ID Photos of 70,000 Users May Have Been Compromised, Discord Says
Discord, a chat application favored among video game players, reports that government identification images of approximately 70,000 users have potentially been leaked in the wake of a online intrusion.
External Provider Compromised
The service, which boasts in excess of 200 million users globally, reports that hackers had breached a provider that was responsible for authenticating the user ages of its users but the Discord platform itself was not directly affected.
Account holders can provide ID photos to authenticate their age bracket on Discord - a social space for gaming enthusiasts to interact and distribute materials with fellow users in the gaming community.
Scope of Compromised Data
The leaked data may involve personal information, fragmentary financial data and messages that were transmitted with the platform's support representatives.
Complete payment card information was not, passwords, or communications and user actions beyond conversations with Discord's service team were leaked, the organization stated.
Response Measures
Each compromised user have been alerted and Discord is coordinating with authorities to examine the incident, it stated further.
The platform reported it has withdrawn the third-party service's entry into the infrastructure that was compromised in the attack. Discord chose not to specify the partner organization involved.
Contradictory Statements
Some digital analysts have alleged that the security incident was larger than Discord has revealed.
A spokesperson for Discord commented that those claims are false and "part of an attempt to demand money" from the company.
"We refuse to compensate those behind their criminal activities," the company official added.
Importance of Individual Details
Online intruders often pursue individual details, which can fetch substantial sums on the black market for use in scams.
Data such as full names and official ID numbers is especially valuable because, different from payment information, it usually persists unaltered across extended periods.
Earlier Protection Steps
Discord has previously enhanced its age confirmation procedures in response to apprehensions that some servers on the application were being employed to share adult content and radical materials.
- Approximately 70,000 users impacted
- External identity confirmation provider targeted
- Incomplete payment details potentially exposed
- Help desk communications potentially were accessed
- Authorities involved in probe
