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100,000 Snapchat images hacked?

Posted at 11:00 AM, Oct 11, 2014
and last updated 2014-10-11 11:00:56-04

NEW YORK (CNN Money)- The photo-sharing app Snapchat offers a false sense of privacy by promising it will erase photos.

In fact, numerous third-party apps like SaveSnap, SnapBox and SnapSpy offer users the ability to save incoming photos.

Their mere existence undermines Snapchat’s purpose. And if these third-party apps are unsafe, Snapchat is too. An Internet storm brewing Friday offered a prime example.

One of those third-party services was supposedly hacked, according to Business Insider. Misfits on the image-sharing website 4chan.org claim they hacked into a third-party app and stole 100,000 photos and videos.

This collection, which might be published this weekend, is likely to include child pornography. Snapchat is popular as a tool for sending nude images. And half of its users are teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17.

“Everyone who sends a message using Snapchat’s service could be at risk,” said Patrick Wardle, research director at security firm Synack.

Click here for the rest of the story from CNN Money