Instagram admits a number “high-profile users” were hacked

A number of Instagram’s many “high-profile” accounts have been breached. The Facebook-owned company confirmed that hackers may have obtained the email addresses and phone numbers of affected users, but not their passwords.
It seems that a bug in Instagram’s API, which gives other apps and sites access to the service, was to blame for the incident. “At this point we believe this effort was targeted at high-profile users so, out of an abundance of caution, we are notifying our verified account holders of this issue,” said an Instagram spokesperson.
There’s still no word on exactly when the breach took place and how many users, verified or otherwise, were targeted. The company says that the issue has now been fixed and it is continuing to investigate the matter.
News of the breach arrived just days after Selena Gomez’s Instagram was hacked. Her account was quickly taken down on Monday after several nude photos of Justin Bieber were posted.
Gomez’s account quickly reappeared without the offending images. Boasting over 125 million followers, she is the most-followed person on Instagram.
It’s unclear whether there was any connection between the recent breach and the attack on Gomez’s account. As was the case with the famed ‘ fappening ’ incidents, the singer may have fallen victim to a phishing scam that tricked her into revealing login credentials.