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Touchnote, a postcard-sending app, has suffered a data breach, resulting in hacker-access to user’s data, such as names and email addresses. The Touchnote team has delivered an email to affected customers to alert them after confirming the news earlier this week. For those that don’t know, Touchnote is an app which allows users to send postcards directly from their phone, meaning customers are able to snap a picture and send it off to friends and family with little hassle. The software is one of a number of apps that come pre-installed on certain devices, and it has proven popular with users since its 2008 launch. An estimated 4 million postcards have been created and sent from the app.
The recent data breach spread across information including customer names, emails, and addresses, but the Touchnote team has assured users that “none of the data that may have been accessed is financially sensitive.” The company has acknowledged that the last four numbers of a customer’s cards were accessed, but because Touchnote does not save a complete copy of its users’ card data, including expiration dates or three-digit CRV codes, it is unlikely the data breach affected payment methods.
The number of those affected by the breach is still uncertain, and an investigation is still being conducted. The United Kingdom’s Cyber Crime Unit has been called on to assist the app maker in its research on the hack. Also, Touchnote has explained via email that their user’s passwords are encrypted, and therefore, unlikely to have been accessed, but it is still encouraging users to alter their existing codes, hoping to eliminate the possibility of additional hacking. As a result, Touchnote’s website was undergoing technical difficulties on Friday as a large number of concerned customers attempted to change their passwords.
Although the company has not officially given any further information, it has pointed to its Twitter as an update source aside from their emails. Additionally, a Q&A page on the company website has been set up to answer pressing customer concerns. For now, Touchnote has stated that it is in the process of revising its security policies in an effort to stifle future attempts at a similar breach. In today’s age, hackers have been successfully compromising sensitive user data in high profile cases left and right. With apps like Touchnote on the radar, companies are interested in improving and maintaining security as soon as possible.