The personal information of millions of Instagram influencers, but also brands and stars, leaked on the Internet. They were available on a server that was not protected by a password. In total, data of nearly 50 million accounts were accessed.
Facebook is facing a new scandal around privacy, after the recent flaw in WhatsApp that was used to install spyware. This time, the problem is Instagram, a social network sharing photos he bought. The personal data of millions of influencers, celebrities, and brands on this network have leaked on the web, through an unsecured database.
Security researcher Anurag Sen discovered the latter, and the TechCrunch site revealed the case. The database, which was not password protected and therefore accessible to everyone, was hosted on Amazon Web Services. It contained information on more than 49 million accounts. Some data was public, such as their profile picture, their bio, or the number of followers, but others were private as the e-mail address and phone number.
Data collected by a marketing firm
The fault lies with an Indian marketing firm Chatterbox, which pays the network personalities for the placement of brands. The firm had included a popularity score in its database, which would appear to be used to determine the compensation for each ad.
Facebook has reportedly investigated whether this information comes directly from Instagram or other sources, and asked Chatterbox where the data came from and how it was made public. Once again, Mark Zuckerberg ‘s network is at the heart of the business or personal data operated by a firm specializing in marketing. And this time, without any protection.