Instagram Hacked By 10-Year-Old Boy and Receives $10,000

Talk about talent! Social media giant Facebook paid a 10-year-old Finnish boy after finding a security flaw in the tech giant's photo-sharing app, Instagram.

Jani, whose last name was withheld for privacy reasons, is from Finland's capital, Helsinki. According to NBC News, the boy's father said that he and his twin brother have found a security glitch in other websites before, but this is the first time that has been significant enough to justify a payout. The boy, who is technically not even allowed to join the site, discovered a glitch in the site's security platform. "I wanted to see if Instagram's comment field could stand malicious code. Turns out it couldn't," Jani told Finnish newspaper, Iltalehti.

The boy also said that he learned coding from watching YouTube videos and then found a way to delete other people's comments from Instagram accounts. "I could have deleted anyone's comments from there. Even Justin Bieber's," he told Iltalehti.

The issue was "quickly" fixed by the security team after being discovered. BBC News reported that the boy was paid after discovering the glitch in February, making him the youngest recipient of the firm's "bug bounty" prize. Jani contacted Facebook after discovering the flaw, and the security engineers then set up a test account for him to prove his theory; which he did.

Facebook has already rewarded more than $4.3 million to over 800 people under the bug bounty program since it was first launched in 2011. To this day, many companies have offered financial incentives for security professionals, as well as young children who can share the flaws with the company rather than selling them on the black market.

Jani also said that he plans to have a career in data security but right now he plans to use the money he got to buy a new bike, football equipment and computers for his brothers.