monday, and the breach in 2017.

 

And people call me crazy for not wanting to use anything remotely associated with Facebook. I can't imagine the mental hoops Zuckerberg must jump through to seriously say that Facebook is going to shift to be more privacy oriented, then has this happen over and over and over again. I also can't imagine anyone seriously using these services and thinking their information is secure.

[rcmaehl]

Darn I was too slow, regardless, Facebook and it's Subsidiaries are having too many data breaches too often. 

[Spotty]

3 minutes ago, rcmaehl said:

Darn I was too slow, regardless, Facebook and it's Subsidiaries are having too many data breaches too often. 

Don't worry, you can get the next one.

[YoFavRussian]

16 minutes ago, HarryNyquist said:

I also can't imagine anyone seriously using these services and thinking their information is secure.

I have these services, but I don't really use them. They wouldn't get anything worth much if they got into my account.

[Fnige]

[AkatsukiKun]

All they're gonna know is I'm a man of culture and I like plants, and my naming scheme for things haven't changed for 8 years.