Pictures of 200,000 users Snapchat Were … – Inrocks

So we began slowly to turn the page “Fappening” this huge leak of photos of naked celebrities, now arrives the “Snappening” contraction “Snapchat” and “The Happening”, a film M. Night Shyamalan on a deadly and unexplained supernatural phenomenon. What a program.

October 9, several American media reports that between 100 000 and 200 000 photos sent via the app Snapchat were hacked and posted on 4Chan forum. The company does not deny but blames, in a press release on third apps:

“We can confirm that servers Snapchat have never been hacked , and are not the cause of the leakage. Snapchat users became victims after using third party applications to send and receive Snaps, a practice we expressly forbid our terms of use, precisely because it compromises the safety of our users. “

If Snapchat has always prided ensure maximum security to its users, including photos sent are expected to have a limited life span (maximum 10 seconds), the reality is much more complex. Several sites now explain how to do a screen capture of a Snap (capture classic screen not working), like this one, and so-called “third” apps allow you to save photos received. Among them SaveSnap, QuickSave, SnapSave. These are the apps that Snapchat has in its sights, allegedly hacked

On October 10, several Anglo-Saxon media -. Whose The Independent – a collection related photos of perfect strangers in their simplest device was published on the website viralpop.com since closed. Dozens of online users would still have had time to upload the photos and pursue their spread on the Web.

So hoax or not?

Difficult to check if history is a vast hoax as Internet like produce. Two experts in American technology, Sean Sullivan and Ashkan Soltani used the inverted Google search image (used to find the source of an image on the web) for more photos. Balance the races: some of them would drag on the Internet for several years and therefore have nothing to do with a possible “Snappening.” Both experts have questioned the way the American blogger Internet specialist Kenny Withers, documenting the case from the beginning, ensuring that he was the author of the hoax.

Meanwhile, Withers denied outright. He says on his blog have had confirmation from hackers 4chan the veracity of the “Snappening” and points out that insofar as download links photos may contain pornographic images (Snapchat widespread use by teens) the authors of the hack could face big trouble with the law and that in fact, therefore, not a party.

History does not favor app. In January, hackers called “white hat” (well intentioned) managed to steal 4.6 million users Snapchat data. Objective: To demonstrate the lack of security of an app yet often used to send nude pictures. Four months later, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the American policeman trade and competition, accused the company of lying to Internet users into believing the ephemerality of their photos.