Things are not going well for Snapchat since it was revealed by security researchers that a hacker could quite easily obtain user phone numbers if they broke into the application. Within days of that revelation, Snapchat was hacked, with 4.6 million usernames and phone numbers landing in the hands of hackers who have chosen to be nice up to this point by keeping parts of the phone numbers secret.
Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel made an awkward appearance on the Today show this morning, and used his time on the program to say that they thought Snapchat was secure enough and therefore, was surprised by the hack and corresponding leak of usernames and phone numbers.
At the time, we thought we had done enough…In a business that’s moving so quickly if you spend your time looking backwards, you’re just going to kill yourself. – Evan Spiegel, Snapchat CEO
Without an apology to users, it seems as though Spiegel feels that this type of thing happens and because of the industry that Snapchat is part of, he and his fellow executives should simply move forward. While it is true that security breaches happen far too often, it is surprising that Spiegel did not use his time on the Today show to at least provide some sort of apology to the millions of users that were affected.
Snapchat is at least attempting to prevent another security breach by releasing a new version of the app which removes the troublesome “Find Friends” feature. This feature was the cause of the phone number leak as it allows Snapchat to gain access to a phone’s contact list. By accessing the contact list, it is easier for people to find out if their friends are also on the app, but on the flip side, it provides a hacker with more data that they are able to steal.
Even in an official statement put out Thursday night, Snapchat explained how the breach occurred but just as Spiegel did not apologize on the Today show, Snapchat did not apologize to its users in the statement.
Summary: Following a security breach, phone numbers and usernames of Snapchat users were leaked by hackers. Snapchat’s CEO Evan Spiegel appeared on the Today show but chose not to apologize for the breach or the leak of phone numbers.
Image Credit: petapixel