Meta denies viral claims about data breach affecting 17.5 million Instagram users, but change your password anyway
Millions of Instagram users panicked over sudden password reset emails and claims that 17.5 million user data records had been stolen, while Meta denied any breach allegations. Millions of Instagram users received emails urging them to reset passwords. Many instantly linked the requests to the reported Instagram data breach by Malwarebytes last week. The claims originated from a post on the notorious hacker forum Breach Forums, which advertised a dump titled “INSTAGRAM.COM 17M GLOBAL USERS – 2024 API LEAK.” The seller claimed the dataset contained data on 17.5 million Instagram users, packaged in JSON and TXT files. According to the post, the stolen data included full names, email addresses, phone numbers, and partial location data. However, on Saturday, Meta issued a denial, explaining that the reset emails are related to an issue with a third-party service that allowed users to generate password reset emails. The company claimed that it had fixed the problem, but denied that th...