Last night, Instagram alerted users that there had been a security breach which may have exposed the contacts of some ‘high-profile’ users. This report comes only two days after Selena Gomez’s account was hacked but it remains unclear as to whether the two events are related.
The company says that this breach has revealed the email addresses and phone numbers of each account but passwords were kept safe. According to the social network, a bug in the API was the cause of the hack and the site has encouraged users to “be vigilant” about the security of their account and to act with caution if they receive unrecognized calls, text or emails.
As of yet, the site has not released which accounts were targeted by the breach but that the API glitch made it possible for the hacker to obtain code that contained the personal information of the “high-profile” users.
“We recently discovered that one or more individuals obtained unlawful access to a number of high-profile Instagram users’ contact information – specifically email address and phone number — by exploiting a bug in an Instagram API,” a rep said in a statement.
“Our main concern is for the safety and security of our community,” Instagram said. “As always, we encourage people to be vigilant about the security of their account and exercise caution if they encounter any suspicious activity such as unrecognized incoming calls, texts and emails.”
The affected accounts have all been alerted while other users have been encouraged to look over their Security Tips webpage that explains two-factor authentication and further security measures.
