By Glynn Cosker
Editor, In Homeland Security
Approximately 200,000 explicit photos and videos exchanged using the popular photo messaging app Snapchat were hacked and displayed online Thursday night.
Messages on the discussion board 4chan—where the reports surfaced—warn that the hackers involved will follow up on their 13GB library upload with an even larger disbursement of nude photos over the weekend. The hackers reportedly spent more than three years accumulating the photos and videos before releasing them in an event already dubbed “The Snappening.”
Since more than half of Snapchat’s users are aged between 13 and 17, and the majority of photos sent are pornographic in nature, Snapchat users could face prosecution for distribution of child pornography.
Hackers gained access to Snapchat’s vast database of photos using a third-party app. Snapchat itself was not attacked or hacked, and the company issued a hasty statement via social media and other outlets.
“We can confirm that Snapchat’s servers were never breached and were not the source of these leaks. Snapchatters were victimized by their use of third-party apps to send and receive Snaps, a practice that we expressly prohibit in our Terms of Use precisely because they compromise our users’ security. We vigilantly monitor the App Store and Google Play for illegal third-party apps and have succeeded in getting many of these removed.”
The third-party app is reportedly SnapSave—although this is yet to be confirmed. This alarming incident serves as another troubling reminder about the cyber security risks involving third-party clients and apps.
This latest data breach is not Snapchat’s first. In early 2014, millions of usernames and phone numbers appeared online.
Comments are closed.