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Snapchat responds to hacking group releasing millions of phone numbers

10 years ago | Posted in: Technology, USA, World | 590 Views

App will be updated to let users opt out of the ‘Find Friends’ function which searches for users in a phone’s address book.

The creators of Snapchat have responded to the release of millions of users’ details, exposed when hackers published a partially redacted database matching usernames to phone numbers, but have stopped short of issuing an apology.

The database of millions of US users was uploaded by an anonymous group called SnapchatDB. The last two digits of phone numbers were redacted “to minimise spam and abuse”, but the group said it would consider releasing the unredacted data “under certain circumstances”.

Snapchat has acknowledged a security flaw – first pointed out to it several months ago – and said it would release an update of the app to let users opt out of the vulnerable “Find Friends” function which searches for users in your phone’s address book.

“We’re also improving rate limiting and other restrictions to address future attempts to abuse our service,” Thursday’s blogpost said.

A report about the potential abuse of the Find Friends function was released in August 2013. On Christmas Eve an Australian security research group, Gibson Security, revealed further details of vulnerabilities and said Snapchat had not responded to its warnings.

The app creators responded on 27 December that they had implemented safeguards to “make it more difficult” for people to match up usernames and phone numbers, which they conceded was “theoretically possible”.

Four days later, SnapchatDB uploaded its database of 4.6 million users.

In the most recent blogpost, Snapchat said: “We want to make sure that security experts can get ahold of us when they discover new ways to abuse our service so that we can respond quickly to address those concerns.

“The Snapchat community is a place where friends feel comfortable expressing themselves and we’re dedicated to preventing abuse.”

Snapchat confirmed no other information or data such as Snaps were accessed or released by the hackers.

source: guardian.co.uk

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