A student from Jaipur named Neeraj Sharma was awarded 38 lakh rupees ($65,000) by the social media platform Instagram for preventing the hacking of hundreds of millions of user accounts.
According to reports, Sharma discovered a security flaw in Instagram that allowed any user to modify their profile picture without entering their username or password. Sharma informed Instagram and Facebook of this error, and once they verified his claims, he received Rs 38 lakh in compensation.
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According to him, “There was a problem on Fb’s Instagram that enabled the thumbnail for the reel to be modified from any account.”
Changing the user’s account is possible with simply the media ID, regardless of how secure the person’s password may be.
As of December of last year, I was always finding things to criticise about my Instagram profile. On the morning of January 31st, after much effort, I discovered Instagram’s (bug) error. When I saw this error on Instagram, I immediately notified Facebook, and three days later, I got a response. They wanted me to show them a demo,” he explained.
Changing the thumbnail took all of 5 minutes and Sharma showed it to them. His complaint was accepted, and on the evening of May 11, he received an email from Facebook letting him know he had been awarded a $45,000 reward (about Rs 35 lakh). Facebook also provided an additional $4,500 (around Rs 3 lakh) as compensation for the reward’s four-month delay in delivery.
