Meta AI was tricked into helping hackers hijack dozens of Instagram accounts

We live in the AI era, and even though some use cases for these countless new AI agents are questionable, support bots are one of the better ways to use AI. At least, so it seemed. In a quite ironic turn of events, Meta’s own AI bot helped hackers hijack many Instagram accounts, MacRumors reports.

Meta AI is changing email addresses associated with Instagram

The method is so simple it’s mind-boggling that such a vulnerability even exists. People started to report the issue over the weekend, with whole demonstrations of the necessary steps to get access to any Instagram account.In one instance, the hacker just asked Meta AI to change the email address of the targeted Instagram account, and the bot just obliged; no password or two-factor verification was needed.

The only thing required for the trick to work is apparently a VPN connection with a location close to the targeted account. Apparently, Meta AI verifies such requests by location. Meta is not only acknowledging this but also proudly states on its blog, “Our systems recognize the device you usually use and familiar locations better than ever.”

There were cases where Meta AI requested a selfie verification, which was easily bypassed using another AI to generate a picture of the targeted account owner.

Major Instagram accounts hijacked

There were some high-profile accounts stolen as well. Reportedly, the hackers were able to take control over accounts for Sephora, the Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force, researcher Jane Manchun Wong, developer Albert Renshaw who owned @albert, and the archived Barack Obama White House account.These are not trivial victims, and many other users have reported their accounts stolen as well.

Meta AI needs to tighten up security

Meta launched its AI support bot back in December last year, aiming to make things easer for Instagram users (and, of course, save some money from actual, human support agents).The bot can be used in various ways, including scam reports, getting information about the latest features, and crucially – resetting passwords.

The last one proved to be a weak point that hackers were able to exploit. Meta needs to tighten up security protocols.

What’s even more frustrating and also kind of ironic is that users with stolen accounts weren’t able to use the AI bot to get them back. There was no option to reach out to human support as well.

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