Massive data leak exposes over 17.5 million Instagram accounts – How do password reset attacks work?

The Instagram data of more than 17.5 million users was exposed this week — triggering a barrage of ‘password reset attacks’. The attacks began on Friday night and multiple reports indicate the data is now circulating on dark web forums.

The incident was first flagged by cybersecurity researchers at Malwarebytes — who reportedly found the data during routine dark web monitoring efforts. It included usernames, full names, email addresses and phone numbers as well as various contact details including partial physical addresses. The group also warned that the scale of exposed data would significantly increase the risk of abuse.