(Fucking paywall article)

Summary

A catastrophic data breach at Discord’s third-party vendor Zendesk has exposed sensitive user information, including ID documents and selfies uploaded for age verification^[1][2]. At least 70,000 people were impacted by the breach, with hackers leaking users’ driver’s licenses, approximate locations, real names, and emails^[2:1].

The hackers are attempting to extort Discord and have already shared leaked selfies of users posing with their IDs in a Telegram group, along with a spreadsheet containing detailed information on a thousand users^[2:2].

This breach validates critics’ concerns about tech companies collecting sensitive identity documents, particularly in light of recent age verification requirements in countries like the UK^[2:3]. As one security expert notes in Gadgeteer, “a password is easy to change, but an ID document is often a nightmare to change, and the ID number anyway stays the same”^[3].

Discord says it is working with affected users and authorities but won’t give in to the hackers’ demands^[2:4].