--- description: Snapchat said that third-party applications were responsible for the breach of thousands of user accounts. title: Snapchat Says Hack That Hit Thousands Isn't Its Fault image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ecdcbb016d86612/69875f5e2dce010d449dac9b/snapchat.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Snapchat Says Leak of Nude Photos Isn't Its Fault ## Video: How To Protect Your Selfies from Hackers [Watch (HLS stream): How To Protect Your Selfies from Hackers](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/VbTXeRNE.m3u8) (1:16)  _Published 2014-09-03. A little safety can help save your skin from ending up on 4 Chan._  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Oct 10, 2014 4:13 PM CUT  The logo of mobile app "Snapchat" is displayed on a tablet on January 2, 2014 in Paris. Hackers broke into Snapchat, the hugely popular mobile app, accessing the phone numbers and usernames of 4.6 million users and publishing them online, tech news website TechCrunch has announced. AFP PHOTO / LIONEL BONAVENTURE (Photo credit should read LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images) The logo of mobile app "Snapchat" is displayed on a tablet on January 2, 2014 in Paris. Hackers broke into Snapchat, the hugely popular mobile app, accessing the phone numbers and usernames of 4.6 million users and publishing them online, tech news website TechCrunch has announced. AFP PHOTO / LIONEL BONAVENTURE (Photo credit should read LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images)Lionel Bonavent—Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Oct 10, 2014 4:13 PM CUT Images from tens of thousands of Snapchat user accounts, many explicit, were leaked onto the internet late Thursday — but the messaging app said the hack wasn’t its fault. Snapchat said that third-party applications were responsible for the breach of as many as 200,000 user accounts, and that their own servers were never compromised. A 13GB database of Snapchat photographs taken over a number of years was leaked to online messageboards Thursday. It reportedly includes a large amount of child pornography, from teenage users. “Snapchatters were victimized by their use of third-party apps to send and receive Snaps, a practice that we expressly prohibit in our Terms of Use precisely because they compromise our users’ security,” a statement read. “We vigilantly monitor the App Store and Google Play for illegal third-party apps and have succeeded in getting many of these removed.” The news comes just weeks after the release of nude photos of more than 100 celebrities in a massive [hack](http://time.com/3247717/jennifer-lawrence-hacked-icloud-leaked/ "undefined") of photos stored in Apple’s iCloud. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3490458/snapchat-hack-thousands/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3490458/snapchat-hack-thousands/"},"headline":"Snapchat Says Leak of Nude Photos Isn't Its Fault","datePublished":"2014-10-10T16:13:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:03:23.364Z","description":"Company says third-party applications were responsible for the breach of as many as 200,000 user accounts","url":"https://time.com/3490458/snapchat-hack-thousands/","keywords":["Tech","Smartphones","apps","Hacking","Security","privacy","Companies","Data Security topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ecdcbb016d86612/69875f5e2dce010d449dac9b/snapchat.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ecdcbb016d86612/69875f5e2dce010d449dac9b/snapchat.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The logo of mobile app \"Snapchat\" is displayed on a tablet on January 2, 2014 in Paris.","caption":"The logo of mobile app \"Snapchat\" is displayed on a tablet on January 2, 2014 in Paris.","creditText":"Lionel Bonavent—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3490458/snapchat-hack-thousands/","name":"Snapchat Says Leak of Nude Photos Isn't Its Fault"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How To Protect Your Selfies from Hackers","description":"A little safety can help save your skin from ending up on 4 Chan.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/VbTXeRNE/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-09-03T20:19:14.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/VbTXeRNE.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3490458/snapchat-hack-thousands/","duration":"PT1M16S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3490458/snapchat-hack-thousands/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```