Millions of Instagram users’ data leaked, company probing

After Facebook that is battling several data breaches, itsphoto-sharing service Instagram saw itself in trouble after personal data ofmillions of celebrities and influencers were allegedly exposed on its platformin a massive database that was traced to Mumbai-based social media marketingfirm Chtrbox.

The database contained 49 million records of severalhigh-profile influencers, including prominent food bloggers, celebrities andother social media influencers, TechCrunch reported it first late Monday.

   

“Each record contained public data, including bio,profile picture, number of followers they have, location and private contactinformation,” the report claimed.

On Tuesday, an Instagram spokesperson said they wereinvestigating whether a third party improperly stored Instagram data, inviolation of its policies.

“It’s also not clear whether the phone numbers andemails in Chtrbox’s database came from Instagram,” an InstagramSpokesperson told IANS.

“Regardless, the possibility of third partiesmishandling user data is something we take seriously, which is why we’requickly working to understand what happened,” said the company.

According to the report, “Chtrbox pulled the databaseoffline”.

Chtrbox is a web development company which pays to socialmedia influencers to promote content.

It describes itself as a platform for brands to collaboratewith influential social media characters in India.

Security researcher Anurag Sen had first discovered thedatabase.

In 2017, a bug in Instagram led to the leak of personaldetails of more than 6 million celebrity users that included Taylor Swift andKim Kardashian.

The stolen informated was later dumped into a database andreportedly sold for $10 per record via Bitcoins.

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