Meta A.I. Bug Allowed Hackers to Take Over Instagram Accounts
The New York Times • • business
Key Points:
- In May, hackers exploited a bug in a Meta customer service tool that allowed them to reset passwords for Instagram accounts using an AI-powered chatbot, affecting roughly 34,000 accounts.
- Among the compromised accounts was the former White House Instagram for President Obama, which posted unusual and politically charged messages not authorized by his office.
- Approximately 20,000 accounts were breached, exposing personal data such as email addresses, phone numbers, and birth dates, while over 3,500 accounts had their usernames changed by hackers.
- The breach also affected notable accounts including SimpliSafe and a senior official in the Space Force, with hackers posting pro-Iran messages on the latter’s account.
- Meta has fixed the security flaw, secured the affected accounts, and stated it could not determine what information was viewed or stolen during the attack.