Researchers Claim Snapchat Still Isn't Secure, Security Flaw Exposes Users' Phone Numbers
Snapchat has had an interesting year, purportedly receiving acquisition offers from the likes of Facebook and Google while fighting off controversies surrounding the service’s security. Now, in a new report research firm Gibson Security explains that Snapchat still isn’t secure; in fact, users’ phone numbers can even be exposed using one particular exploit, the report notes.
The full disclosure is included in a document which reached us from Boy Genius Report, and in a subsequent interview with Business Insider the folks at Gibson Security provide more information on the state of Snapchat. The research firm actually revealed Snapchat’s phone number hack, which allows a hacker to obtain another user’s phone number, four months ago; despite receiving a handful of updates since then, Snapchat is still vulnerable to many of the exploits outlined in Gibson Security’s first disclosure, the firm notes.
Gibson Security told Business Insider:
Given that it’s been around four months since our last Snapchat release, we figured we’d do a refresher on the latest version, and see which of the released exploits had been fixed (full disclosure: none of them). We [hope] that Snapchat audits their code and improves how security and bugs are handled in the company.
Back in March, we heard that teens in New Jersey had shared images using Snapchat only to find that the photographs subsequently appeared on Instagram; in iOS 7, it was possible to “snap” screenshots of Snapchat-sent images without the sender knowing, however this was fixed in a subsequent update.
Snapchat went on to reveal that it manually retrieves Snapchat-sent media at the request of law enforcement agencies, and an app called SnapHack Pro also made it possible for users to easily save images sent using Snapchat to their iDevice.
Given Gibson Security’s second report, we’re continuing to advise iDevice users to proceed with caution when sending images with Snapchat. You can download the application free of charge, and it’s optimized for the iPhone and iPod touch.
The recent Gibson Security Snapchat report can be read online here.
See also: Concerts With Friends App Jukely Now Lets You Purchase Tickets Using Your Points, Treat Yo Self: iOS-Connected Pebble Smart Watch Available At $20 Off Until Dec. 29, and On Christmas Day, iOS Trumps Android In Terms Of Online Traffic And Sales.
