TechCrunch is in the business of keeping the internet abreast of the latest developments in the tech industry. Three hours ago, they published an update regarding a recent breach of security on the Facebook server. It was initially reported that tens of thousands of Instagram accounts synched through Facebook were compromised in the attack. Turns out, the number of affected users is actually in the millions.
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"Since this post was published, we discovered additional logs of Instagram passwords being stored in a readable format," TC's Robert Whitaker stated in the update. "We now estimate that this issue impacted millions of Instagram users. We will be notifying these users as we did the others. Our investigation has determined that these stored passwords were not internally abused or improperly accessed."
Facebook first perceived the threat during a "routine security review" in the month of January. Soon after coming to grips with the situation, Facebook admins issued a warning to the userbase urging them to change their passwords immediately. They also suggested using a password-generating app or FB's very own "difficulty meter."
Log-in to your account through Instagram's desktop version, track back to settings in the top right corner, and you'll see just how easy it is to view tons of personal information, like contact lists and phone numbers. Beware, social networking is a fairly coordinated experience. More often than not convenience culture rears its ugly end.