Snapchat Updates Security After Breach
Company Apologizes for Incident That Affected 4.6 MillionSnapchat, a photo messaging application, has implemented several security improvements and has apologized for the breach that recently affected 4.6 million of its users.
See Also: Why Active Directory (AD) Protection Matters
"This morning we released a Snapchat update for Android and iOS that improves Find Friends functionality and allows Snapchatters to opt-out of linking their phone number with their username," the company said in a blog post issued Jan. 9.
"Our team continues to make improvements to the Snapchat service to prevent future attempts to abuse our API," Snapchat says. "We are sorry for any problems this issue may have caused you and we really appreciate your patience and support."
The security improvements came days after a group of hackers who used the name SnapchatDB claimed to have compromised usernames and phone numbers of as many as 4.6 million users (see: Snapchat Breach Leads Roundup).
SnapchatDB says it downloaded the information using an exploit in Snapchat and then posted it to a website called SnapchatDB.info, according to the Washington Post. The site has since been suspended.
Security Report Identified Vulnerabilities
Before the hack by SnapchatDB, a security group called Gibson Security issued a report on Dec. 25 that highlighted a Snapchat vulnerability that could enable an attack involving compiling a database of Snapchat usernames and phone numbers.
Snapchat made reference to this report on Dec. 27 in a blog it issued on its website, stating that it was, indeed, possible for someone to compile such a database.
Users concerned as to whether their information was compromised can use a look-up tool that Gibson Security has created.