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January 3, 2014

Snapchat to upgrade application security

The updated version will allow users to move out of appearing in Find Friends feature.

By CBR Staff Writer

Photo messaging application provider Snapchat has pledged to raise the app’s safety measures following the security breach by anonymous hackers.

During the attack, the attackers had hacked the application and drawn online data including phone numbers and user names from 4.6 million accounts.

According to the firm, the hack was result of a feature called ‘find friends abuse’ that displays users to find friends by entering their phone numbers.

The company said in a blog post that it will be releasing an updated version of the Snapchat application that will allow Snapchatters to move out of appearing in Find Friends after they have verified their phone number.

"We’re also improving rate limiting (which would reduce the speed at which anyone can access phone numbers from Snapchat’s databases) and other restrictions to address future attempts to abuse our service," the blog post read.

"We want to make sure that security experts can get ahold of us when they discover new ways to abuse our service so that we can respond quickly to address those concerns."

The company has claimed that that only phone numbers and user names have been compromised during the attack.

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Snapchat allows users to share photos and videos that are time constraint and would automatically delete after a preset time.

In September, Snapchat had a reported transmission of about 350 million snaps per day by its users.

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