Snapchat Photos Stolen by Hackers, Says Snapsaved Website

Snapchat Photos Stolen by Hackers, Says Snapsaved Website
Advertisement
Snapsaved.com, a website which allows users to save images sent via Snapchat, claimed on Monday that hackers had breached its servers and made off with some 500 megabytes of photographs.

The claim by the little-known website sheds some light on reports in past days that hackers were preparing to unleash some 13 gigabytes of photographs sent via SnapChat, a mobile app popular among teenagers that promises users that any pictures relayed to other users will be deleted in a matter of seconds.

However, users can employ special websites and third-party apps like Snapsaved.com to save images they receive on their smartphones, with or without the sender's and SnapChat's knowledge. SnapChat last week blamed third-party apps, which can be downloaded separately and used in conjunction with its service, for any photos that may have been stolen or leaked.

The prospect that a torrent of photos will be made publicly available via an indexed, online database has raised concerns about potentially racy images of minors.

On Monday, Snapsaved.com said on its Facebook page that it deleted its entire website and database as soon as it discovered the intrusion. It was unclear who wrote the post on Snapsaved.com's Facebook page, which has been active since 2013. The website itself remains down.

While apparently owning up to a cyber-security breach, the website said that hackers' threats, posted anonymously on online forums, to release a barrage of images in what media reports have dubbed a "snappening" had in fact been overstated.

"SnapChat has not been hacked, and these images do not originate from their database," the Facebook post read.

"The recent rumors about the snappening are a hoax. The hacker does not have sufficient information to live up to his claims of creating a searchable database."

It was unclear why Snapsaved.com thought threat was a hoax nor how it had knew whether SnapChat had been hacked.

Leaked photos could become problematic for Snapchat, which is one of a crop of fast-growing apps that compete with Facebook and Twitter but have faced criticism over privacy practices in the past. Snapchat is now raising money in a funding round that would give it a $10 billion valuation, according to reports.

© Thomson Reuters 2014

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Romania Lifts Immunity for Ex-Minister in Microsoft Probe
Intel Gains a New Ally in Mobile Chip Wars - Beijing
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »