In a turn of events that many of us worried would happen, Discord has suffered a major security breach with over 70,000 users affected.
Over recent years, governments across the world have put an emphasis on internet security in an attempt to secure personal data and protect the younger generation.
As a result, laws such as the Online Safety Act have been implemented in the United Kingdom, requiring users to show proof of ID when using any site which includes adult material.
With adult-content now locked away behind an ID-wall, millions of internet users across the UK have had to hand over their personal details on sites such as Steam and Discord.
Now, however, the worst has happened.
A third-party vendor company known as Zendesk is behind the attack and as a result, over 70,000 users have been the victim, having selfies and identifying documents stolen alongside locations, real names, email addresses and more.
In a statement to The Verge, Discord revealed that it was working with the authorities to combat this breach but with personal information now in the hands of hackers, it remains to be seen what happens next.
It appears as though the breach was committed as a way to extort Discord, according to 404 Media.
However, with Discord revealing that it would not give in to any demands, Zendesk have since shared stolen selfies of users posing with their ID in a Telegram group and even created spreadsheets including all of the stolen information of the affected users.
It seems as though the two are now locked in a stalemate but it shows just how many security issues there are with the new online safety laws.
With online games such as Grand Theft Auto Online reportedly set to require age verification soon too, the future is looking uncertain when it comes to user security and the recent Discord hack is just one example of what we could be facing on an unprecedented scale.
As you can expect, Discord itself released a statement on the incident which reads as follows:
“Recently, we discovered an incident where an unauthorized party compromised one of Discord’s third-party customer service providers.
The unauthorized party then gained access to information from a limited number of users who had contacted Discord through our Customer Support and/or Trust & Safety teams.
As soon as we became aware of this attack, we took immediate steps to address the situation.
This included revoking the customer support provider’s access to our ticketing system, launching an internal investigation, engaging a leading computer forensics firm to support our investigation and remediation efforts, and engaging law enforcement.”
If you were affected by the attack, it would definitely be worth changing your passwords and implementing two-factor authentication in the future.
