TechCrunch reports that a huge database containing contact info “of millions of Instagram influencers, celebrities and brand accounts” was found Online by security researcher Anurag Sen.
The report added that TC then conducted a search & traced the database back to a Mumbai-based social media marketing firm Chtrbox. The latter pays influencers to post sponsored content on their accounts.
Every record in the database contained a score that calculated the worth of each account, based off the number of followers, engagement, reach, likes & shares they had. This was used as a metric to determine how much the company could pay an Instagram celebrity or influencer to post an ad. The company, said TC, did not respond to its repeated queries.
Coincidentally, on May 10, this Website had reported a security breach involving the records of millions of Indians by another researcher Bob Diachenko. Although the Indian authorities were alerted by him, it was not known who the database belonged to. Could this be the link since both databases were on Amazon Web Services? Are these the same cases or different?
More of the story here.
Image Credit: Twitter
