Instagram Breach Incident Score: Analysis & Impact (MALINS1768030474)

In this Rankiteo incident briefing, we review the Instagram breach identified under incident ID MALINS1768030474.

The analysis begins with a detailed overview of Instagram's information like the linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/instagram, the number of followers: 1398977, the industry type: Software Development and the number of employees: 47052 employees

After the initial compromise, the video explains how Rankiteo's incident engine converts technical details into a normalized incident score. The incident score before the incident was 692 and after the incident was 672 with a difference of -20 which is could be a good indicator of the severity and impact of the incident.

In the next step of the video, we will analyze in more details the incident and the impact it had on Instagram and their customers.

On 09 January 2025, Instagram (Meta) disclosed Data Breach issues under the banner "Instagram Data Breach and Unauthorized Password Reset Emails".

Malwarebytes discovered that hackers stole sensitive information of 17.5 million Instagram accounts, including usernames, physical addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses.

The disruption is felt across the environment, affecting Instagram user accounts, and exposing 17.5 million records, with nearly 17.5 million records at risk.

In response, and stakeholders are being briefed through No official statement from Meta/Instagram.

The case underscores how Ongoing, and recommending next steps like Users should manually reset passwords via the Instagram app and enable two-factor authentication, with advisories going out to stakeholders covering Ignore unauthorized password reset emails; manually reset passwords via the Instagram app and enable two-factor authentication.

Finally, we try to match the incident with the MITRE ATT&CK framework to see if there is any correlation between the incident and the MITRE ATT&CK framework.

The MITRE ATT&CK framework is a knowledge base of techniques and sub-techniques that are used to describe the tactics and procedures of cyber adversaries. It is a powerful tool for understanding the threat landscape and for developing effective defense strategies.

Rankiteo's analysis has identified several MITRE ATT&CK tactics and techniques associated with this incident, each with varying levels of confidence based on available evidence. Under the Initial Access tactic, the analysis identified Valid Accounts (T1078) with moderate to high confidence (80%), supported by evidence indicating hackers stole data from 17.5 million Instagram accounts and Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) with moderate confidence (60%), supported by evidence indicating potentially unauthorized access or technical error. Under the Credential Access tactic, the analysis identified Credentials from Password Stores (T1555) with moderate to high confidence (70%), supported by evidence indicating usernames, physical addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses compromised and Brute Force: Credential Stuffing (T1110.004) with moderate to high confidence (80%), supported by evidence indicating stolen data...could enable cybercriminals to launch credential-stuffing attacks. Under the Collection tactic, the analysis identified Data from Local System (T1005) with high confidence (90%), supported by evidence indicating 17.5 million records exposed including PII. Under the Exfiltration tactic, the analysis identified Exfiltration Over C2 Channel (T1041) with moderate to high confidence (80%), supported by evidence indicating data being sold on the dark web and Exfiltration Over Web Service (T1567) with moderate to high confidence (70%), supported by evidence indicating data is being sold on the dark web. Under the Impact tactic, the analysis identified Data Destruction (T1485) with lower confidence (30%), supported by evidence indicating no details on malware’s origin or extent of breach and Disk Wipe: Disk Structure Wipe (T1561.002) with lower confidence (20%), supported by evidence indicating no evidence of data destruction. Under the Defense Evasion tactic, the analysis identified Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify Tools (T1562.001) with moderate confidence (50%), supported by evidence indicating reset notifications missing from Instagram security logs. These correlations help security teams understand the attack chain and develop appropriate defensive measures based on the observed tactics and techniques.