Snapchat leak: Employee data compromised following email scam
Snapchat employees have had their payroll information leaked after a member of staff fell victim to an email scam in which they recieved a message impersonating the startup's chief executive Evan Spiegel.
Posting a blog on its website yesterday (28 February), the image-sharing app admitted the leak and stressed its commitment to privacy and security.
"It’s with real remorse – and embarrassment – that one of our employees fell for a phishing scam and revealed some payroll information about our employees," the note read.
"The good news is that our servers were not breached, and our users’ data was totally unaffected by this. The bad news is that a number of our employees have now had their identity compromised. And for that, we’re just impossibly sorry."
The phishing scam consisted of a message appearing to be from Spiegel and targetted the firm's payroll department requesting personal information which was then disclosed externally.
Snapchat has promised to "redouble" its training programs around privacy and security in the coming weeks following the incident.
The nature of Snapchat means that private messages can be exchanged between users before being automatically deleted, but the app came under fire last year when it added a new clause to its terms and conditions stripulating that it would store and use all images taken on the platform.