Discord Hack May Affect Millions Of People

Discord recently tested a system in the UK where users had to scan their IDs to verify their age. Now, it appears that test may have caused problems. A new report indicates that a recent data breach could have exposed the ID information of millions of users who participated in the age verification process.

Discord announced that a security breach at one of its service providers, 5CA, may have exposed the government-issued IDs of around 70,000 users. Discord hired 5CA to verify users’ ages. The company assures users that the breach didn’t affect any messages beyond those exchanged with Discord’s support and safety teams.

A recent report from Cyber Security News now estimates that 2.1 million government IDs were stolen. They also suggest the total number of people impacted could be around 5.5 million, based on an analysis of 8.4 million customer support requests.

According to the report, the hackers tried to blackmail Discord by threatening to release 1.5 terabytes of stolen data. This data may include usernames, email addresses, IP addresses, and the last four digits of credit card numbers. Discord has confirmed that complete credit card numbers and security codes weren’t stolen, and they are cooperating with law enforcement while emailing notifications to users who may have been affected.

Users’ ID photos were also at risk of being exposed, contributing to the UK’s difficulties with this requirement. It seems a team called 5CA handled the process of reviewing IDs that were originally turned down, or those who were challenging bans related to their age.

So, earlier this year, Nintendo tried to get Discord to reveal who leaked a ton of Pokemon info – basically, they wanted to find the person responsible. And now, a Republican in Congress is trying to get the CEOs of Discord, Steam, and Twitch to come testify before Congress about concerns that their platforms might be contributing to radicalization. It’s getting pretty serious!

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2025-10-10 20:39