You’re probably like us: we really like it when we delete content. This is even more true when it comes to social networks. Whether it’s a message, a video, or a photo, when content gets a little too embarrassing, making sure it’s deleted becomes a necessity. Imagine you’ve deleted photos from your Instagram account and then accidentally discovered them. that they don’t haveAnd this has been going on for a very long time.
This is what happened to independent computer security researcher Saugat Pokharel. The latter used the tool offered by Instagram, which allows you to download it. archive of all content of your account. And to his surprise, he discovered that some of the photos were not deleted after all, despite having been deleted over a year ago! The photos were still stored on the app’s servers without anyone knowing.
A bug from 2018 that was only fixed in 2020
The bug was not only related to photos, but also to private messages shared on the social network. It is clear that the researcher contacted Instagram to inform the service of the bug. Then we In October 2019.And this is just at the beginning August 2020 TechCrunch, who had the opportunity to speak with Saugat Pokharel, reported that this flaw has been fixed.
At the end of this interview, our colleagues contacted Instagram to confirm the existence (and elimination) of the bug. This flaw is due to the implementation of the archive download service that Instagram was forced to install later. Implementation of GDPR in 2018European law on personal data. The social network adds that no abuse has been recorded on the service. This means that no archive with deleted photos has been uploaded by anyone other than the owner.
The researcher was paid for discovering this flaw 6000 dollars As part of a bug hunting program set up by Instagram. Note that Twitter has also fallen victim to a similar bug, allowing users to upload archives of long-deleted messages, even those from accounts that have since been deleted.
Source : TechCrunch
