The social network Knuddels.de has been attacked by hackers. User nicknames as well as mail addresses were captured by members and published on an internet platform. SPIEGEL information is about 808,000 mail addresses and more than 1.8 million aliases. In addition to the chat name, some users have also made their password, e-mail address as well as information on the real first name or place of residence public.
Knuddels.de is one of the largest German-language chat platforms on the net, the Karlsruhe-based company was founded in 1999. It has "all necessary steps" initiated to protect the user data and informed the authorities, says Holger Kujath, founder and CEO of Knuddels.de. So far you have not been able to find out where and from whom the stolen member data.
Knuddels emphasizes that one has a high security standard for user data, which has been further increased after the announcement of the data outflow. All members would now have to set a new password when logging in. If a user logs in via a previously unknown device, he or she will receive a link via SMS or e-mail in order to authenticate themselves.
"We are aware that data entrusted to us by our community must be secure," says Kujath. They want to work things up and win back the trust.
Of the approximately 808,000 mailboxes, only 320,000 are verified, according to Knuddels. This makes it probable that the number of users affected will be smaller than the number of mail addresses and also fact addresses among the stolen data.