Snapchat hacked, 4.6M users’ info posted online
Hackers broke into Snapchat, the hugely popular mobile app, accessing the phone numbers and usernames of 4.6 million users and publishing them online.
The numbers were partially masked when they were briefly published on SnapchatDB.info, according to the tech-news website TechCrunch. The unidentified hackers told TechCrunch they had done this “to convince the messaging app to beef up its security.”
Snapchat allows people to send smartphone photos or video snippets timed to self-destruct 10 seconds or less after being opened, making it popular with users wanting to send images they prefer not be shared further on the internet.
“Our motivation behind the release was to raise the public awareness around the issue,” the hackers said in a statement, published on TechCrunch late Wednesday.
“It is understandable that tech startups have limited resources but security and privacy should not be a secondary goal. Security matters as much as user experience does.”