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Instagram says hackers swiped contact info for verified users

They don't have passwords, but it's still a huge breach.

Instagram just suffered a potentially serious (and this time, very real) data breach. The social photo service is sending out alerts that intruders got access to the phone numbers and email addresses for a number of "high-profile" users by exploiting a bug in Instagram's programming interface. The attackers didn't obtain passwords, and Instagram says it has already fixed the bug, but it's warning all verified users out of an "abundance of caution."

We've asked Instagram for more details and will let you know if it can shed more light on the situation, such as when the breach happened and how many people were targeted. It's also unclear if this is related to the recent hack that compromised Selena Gomez's Instagram account.

The breach isn't as severe as it could have been, but it's definitely not what Instagram needs in the wake of the Gomez incident. The social network is growing very rapidly, but it might run into trouble if big-name users are hesitant to stick around over security fears. The apparently prompt fix suggests that Instagram is at least on top of these issues when they do come up.