SnapLion: The Tool Snapchat Employees Used To Spy On Users

Michelle Wilson - August 23, 2019

We have all been duped before for sure. In fact, in some cases it’s the point. For instance, we’ve all seen Cheeseburger commercials where the cheeseburger itself seems like the juiciest burger you’ve ever seen, only to show up at the burger joint to receive, what one could only call – a deflated burger that is the mere shadow of the one you were there to get. Well… it seems that Snapchat might, in fact, be that very burger. Snapchat always prided itself on being the discreet alternative social media app. However, it seems our discreet information isn’t so discreet

Back in May, a report released by Motherboard, showed that a group of employees of Snapchat’s California based company stand accused of allegedly abusing access to the Snapchat user data many years ago, and is only being reported on now. Some of the data that was access without authorization included, phone numbers, email addresses, location information as well as the user’s own saved Snaps!!! (Oh dear god no… no-no-no…). They were able to access this information (again without authorization) through an internal tool at Snapchat called SnapLion. SnapLion collects information strictly for the purpose of law enforcement.

Of course, we have all been clutching our proverbial pearls as it comes to social media data breaches as of late. It’s easy to understand why there is a huge ground swell of public mistrust in data security as well as ethics surrounding these tech giants. Although Snapchat has remained relatively unscathed and out of the lime light compared to that of their mega competitor Facebook. Any acknowledgement from Snapchat may prove to deal a harmful blow, since they have always louted their service as one whose content is more controlled by the user.

Snapchat Has a Sorted Privacy Record

Snapchat first hit the scene in 2011 and with a sorted appeal to the younger generations. Disappearing messages spurred hormone overloaded youngsters to share likely illicit content with the belief that the message itself would explode into tiny little data bits without a trace. After all, that’s exactly what they were promised.

Well as it turns out, and as with most assumptions, it turns out that as a result of a lax in security this wasn’t the reality. In the 8 years in existence, countless apps by third-party builders, glitches in the software, and a snowballing Snapchat hacking community – it unfortunately means we, the user community, are left scratching our heads and without confidence that their messages are really self-destructing as the app claimed. We’ve always joked that “once on the internet, always on the internet”, but that’s exactly what the service is supposed to be about. In fact, as early as 2014 Snapchat was fined by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) for failing to disclose to its users that it was story their geolocation data.

You would be in a good company if you were a bit worried about what exactly you’re sharing or what private information may be available online to the public (legally). But what can you do exactly? Well one proactive measure you might consider is to do a background check on your own digital footprint. This will allow you to see what exactly is available about you. What social media profiles might still exist (and that you have probably forgot you had). You can also set up a data monitor! This will let you stay informed as to what is changing about your digital footprint. You will be alerted if any of your personal data is involved in any of these data breaches.

Listen… nobody ever likes hearing that they should probably share less. But in today’s world it really is the only way to protect your private images. Take a step back and think about who you really want to see the picture you want to post. Protect your digital image and Background Check Yourself.