Snapchat blames photo leaks on third-party apps

Mobile messaging company Snapchat has blamed third-party software apps for security lapses that have put its users' private photos at risk of online publication by hackers.

A file containing at least 100,000 Snapchat photos had been collected by hackers who were preparing to publish them online, according to a report on the Business Insider blog. Snapchat lets users send photos and videos that disappear in seconds.

"We can confirm that Snapchat servers were never breached and were not the source of these leaks," the company said.

Users were "allegedly victimised 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".

Snapchat, one of a crop of new apps that compete with Twitter and Facebook, is popular among teenagers. Some media reports raised concerns that the hackers' file could contain nude "selfie" pictures of teens who expected the photos to be deleted.

Leaked photos could also become problematic for Snapchat, which has faced criticism over privacy practices. It is now raising money in a funding round that would give it a US$10 billion valuation, according to reports.

According to Business Insider, hackers may have obtained the photos by breaching third-party services that allow consumers to save the Snapchat photos they receive. Users of the online forum 4Chan downloaded the files and were creating a searchable database of the stolen photos, the report said.