Russian hackers target Britney Spears’ iconic Instagram
By Joshua Haigh
Britney Spears has reportedly been targeted by Russian hackers.
The pop princess has become synonymous with her Instagram over the past few years, where she shares an array of videos, selfies and bible memes that entertain millions.
However, a security firm has claimed that one of the star’s posts, made back in February, was linked to a virus that tried to steal personal data from people’s computers after an account posted a comment with a link under the image.
“This comment was posted on February 6, while the original photo was posted in early January,” security expert Jean-Ian Boutin explained in a blog post.
“The extension uses a bit.ly URL to reach its C&C, but the URL path is nowhere to be found in the extension code. In fact, it will obtain this path by using comments posted on a specific Instagram post.”
Thankfully, only 17 of Britney’s fans clicked the offending link, meaning it went mostly unnoticed.
“However, this is quite a low number and might indicate that it was only a test run, added Boutin.