Around 11 pm EST last night, Instagram users used their Twitter accounts to report about a hacking incident. Instagram is a picture-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service online. According to reports, snapshots of smoothies and fruits were automatically posted on users' timeline.
"Last night a small portion of our users experienced a spam incident where unwanted photos were posted from their accounts. Our security and spam team quickly took actions to secure the accounts involved, and the posted photos are being deleted," a representative from Instagram said.
From time to time, the images would be accompanied by texts that would indicate that the user is testing a new diet. Some users also said that they were locked out of their accounts following a reset of passwords. In June, Instagram underwent the same fruit attack and was prompted to ask its users to change their passwords.
Analysts said that cyber crime has been a problem in the corporate landscape for several years now. A recently published report said that the criminal activities online would cost the economy in the US US$100 billion each year. A new announcement from the government gave details on how more than 160 million consumers were affected by hacking schemes. Businesses like J.C. Penny and 7-eleven also fell victim of a US$300 million worth super-hack.
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