Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel may have been among compromised users

Snapchat co-founder and Chief Executive Evan Spiegel may be among the 4.6 million users of the service whose user names and phone numbers were exposed this week by hackers.

When searching for “evanspiegel” in either Snapcheck.org or the Gibson Security Lookup, the user name is listed among those whose corresponding phone numbers were leaked. Spiegel’s Twitter handle is @evanspiegel, so “evanspiegel” could be his Snapchat user name.

“Your number was leaked,” said the Gibson Security Lookup website, which ties a 310 Los Angeles phone number to the user name.

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SnapchatDB, an anonymous hacker or group of hackers, posted files containing the user names and telephone numbers for more than 4.6 million Snapchat users this week. The hackers said they published the compromised data as a way to prompt the Los Angeles start-up to beef up its security.

Last week another group of hackers warned Snapchat that vulnerabilities in its security could lead to this kind of data compromise.

Reached by phone, Spiegel declined to comment on whether or not “evanspiegel” is his Snapchat user name.

Snapchat said it is dealing with the situation and will issue a statement to the media and its users at some point Thursday.

[Updated 3:45 p.m. PST Jan. 2: Spiegel sent a tweet Thursday afternoon saying the number reported by Gibson Security Lookup when users search for “evanspiegel” is not his. It’s unclear if that means that “evanspiegel” is also not his Snapchat user name.]

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