SnapChat Security Breach Affects Millions
By Tim Jimenez
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A popular photo sharing app is investigating a security breach that left 4.6 million users vulnerable.
Anonymous hackers reportedly got into SnapChat's database and uploaded millions of usernames and phone numbers onto a website.
"Is it really such a big deal?" aks Drexel cybersecurity expert Dr. Rob D'Ovidio. "It's just a SnapChat username and a phone number. Well, the big concern here is that people use a single username across multiple platforms."
So, for example, your SnapChat name may be the same as your Twitter or Instagram account.
"Now I can start putting together bits of information," says D'Ovidio.
The hackers say they did this to prove SnapChat wasn't as secure as it could be.
D'Ovidio says their beef seems to be with the company and not users. The site with the leaked information is down, and the last two digits of the phone numbers posted were blurred.
But D'Ovidio says it's a wakeup call for the company to do better and for users to be more careful.
SnapChat has not responded to requests for comment.
To see if you were affected, Gibson Security, an Australian based company which warned that SnapChat was vulnerable to hacking, created a website for users to see if their information was leaked.