Facebook is currently probing Instagram, its photo-sharing app to uncover how contact details of almost 50 million influencers were compromised. Their personal information including email and phone numbers were found online in an unguarded database.
The social network said that it was working to uncover the details of the compromise. It said in a statement.
“We’re looking into the issue to understand if the data described- including email and phone numbers- was from Instagram or from other sources. We’re also inquiring with Chtrbox to understand where this data came from and how it became publicly available.”
Tech companies such as Google and Yahoo have suffered a similar occurence. It’s almost like a norm with tech companies. Google admitted that phishing attacks were a great threat to users of its platform. About 12 million Gmail accounts were compromised via phishing. Phishing is a method employed by hackers to trick you into giving them your personal information such as your passwords or phone numbers.
An epic history data breach occurred with Yahoo mail; all 3b accounts were compromised. Names, passwords and email addresses, except financial information were hacked, yahoo had announced.
About 50 million Facebook users had their personal information compromised for a marketing purpose which resulted in a heated scandal. Facebook blamed it on a third party company, Cambridge Analytica.
TechCrunch reported that the leaked personal information also included the location of the users.
This loophole was discovered by an Indian researcher who alerted the tech site. The database was protected by Amazon server but had no password.
This development is quite similar to the Cambridge Analytica’s case which harvested information to suit a particular candidate during the US election. Chatrbox is a marketing firm; unarguably, it can be deduced that information harvested or gathered was for business purposes.
The marketing firm is yet to respond to the latest claims, but has removed the database online. Harvesting users’ information violates the policies of social networks and attracts huge fines.
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