Snapchat vows to shut its hole in wake of 4.6 million user data breach Mobile image-sharer Snapchat has promised an update to its service to seal off a security hole that allowed hackers to harvest the account details of some 4.6 million users. The company said that its update will allow users to opt out of the Find Friends system and prevent others from looking up their account information …
The whole point of Snapchat is to send nude pics, yes? There's really no other use case. So why in God's name did it need a look-up function? If you're not sure about a person's phone number or email, you probably shouldn't be sending them dick/tit pics. Even if the pic has a self-destruct function of dubious functionality.
> The whole point of Snapchat is to send nude pics, yes?
Perhaps not. The only time I've seen SnapChat used "in the wild" was a young woman in a cafe who said to her friends, when her salad arrived, "Oh that looks delicious, I'm going to SnapChat it.".
I suspect that within some demographic it is used as a WhatsApp / BBM / Twitter replacement, with any "pr0n" associations now forgotten by its users.
Sure there's a group that primarily uses it to push boundaries of social conduct.
For others it is more used as a way of easily and quickly make mostly non-committal communications.
It's like talking to someone; It's a social action, but mostly it's small less meaningful things being said. Something you might not think much about. Snapchat offers a similar thing, but with pictures. If you could save the images you'd have to put more care in to them, because they'd be around to reflect upon your character. But because they're quickly deleted (and somewhat forgotten - like a conversation), they can serve a more lax function.
"Hey - thinking about you" - "Hey, I just had this donut, and rememberd our conversation" - "Look at this dog, it's hilarious".
It might even serve as a conversation starter next time you meet up. "What the hell was with that dog? Why was is stuck in honey?"
They knew exactly what the problem was before it was abused, publicly.
Someone abused it.
Then they fix the problem they already knew about.
What the hell is this crap? It's like leaving your door open, telling people you left your door open, then being surprised when someone nicks your TV.
"What the hell is this crap? It's like leaving your door open, telling people you left your door open, then being surprised when someone nicks your TV."
If you recall "The Case Of The Google Wi-Fi-Slurping Street View Cars" and some of the comments on it, you will know that there are people here who will tell you that if the door is left open, then it's perfectly alright to take that telly.
So your analogy may or may not hold.
Am I the only one thinking that it should be a criminal offence if ALL of the following is true:
- your company gets a hint by security researchers
- you don't give a fuck about it for months
- asked about it (when disclosed) you play it down
- you got caught out anyway with exactly that flaw, only days later, leaking personal data of millions
Plus some extra years behind bars if you live in denial and still treat it like no big deal.
You know, if it was rolled into the Facebook organisation properly they'd probably have gotten rid of this, maybe replaced it with an FB search or tie your suggested snapchatees together on the Social Graph.
So, for possibly the one time in Human history, Facebook could have helped secure private information- albeit accidentally.
I'll put £5 on them not actually deleting the pics after the 15sec timescale - I'm sure data retention laws for criminal offences require them to keep them for a certain period.
So what happens when someone cracks their system wide open, which on this evidence of ignorance of security problems, it is a when, not an if, and they find that a large chunk of the pics are from under 18s sending nudeys - AKA distribution and creation of child porn.
That'll be an interesting day.
Steven R
Like it's something on the level of integrating quantum gravity into the system to just remember the last time an IP made a request and then deny it again within a certain timeframe.... AS YOU CREATE THE INITIAL CODE.
It's a fifteen minute job. I wonder if they even hashed & salted passwords if they're this hopeless.
More proof why having a CEO in their 20s is a bad idea (Even the FB ship didn't right itself after the IPO screwup until Zuck got very close to 30 and Google knew from the start not to go IPO without an adult in charge). Especially one too dumb to not take a massive overvaluation when he could. Somewhere even Jerry Yang is saying wow that guy was too dumb to take the money?
I was thinking the same.
Initially, I thought he was a bit of a nob with a big ego for turning down the *huge* Facebook offer, but gave him the benefit of the doubt - assuming there was some real reason he couldn't accept the offer due to circumstances we don't know about.
But now, added with this - and his response - and the revelation that they nicked someone else's idea anyway.....
"There is no age/generation that precludes being a total dickhead."
Indeed, dickheadedness hits Homo Sapiens specimen at any age*. But statistically, this trait is at its peak, and en masse, around THAT particular age. Most speciman grow out of it, others... into it*.
* disclaimer: politicians seldom reach that stage.
I'm sure they'll fix the problem, but what about when Google or Facebook gets hacked? Just think about all of the personal information they collect about you. This isn't limited to information you give them. They track your browsing history and have information about every website you visit. When that information gets hacked and distributed to your friends, family, and colleagues, then you will be ruined. This is why I'm a strong advocate for using privacy-based sites such as DuckDuckGo, Ravetree, HushMail, SnapChat, etc.
There is a major difference between snapchat and google/Facebook in that they employ savvy managers and employees with top tier tech skills. It's a fair bet that they have some of the best penetration testers in the business. I wouldn't expect to see any major hacks against them at this point in time. Facebook especially seem to have matured in their outlook in the last couple of years.
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