Instagram refutes widespread data leak claims

BleepingComputer reports that Instagram has refuted allegations that information from over 17 million accounts has been compromised, as it addressed a security issue that was exploited to facilitate a mass delivery of password reset emails.

"We want to reassure everyone there was no breach of our systems and people's Instagram accounts remain secure. People can disregard these emails and we apologize for any confusion this may have caused," said a Meta spokesperson.

Such a denial from Meta comes after a data trove purportedly obtained from an API leak in 2024 that contained Instagram account profiles, including usernames, names, phone numbers, physical and email addresses, and Instagram IDs, was leaked across various hacking forums. Additional analysis revealed the exposed data to have been procured from an API scraping incident in 2022, cybersecurity experts say.

While Meta rejected any untoward API incidents in 2022 and 2024, Instagram had data from six million accounts compromised following an API scraping event nine years ago.