TikTok denies being hacked after a hacker group allegedly shared revealing screenshots on a forum. According to the group, user data could be seen in these screenshots. TikTok denies the recent claims it was breached, and source code and user data were stolen, telling BleepingComputer that data posted to a hacking forum is "completely unrelated" to the company.
According to Bleeping Computer, the hackers say they obtained the data through a server used by TikTok. They claim it holds more than 790 gigabytes of user data, platform statistics, and source codes.
A spokesperson for TikTok let The Verge know in a response that the platform "found no evidence of a security breach." The company does not think that users "need to take security measures."
"This is an incorrect claim — our security team investigated this statement and determined that the code in question is completely unrelated to TikTok's backend source code, which has never been merged with WeChat data." - TikTok.
According to the spokesperson, the data shared by the hackers on the forum is public anyway. "We can confirm that the data in question is publicly accessible and is not the result of a hack on the TikTok systems, networks, or databases," the spokesperson said.
The hacking group, which calls itself AgainstTheWest, also claims to have obtained data from the Chinese messaging app WeChat. That platform has not yet responded to the allegations. The two companies are constantly in the spotlight of privacy investigations by national services, so finding such a rich cloud instance containing both companies' data is raising suspicions.