Thousands of Snapchat users’ images have been stolen in an online hack that has been dubbed ‘The Snappening’.
Reportedly more than 90,000 images and 9000 videos have been stolen, which are slowly being released online, largely through a 4chan forum. The hack does not affect Snapchat directly, but rather was directed against third-party application SnapSaved.
SnapSaved is an application which saves images permanently for people, while in the Snapchat app itself, the images disappear after a maximum of 10 seconds.
A spokesperson for Snapchat has said, ‘We can confirm that Snapchat’s servers were never breached and were not the source of these leaks’ ‘Snapchatters were allegedly victimised by their use of third-party apps to send and receive Snaps, a practice that we expressly prohibit in our terms of use precisely because they compromise our users’ security.’
The hackers are alleged to have been amassing the photos, many of which are explicit, over a period of 3 years, . When asked how the leak made them feel, a second year Nutrition student said, ‘I think that this has put me off of using Snapchat. I appreciate that nothing on the internet is 100% private but you would never think it would happen to you, and this brings it home that it really can’
Snapchat claims that over half of its users are between the ages of 13-17, and so many explicit images stolen could be counted as child pornography.
The leak comes just weeks after a hack on Apple’s iCloud saw a number of celebrities, including Kate Upton, have nude pictures leaked in an event nicknamed ‘The Fappening’.
When asked their opinion, a second year English and Theatre student said, ‘I think that Snapchat should take more responsibility for this. The whole premise of Snapchat is that it disappears and people rely on that when sending private images.
I always feel firms should be more accountable even when it isn’t directly their fault.’ The app came under fire earlier this year after hackers published 4.6m Snapchat user names and phone numbers online.
LUU Union Affairs Officer Bradley Escorcio, has said, ‘Our Express Yourself research highlighted that students are becoming increasingly concerned about their safety online. We urge any student worried about their online safety and wellbeing to seek guidance from the Student Advice Centre.’
Jake Hookem