A computer security researcher discovered that content deleted from Instagram was still in the archives. A bug that the social network finally corrected nine months later.
On a social network, when you ask to delete content, you have the right to expect that it will be completely deleted from the servers and not only become invisible to yourself or to other members. And yet, in the case ofInstagram, deleting photos or private messages was only done publicly.
This is indeed what computer security researcher Saugat Pokharel discovered. As the site reports TechCrunch, Instagram did not erase private messages and photographs from its servers within 90 days as claimed by the social network: “Instagram did not erase my data, even when I deleted it on my side”.
After downloading all the data associated with his profile, thanks to the functionality implemented in 2018 following the implementation of the RGPD, Saugat Pokharel has, in fact, discovered that certain data, although deleted more than five years ago, was still present in its activity history. Therefore, if they were not visible to him or other Instagram users, the data could still be used by the Facebook subsidiary, in particular for the purpose of offering it more targeted advertising.
A bug finally fixed nine months after its discovery
This problem was reported in October 2019 by the computer security researcher and has finally been corrected. Saugat Pokharel has also received a bonus of 6,000 dollars for the discovery of this bug, under the Facebook bug hunter program. However, it took nine months for Instagram to correct the error, as the researcher indicates. in a Medium post : “Unfortunately, the Coronavirus pandemic has exploded around the world, which has mainly affected the United States. So the correction was postponed for a long time. It was not until July 7, 2020 that I received the message confirming the correction ».
For his part, questioned by TechCrunch, Instagram explains that this bug does not appear to have been used for malicious purposes: “The researcher discovered an issue where deleted Instagram images and messages were copied into the news if the tool was used “Download your information”. We fixed the problem and found no evidence of abuse. We thank the researcher for reporting this problem to us ”.
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