Hackers managed to deceive goal Support bot powered by AI to allow them to take care of a number of instagram accounts, including some high-profile ones. This included accounts belonging to the White House, the US Space Force, and security researcher Jane Wong.
On a more positive note, the social network is experimenting with a way to prevent teenage users from repeatedly exposing themselves to content that could affect their mental health…
In one of those “you can’t get it back” moments, hackers managed to trick Meta’s AI support chatbot into allowing them to perform password resets on other people’s Instagram accounts. The attack method was childishly simple.
- They started a password reset process
- When asked to choose a method, they selected Meta AI Support Assistant
- They asked the chatbot to add a new email address to the account.
- He did so without hesitation, even though they were not logged into that account.
- The chatbot sent a code to the new email address.
- They used that code to change the password.
- This process also logged out the account owner from all of their devices.
Dark Web Informer posted a video of the exploit in action.
TechCrunch reports that the victims included some high-profile Instagram accounts.
The compromised accounts include the Obama-era White House Instagram handle, which appears to have been inactive since 2017; and the account of US Space Force Chief Master Sergeant John Bentivegna. Security researcher Jane Wong said her Instagram account was also hijacked.
Meta has now blocked the attack method.
New Instagram protections for teens
On a more positive note, Meta has been experimenting with new protection for accounts owned by teens aimed at limiting exposure to content that may be harmful to their mental health. The company says The experiment was successful and is now being implemented globally.
We recognize that some content, such as posts about nutrition, weight lifting, or coping with anxiety, can be helpful, but it should be balanced with other types of content rather than displayed repeatedly. That’s why we’re testing ways to limit teens from seeing too many such posts at once, including in Explore, Feed, and Reels.
Meta released last month a new iPhone app and Instagram feature for ephemeral sharing, as well as Facebook Plus and Instagram Plus Subscriptions.
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