Meta · Instagram · White House · Iran · Ars Technica
Meta’s AI support chatbot proved unusually helpful to hackers looking to steal and resell notable Instagram accounts—the hackers
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Videos featuring the “shockingly easy” exploit have been circulating among Telegram groups for hackers and security researchers, according to 404 Media.
Key facts
- Both ZachXBT and Dark Web Informer also confirmed how hackers had targeted and resold particularly valuable Instagram accounts, including the short handles and with a “combined gray-market valuation
- Attackers simply had to use a VPN to approximately match their location to the target Instagram account’s region, begin a password reset process, and then ask Meta’s AI support chatbot to change
- Videos featuring the “shockingly easy” exploit have been circulating among Telegram groups for hackers and security researchers, according to 404 Media
- The Barack Obama White House account and the Chief Master Sergeant of Space Force’s account also posted pro-Iranian images and messages while they were temporarily compromised
Summary
Meta’s AI support chatbot proved unusually helpful to hackers looking to steal and resell notable Instagram accounts—the hackers simply asking the bot to change the accounts’ associated email addresses while using VPN to mask their true locations. Attackers simply had to use a VPN to approximately match their location to the target Instagram account’s region, begin a password reset process, and then ask Meta’s AI support chatbot to change the email address associated with the account, according to 404 Media. Neowin reported having the exploit as being “active in the wild for months, going as far back as February of this year, with hackers compromising thousands of accounts.” But the exploit seems to have gained more public notice in recent days with the compromise of high-profile accounts.