Snapchat working to fix security for “Find Friends”

Snapchat has responded to yesterday’s hack that left over 4.6 million usernames and phone numbers exposed. The company has acknowledged the fact that it was warned by a security group about the vulnerability back in August 2013 and had taken steps toward securing the exploited Find Friends feature.

Snapchat took measures like rate limiting requests but apparently it wasn’t enough to stop hackers, who abused Snapchat’s API by flooding it with requests for random phone numbers. Phone numbers could then be matched up with a database of real phone numbers. Snapchat reassures that no other information was leaked in the attack.

In a plea to help make the service better, Snapchat asked security researchers to contact the company directly by email (security@snapchat.com) instead of using found exploits, which the hackers behind Snapchatdb.info did.

Users can look forward to an update to the Snapchat app which plugs this security hole soon, though the company did not provide a specific date. Users will also be able to opt-out of appearing in Find Friends after verifying their phone number, which is a welcomed layer of security.

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Source: Snapchat

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