Before the tech giants could act the app had already become the top-grossing app in Apple’s App Store and had been downloaded over 500,000 times from Google Play, writes Liam Tung for ZD Net.
Advertisement
What’s remarkable is InstaAgent’s popularity: it’s the number one app in its category in the United Kingdom and Canada, and also decently popular in the U.S. and Europe, with hundreds of thousands of downloads.
That’s not all the app is capable of and it seems users have more to worry about than who’s been sneaking on their pictures of sandwiches.
David also found that the app can post images on your IG account without permission, and he believes that it’s been downloaded around half a million times.
In terms of iOS App Store malware, Apple last had a high profile incident in September, when Chinese developers used a hacked version of Xcode (Apple’s development tool) to create and upload apps.
And if you installed InstaAgent, it’s time to change your Instagram password.
Instagram told the BBC: “These types of third-party apps violate our platform guidelines and are likely an attempt to get access to a user’s accounts in an inappropriate way”.
In comparison, Google’s approach to reviewing apps for security has historically been more hands off.
In Germany it was among the top 30 most popular apps. This is especially true for users who use the same password for their bank accounts. After that, preventative measure should be the treatment going forward: stop trusting your passwords with third-party apps.
Advertisement
Instagram users who used the app should therefore consider their Instagram passwords compromised. Most importantly, users who have downloaded InstaAgent need to change their passwords. We also highly recommend a password management app like 1Password, which can generate unique complex passwords for each and every site or service.
