Last year a big scandal came out involving the use of third party data from SnapChat by another website, which subsequently got hacked. SnapSaved was a service which allowed users to register and save the temporary images and videos captured using SnapChat. Of course, once hacked, questionable and pornographic images from the service were snapped up and posted online by hackers in an event called ‘The Snappening’.
In order to prevent such an issue ever developing again, Snapchat has decided to block similar third party apps and services from being able to access their data. In order to do this, the program had required somewhat of a rewrite. SnapChat never actually offered the developers of these third party apps access to their program, in fact most use reverse engineered code. SnapChat is reinforcing its security as a result.
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A re-written SnapChat is now available and is a lot harder for third parties to get into,meaning data is a lot safer from those pesky saving services. Already some users have reported a lack of functionality or errors caused by the new security features – which of course will be patched soon.
Previously SnapChat themselves had also been taking measures to ban users letting third party apps interact with their SnapChat installation, but now the company is confident that the upgrades to their program will be more than enough to prevent such intrusions. Of course, developers of the third party apps will undoubtedly put these claims to the test.
When someone sends an image via SnapChat, they’re secure in the assumption that it can;t be replicated or saved, and will expire in a certain set amount of time, never to return. these third party apps make it difficult to use or trust the service if their security claims are being undermined like this.
Third party apps plague services for socializing on mobile devices at an increasing rate of late – Facebook’s WhatsApp has already cracked down on similar rogue ‘helper’ apps which affect their service and have issued bans to some users. Meanwhile, Twitter has had a similar approach to anyone attempting to get jiggy with their code for years.
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Now that this ban is out you can expect current versions of SaveSnap, Snap Sender, UploadSnap, Snap Keeper, SnapBox, Snap Save, Upload’n’Roll, Snap Up, Save for Snapchat, Snap-Hack, Snap Upload, SnapPad, Snap Up, SnapSend, and of course original offender Snapsaved to not work.
Sorry guys, if you’re looking to save your crush’s ‘temporary’ images, you might be out of luck… of course, you COULD maybe take this opportunity to stop being such a creep and, you know, ask her out.
Via: TechCrunch
Via: TechSpot