Clubhouse CEO Paul Davison says last week’s report claiming personal user data from the app had been leaked is “false.”
In case you missed it, Cyber News reported that an SQL database containing the details of 1.3 million Clubhouse users was leaked for free on an online hacking forum.
According to the report, information such as the username and ID, social media handles and photo URLs were contained in the leaked database. More sensitive information like credit card details, phone numbers and addresses were not leaked.
However, Clubhouse has since called BS on the report.
“No, This is misleading and false, it is a clickbait article, we were not hacked. The data referred to was all public profile information from our app. So the answer to that is a definitive ‘no,’” Davison responded to the allegations during an in-app Townhall meeting.
The company echoed a similar statement on Twitter shortly after.
“This is misleading and false. Clubhouse has not been breached or hacked. The data referred to is all public profile information from our app, which anyone can access via the app or our API,” a tweet from Clubhouse read.
This is misleading and false. Clubhouse has not been breached or hacked. The data referred to is all public profile information from our app, which anyone can access via the app or our API. https://t.co/I1OfPyc0Bo
— Clubhouse (@joinClubhouse) April 11, 2021
However, Clubhouse has seemingly ignored the fact that the information is now readily accessible in a searchable format for anyone to see.
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Interestingly, the app is yet to give an explanation as to why information like real names and those who invited them to the platform aren’t better protected.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time security concerns about the app have been raised, with users previously pointing out how difficult it is to delete the app and have your private information removed from its servers, and how seemingly easy it is for their private data to be accessed.
Perhaps most notably, a group of researchers at the Stanford Internet Observatory recently found a number of security concerns in the app, including the possibility of raw audio data being able to be accessed by the Chinese government. Following the report, Clubhouse announced it would strengthen security measures to better protect users’ privacy.
The news comes after both Facebook and LinkedIn have faced major data leaks in recent weeks, with a total of over 1 billion accounts being compromised across the two platforms.