Notes

After Google and Apple Bans InstaAgent's Founder Apologizes

InstaAgent's creator apologises after Apple and Google ban by Leo Kelion Technology desk editor



12 November 2015



The creator of an app that sends spam to people's Instagram accounts has admitted to making "a horrible error".



Turker Bayram's InstaAgent app was pulled from Apple and Google's stores after another developer flagged it was copying users' names and passwords for the photo-sharing service.



However, even though InstaAgent used logins, Mr Bayram does not deny saving them.



One expert suggested that the sending of passwords to an unidentified server was "highly unusual".



"Not an ideal idea"



InstaAgent had topped the free app charts in several countries, including the UK prior to being blocked.



The software promised to let users know who had viewed their Instagram profiles.



But on Tuesday, David Layer-Reiss – the German iOS developer - tweeted a series of tweets that included evidence InstaAgent was "hacking" people's details.



Bayram did not explain his actions to the BBC when he was called the following day. However Bayram posted a statement on the internet in broken English.



He explained that the team was developing a new promotion strategy for the service.



If you would like to see more people who seen your photos, the app would charge you an amount.



Bayram said that he was working on a feature that would have provided users to access the service for free users who allow an InstaAgent advertisement show up in their feeds. But he decided not to activate it.



"It was not a good idea," he acknowledged.



"We didn't publish because Instagram didn't permit private APIs (application programming interfaces) to be used by third-party apps."
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He added, however, that for reasons that he "couldn't be able to comprehend" the code still started posting the ads to some people's accounts.



"It was a very unpleasant experience for us. He wrote that our application had removed both mobile markets.



However, he added that those who downloaded the app should not be worried.



"Nobody's password was stolen. Your password was never saved to unauthorised servers.



"But every time we apologize... [and] in the future, we will carefully read service provider's policies."



Security concerns



Instagram is owned by Facebook - has advised users against using such bolt-on services.



"Anyone who has downloaded the app should delete it and change their password," a spokeswoman said.



Security consultant Alan Woodward added that he was still concerned.



He said that offering users an app to view their profiles is a classic method of convincing users to install malware.



"For a third-party app to transmit your password to an external server is, at best, a way of circumventing the policies of the social media service. It is, at worst, an opportunity to steal your password to use for evil purposes.



"The method this app used to send user credentials to an unidentified server seems to be extremely unusual."



Top-charting app 'harvested passwords'



11 November 2015



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Alan Woodward


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