Discord, a messaging platform popular with gamers, claims that the official ID photos of around 70,000 users were potentially leaked after a cyber attack.
The platform, which has more than 200 million users worldwide, claims that hackers targeted a company that helped verify the ages of its users, but that the Discord platform itself was not hacked.
People can provide ID photos to verify their age on Discord – a networking hub for gamers to chat and share files with other members of the gaming community.
The data disclosed may involve personal information, partial credit card details, and messages exchanged with Discord customer service agents, the San Francisco-based company says.
No full credit card details, passwords, messages or activity beyond conversations with Discord customer support agents were disclosed, the company said.
All affected users have been contacted and Discord is working with law enforcement to investigate the matter, it added.
The platform said it revoked the customer support provider’s access to the system targeted by the breach. Discord did not name the third-party company involved.
A representative for Zendesk, a provider of customer service software for Discord, told the BBC that its systems had not been compromised and that the breach was not caused by a vulnerability within its platform.
Some commenters online claimed the data breach was bigger than Discord revealed.
A Discord spokesperson told the BBC that these claims are inaccurate and “part of an attempted payment extortion.”
“We will not reward those responsible for their illegal actions,” the spokesperson added.
Cybercriminals frequently target personal data, which can be expensive on the black market for use in scams.
Information such as full names and official identification numbers are particularly valuable because, unlike credit card details, they generally remain unchanged over time.
Discord previously strengthened its age verification measures in response to concerns that some servers on the platform were being used to distribute pornographic and extremist material.
