Instagram Hack: High-Profile Users Targeted In Data Breach

Instagram has confirmed that it has suffered a serious data breach. It's been revealed that hackers gained personal information from “high profile” Instagram users who have verified accounts.

Instagram says that hackers were able to get email addresses and phone numbers from some of the users impacted by this recent data breach. However, the Facebook-owned photo sharing service said that no passwords were obtained by the hackers.

“At this point we believe this effort was targeted at high-profile users so, out of an abundance of caution, we are notifying our verified account holders of this issue,” an Instagram spokesperson told Fortune. The company is now sending emails to users with verified accounts about the data breach.

Instagram says that hackers were able to gain access to verified users’ data through a software bug. The company says that it has already fixed the bug, but is continuing its investigation. Instagram is encouraging its users to be extra vigilant about the security of their accounts by being cautious in answering unrecognizable phone calls, texts and emails.

Instagram also recommends that users should start setting up two-factor authentication for their accounts, which can be accessed on the app’s settings. Users can also add an extra layer of security by changing their account passwords.

Unfortunately, Instagram didn’t give out any more details on the the supposed software bug, but what’s known for sure is that it’s related to the Instagram API. TechCrunch speculates that the data breach may have affected only a few dozen users and not hundreds, given Instagram’s quick action and that hackers were targeting high-profile accounts. Instagram declined to disclose which accounts were affected by the data breach, nor did it say how many were impacted.

Although the Instagram hackers were unable to obtain account passwords, the emails and phone numbers they were able to get could still be a problem. “With an email address and a telephone number, it's not difficult to cross reference information online to find out more about a target, even a celebrity,” privacy expert Jessy Irwin told CNN. “Because most accounts rely on phone numbers as a backup to get into an account or to grant access with a second factor, it would not be difficult for a criminal to break into an email account or to access phone backups, which are full of important information.”

This new Instagram data breach was disclosed just two days after Selena Gomez’s Instagram account was hacked on Monday. Gomez’s Instagram account was taken over by an unknown hacker who posted a nude picture of her ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber.

Gomez’s account was quickly taken down by her record label Interscope Records. The pop singer’s Instagram account was then revived later that same day with the nude photo already deleted. Instagram didn’t say if this recent data breach was related to Gomez’s hacked account, but it’s certainly not something the company wants shortly after the incident, as pointed out by Engadget.