Security News

Meta Fined €91 Million for Storing Millions of Facebook and Instagram Passwords in Plaintext
2024-09-30 06:12

The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has fined Meta €91 million ($101.56 million) as part of a probe into a security lapse in March 2019, when the company disclosed that it had mistakenly...

Meta to Train AI Models Using Public U.K. Facebook and Instagram Posts
2024-09-17 11:56

Meta has announced that it will begin training its artificial intelligence (AI) systems using public content shared by adult users across Facebook and Instagram in the U.K. in the coming months....

Meta nukes massive Instagram sextortion network of 63,000 accounts
2024-07-25 16:54

Meta has removed 63,000 Instagram accounts from Nigeria that were involved in sextortion scams, including a coordinated network of 2,500 accounts linked to 20 individuals targeting primarily adult men in the United States. The social media giant said these accounts are linked to an organized cybercrime group called 'Yahoo Boys,' that has recently increased its operational volume.

Meta Removes 63,000 Instagram Accounts Linked to Nigerian Sextortion Scams
2024-07-25 10:16

Meta Platforms on Wednesday said it took steps to remove around 63,000 Instagram accounts in Nigeria that were found to target people with financial sextortion scams. In cases where some of these accounts attempted to target minors, Meta said it reported them to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Malicious Android Apps Pose as Google, Instagram, WhatsApp, to Steal Credentials
2024-05-10 10:21

Malicious Android apps masquerading as Google, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and X (formerly Twitter) have been observed to steal users' credentials from compromised devices. "This malware uses...

Ukraine Arrests Trio for Hijacking Over 100 Million Email and Instagram Accounts
2024-03-20 06:48

The Cyber Police of Ukraine has arrested three individuals on suspicion of hijacking more than 100 million emails and Instagram accounts from users across the world. The suspects, aged between 20...

Facebook and Instagram outage logs out users, passwords not working
2024-03-05 16:18

Facebook and Instagram users worldwide have been logged out of the sites and are having trouble logging in, receiving errors that their passwords are incorrect. The outage has caused people to automatically get logged out of Meta and for Instagram to no longer work, giving errors like "Couldn't refresh feed."

Meta won't remove fake Instagram profiles that are clearly catfishing
2024-01-20 12:19

The problem seems to have gotten much worse on Instagram over the past year with its parent company Meta falling short of effectively tackling fake profiles even when there are sufficient signs to indicate that a profile is misusing someone else's photos and identity. In our investigation, BleepingComputer observed instances where reporting fake profiles that impersonated an internet personality or a public figure concluded in such reports being dismissed after being processed, at least in part, through what appeared to be an automated decision-making system.

Meta won't remove fake Instagram profiles used for obvious catfishing
2024-01-20 12:19

The problem seems to have gotten much worse on Instagram over the past year with its parent company Meta falling short of effectively tackling fake profiles even when there are sufficient signs to indicate that a profile is misusing someone else's photos and identity. In our investigation, BleepingComputer observed instances where reporting fake profiles that impersonated an internet personality or a public figure concluded in such reports being dismissed after being processed, at least in part, through what appeared to be an automated decision-making system.

Facebook, Instagram now mine web links you visit to fuel targeted ads
2024-01-08 07:27

Link history stores records for 30 days, can be used to recall pages previously read, and excludes links sent in messages. Less prominently mentioned on help pages describing the feature on Facebook and Instagram is, of course, perhaps the real reason for the capability: "We may use link history information from our browser to improve your ads across Meta technologies."