Identification Images of Tens of Thousands of Accounts Could Have Been Leaked, the Platform Reports
Discord, the messaging platform favored among gaming communities, says that official ID photos of approximately 70,000 users could have been compromised following a digital security breach.
External Provider Attacked
The platform, which maintains over 200 million users worldwide, states that hackers had breached a company that was responsible for authenticating the user ages of its users but the Discord platform itself was not compromised.
Members can upload ID photos to verify their age on Discord - a social space for gamers to interact and distribute materials with others in the video game ecosystem.
Range of Data Exposure
The leaked data potentially contains private data, fragmentary financial data and messages that were shared with Discord's customer service agents.
Entire financial data remained secure, login credentials, or communications and user actions apart from exchanges with Discord's customer support agents were exposed, the organization stated.
Action Taken
All impacted users have been notified and Discord is working with police agencies to probe the situation, it added.
The platform said it has withdrawn the customer support provider's permissions for the platform that was affected by the intrusion. Discord chose not to specify the external provider involved.
Divergent Reports
Some digital analysts have alleged that the information leak was larger than Discord has revealed.
A representative for Discord commented that those claims are false and "constitute an effort to demand money" from the company.
"We will not reward those responsible for their criminal activities," the representative further stated.
Significance of Private Information
Online intruders regularly seek personal data, which can fetch substantial sums on the black market for application for fraudulent schemes.
Information like full names and government identification codes is particularly prized because, in contrast to credit card details, it usually persists unaltered across extended periods.
Previous Security Measures
Discord has earlier reinforced its age confirmation procedures in answer to concerns that some servers on the application were being utilized to circulate adult content and radical materials.
- About 70,000 users impacted
- External identity confirmation provider targeted
- Partial credit card data could be compromised
- Help desk correspondence could have been accessed
- Law enforcement participating in investigation
