More than four-and-a-half million Snapchat usernames and phone numbers leaked online Tuesday after anonymous hackers posted the information on a website called SnapchatDB.info, according to multiple reports.
The database of information was available to download as an SQL dump or CSV file via SnapchatDB.info, which is currently suspended.
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"You are downloading 4.6 million users' phone number information, along with their usernames. People tend to use the same username around the web so you can use this information to find phone number information associated with Facebook and Twitter accounts, or simply to figure out the phone numbers of people you wish to get in touch with," the site said.
The hackers behind SnapchatDB used a recently published Snapchat API exploit to access the photo-messaging app's usernames and phone numbers.
"Our motivation behind the release was to raise the public awareness around the issue, and also put public pressure on Snapchat to get this exploit fixed. It is understandable that tech startups have limited resources but security and privacy should not be a secondary goal. Security matters as much as user experience does," the hackers said in a statement to TechCrunch.
"Our main goal is to raise public awareness on how reckless many internet companies are with user information. It is a secondary goal for them, and that should not be the case."
Gibson Security, Australia-based white-hat hackers, published Snapchat's API and two exploits last week, according to ZDNet. SnapchatDB then used a "modified version" of a Gibson Security exploit for its late-Tuesday leak.
Snapchat addressed the Australian group's disclosure in a short blog post published last Friday.
"Theoretically, if someone were able to upload a huge set of phone numbers, like every number in an area code, or every possible number in the U.S., they could create a database of the results and match usernames to phone numbers that way. Over the past year we’ve implemented various safeguards to make it more difficult to do. We recently added additional counter-measures and continue to make improvements to combat spam and abuse," the company said.
SnapchatDB said Snapchat's reluctance to take "the necessary steps to secure user data" compelled the hackers to take action, according to a statement to TechCrunch.
In a tweet posted Tuesday night, Gibson Security said it wasn't involved in SnapchatDB's leak. The group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
We know nothing about SnapchatDB, but it was a matter of time til something like that happened.Also the exploit works still with minor fixes
— Gibson Security (@gibsonsec) January 1, 2014
Snapchat did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Image: Mashable composite; Mashable, Nina Frazier