Instagram Security Flaw Allowed Marketing Firm Collect Users' Personal Data

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If you are an Instagram user, you might not appreciate the piece of information you're about to receive. A 'lax oversight' on the platform leveraged by a San Francisco-based startup has led to a data breach of millions of users. This is a major security breach since the Cambridge Analytica scandal. An investigation by Business Insider revealed the new data breach. Following are the details:

 
Instagram Security Flaw Allowed Marketing Firm Collect Users' Data

How The Breach Came Into Light?

 

The social media giant sent a cease and desist letter to the marketing firm HYP3R which was confirmed by one of the company's advertising partners. While Instagram has banned the HYP3R agency from its platform, it could not save the data collected by them over the past year.

There is no information on the number of users affected by the data theft, but the company is still investigating the matter. The marketing firm collected the data from public profiles, specifically using the Stories that disappear in 24 hours.

What HYP3R primarily did was to save users' Stories at specific locations such as hotels, and gyms. That's not it; the firm also collected data such as bio, followers from public profiles using image-recognition software to see what's happening in the images.

Should You Be Concerned?

With data breaches happening every now and then, the need for a secure platform are more than ever. This is not the first time that Facebook is under the radar for privacy threat. The Cambridge Analytica scandal was one of the worst breaches in the history. And the latest report is quite concerning as well.

It seems that the social media giant is experiencing a tough time keeping the users protected from privacy threats. We would suggest you take extra precautions while surfing through Instagram or other social media platforms and stay away from unknown web links.

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