Instagram’s ‘Download Your Data’ Feature Exposed Multiple User Passwords

It is likely that Facebook once again fails to protect its users. Last week, Instagram, a Facebook-owned social network, had a bug and revealed users’ passwords via a data privacy feature.

In particular, Instagram launched the “Download Your Data” feature as Europe has implemented GDPR and that’s where the lapse was spotted. The feature allows users to see and download the data that Instagram has on them and uses for advertising. Unluckily, it is likely that there is a bug in this feature which exposed passwords of several users as plaintext.

Facebook-owned social network admitted that the bug does exist, saying that a few people using the feature to download their information also had their passwords included in the URL as plain text. As if that were not enough, the exposed passwords were later stored on Facebook’s servers.

Instagram remained claiming that the bug only exposed a small number of user passwords and the company immediately fixed the glitch internally when it discovered the incident. In addition, the company sent warnings to users who were affected by the bug and encouraged them to change their passwords, as well as to delete their browsing history. The data stored on Facebook’s servers due to the bug was also removed.

Instagram, IG in short, is a social networking service that focuses on sharing photos and videos. The social network, which is owned by Facebook, was made by Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom, and introduced in 2010. The app was first exclusively launched on iOS, and the Android version came out six months later. After its 2010 launch, the social network got popular quickly. It had its first one million users in just two months, ten million in one year and by September 2017, it had already involved 800 million users. In April 2012, Facebook acquired Instagram at a price of around $1 billion in stock and cash.

Nevertheless, this password incident only adds up to Facebook’s increasing privacy scandals.