TORONTO – Many Snapchat users were sent into a panic Wednesday after learning that the usernames and phone numbers of over four million Snapchat accounts were leaked online.
Developers have come up with a database that allows users to enter their Snapchat user name to see if they were affected.
The site, called GS Lookup, cross references usernames with the leaked database to show a user if their information was leaked. If the account has been compromised, the tool generates the phone number associated with the account.
READ MORE: Over 2 million stolen Facebook, LinkedIn and Google passwords leaked online
Though the majority of the leaked numbers are associated with U.S. area codes there are some Canadian users who may be at risk.
According to a Reddit feed discussing the leak, there were only two Canadian area codes represented in the database of leaked numbers – area code 867, used in the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut, and area code 204, which includes Winnipeg and other areas of Manitoba.
The information leak appeared on Tuesday after personal details from 4.6 million Snapchat accounts were posted on the website SnapchatDB.info – which has since been disabled.
This comes just one week after hacking group Gibson Security posted a code on its website that it said would allow hackers to get access to this type of information.
In a statement to technology blog TechCrunch, the anonymous hacker group behind the leak said that its intent was to convince Snapchat to step up its security.
“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,” read the statement from SnapchatDB.
Snapchat has previously come under fire for security issues surrounding its “self-destructing” images.
In May, new research into the wildly popular app suggested that there are loopholes in the Android version to uncover those deleted images.
READ MORE: Forensics firm finds photo retrieval loophole on Snapchat app
Digital forensics firm Decipher Forensics discovered that images taken through the application can be found in a special file format that prevents the image from being viewed on an Android device, but it’s retrievable when the device is connected to a computer.
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