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Discord, a messaging platform popular with gamers, says official ID photos of around 70,000 users have potentially been leaked after a cyber-attack.<\/p>\n
The platform, which has more than 200 million users worldwide, says hackers had targeted a firm that helped to verify the ages of its users but the Discord platform itself was not breached.<\/p>\n
People can provide ID photos to verify their age on Discord – a networking hub for players to chat and share files with others in the gaming community.<\/p>\n
The leaked data <\/b>may involve personal information, partial credit card details and messages that were exchanged with Discord’s customer service agents, the San-Francisco-based company says<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n No full credit card details, passwords, or messages and activity beyond conversations with Discord’s customer support agents were leaked, the firm said.<\/p>\n All impacted users have been contacted and Discord is working with law enforcement to investigate the matter, it added.<\/p>\n The platform said it has revoked the customer support provider’s access to the system that was targeted in the breach. Discord did not name the third-party company involved.<\/p>\n A representative from Zendesk, a customer service software provider for Discord, told the BBC that its systems had not been compromised and that the breach did was not caused by a vulnerability within its platform.<\/p>\n Some online commentators have claimed that the data breach was bigger than Discord has revealed.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Discord told the BBC that those claims are inaccurate and “part of an attempt to extort payment”.<\/p>\n “We will not reward those responsible for their illegal actions,” the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n Cybercriminals frequently target personal data, which can command a high price on the black market for use in scams.<\/p>\n Information like full names and official ID numbers is especially valuable because, unlike credit card details, it typically remains unchanged over time.<\/p>\n Discord has previously strengthened its age-verification measures<\/a> in response to concerns that some servers on the platform were being used to distribute pornographic and extremist material.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n