A major Snapchat hack has been reported, with the picture messaging service confirming the personal details of some 4.6 million users have been stolen.
Just days after Australian firm Gibson Security warned of potential vulnerabilities in the globally popular Snapchat service, the usernames and personal phone numbers of millions of users have been stolen and posted online through a website entitled SnapchatDB.
Although the website has since been pulled, a cached list of all the hacked Snapchat user details is still doing the rounds online.
Available as an iOS and Android app, Snapchat allows users to share images for free, with all pictures being automatically deleted once they have been viewed.
With Gibson Security having warned that a vulnerability in the Snapchat ‘Find Friends’ service could be exploited to discover users’ phone numbers, those responsible for the hack have claimed this is exactly the method they used.
“We used a modified version of gibsonsec’s exploit/method,” the hackers are reported to have stated. Looking to avoid responsibility, Gibson Security has claimed it has no involvement with the hack.
“We know nothing about SnapchatDB, but it was [only] a matter of time till something like that happened,” the company Tweeted.
In a recent statement Snapchat spokespeople claimed the service had implemented a number of safeguards to combat against hacks.
They stated: “
Although this hack marks the first major security breech, Snapchat has courted controversy, with parent and child protection groups expressing their concerns at youngsters being exposed to potentially inappropriate and exploitive images.
Snapchat has yet to announce any new measures which will be enforced to help secure users’ data from potential hacks.
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Via: BBC
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
