Snapchat wants to reassure faster after hacking into thousands of … – Les Echos

The startup denies responsibility and blames third-party applications

<-.! / Data / www / lesechos / import / prod / Archive / fluxxml // 2014/1012 / flux_import / info_flux / 0203852545717.xml ->

The weekend was long in Snapchat. Blamed after hacking of tens of thousands of photos shared on its service, the California start-up has had to step up. She has published a statement in which it accepts no liability in this incident, soon called “snappening” on social networks. “Snapchat servers were not affected, they are not the cause of this flight, has explained a spokesman. The “snapchatteurs” victims of this incident have been due to their use of third party applications, a practice we strictly forbid in our conditions, precisely because it calls into question the safety of our users . We closely monitor the App Store and Google Play to locate illegal third-party applications and have already managed to make several withdraw. “

Successful Snapchat, especially among young people (in the world, nearly 100 million people would use the application), has attracted the attention effect many developers. Some, for example, developed applications that are used to save photos received on Snapchat, supposed to fade after a few seconds. But the concept of Snapchat would be used by many to share photos daring, bare or watered parties …

Hackers have managed to penetrate the database of some of its unofficial applications, such Snapsaved (since closed) or Snapkeep. Several specialized forums, they then claimed their action, giving details of the scope of data they hold. This would make it possible to search for images by the username in all this mass of stolen photos. An even more important so that photos of celebrities pirated, which recently hit actresses like Jennifer Lawrence … At first scandal, hackers spoke of 100,000 pictures stolen and then 200,000. And while some have suggested a hoax, several users were able to download the database during the weekend and then repost, while the site that originally housed was closed

Strategy pressure

This is not the first time that security is blamed for Snapchat users. Late last year, 4.6 million phone numbers and identifiers of the service had been stolen and posted on a forum. In May, it is even the FTC, the American competition authorities, who accused Snapchat mislead users about the security of their personal data. The FTC already put forward the simplicity with which it was possible to save photos that should disappear …

These cases could undermine the ambitions of the new star of American tech, which valuation today would reach $ 10 billion, and last year had refused an offer to buy Facebook for $ 3 billion. There are some days Snapchat, which always generates no income, announced the upcoming launch of its advertising offering.