Instagram has resolved a security issue that allowed several users’ accounts to get hacked. The attack appeared to rely on tricking Meta’s own AI-powered support chatbot into granting access to a victim’s account. The compromised accounts include the Instagram handle for the Obama-era White House, which appears to have been inactive since 2017; and the account of the U.S. Space Force’s chief master sergeant John Bentinvegna.
Commenting on this news is Dan Moore, Sr. Director, CIAM Strategy & Identity Standards atFusionAuth:
“This is a great illustration of why AI agent authorization is the harder, and more critical, problem than authentication. Meta’s bot verified nothing about who was asking; it just helpfully did what it was told to do, up to and including sending the attacker email a confirmation code to make sure the new email address was valid. The industry is pretty focused on keeping AI from saying bad things. That’s fine, as long as we don’t completely overlook whether AI should be allowed to do what it’s trying to do.”
While AI can go both ways, we need to focus on what it can do. And focus on what it can’t do.
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This entry was posted on June 2, 2026 at 9:01 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Hacked. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Hackers hijacked Instagram accounts by tricking Meta AI support chatbot into granting access
Instagram has resolved a security issue that allowed several users’ accounts to get hacked. The attack appeared to rely on tricking Meta’s own AI-powered support chatbot into granting access to a victim’s account. The compromised accounts include the Instagram handle for the Obama-era White House, which appears to have been inactive since 2017; and the account of the U.S. Space Force’s chief master sergeant John Bentinvegna.
Commenting on this news is Dan Moore, Sr. Director, CIAM Strategy & Identity Standards atFusionAuth:
“This is a great illustration of why AI agent authorization is the harder, and more critical, problem than authentication. Meta’s bot verified nothing about who was asking; it just helpfully did what it was told to do, up to and including sending the attacker email a confirmation code to make sure the new email address was valid. The industry is pretty focused on keeping AI from saying bad things. That’s fine, as long as we don’t completely overlook whether AI should be allowed to do what it’s trying to do.”
While AI can go both ways, we need to focus on what it can do. And focus on what it can’t do.
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This entry was posted on June 2, 2026 at 9:01 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Hacked. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.