Snapchat HR employee leaks payroll data in CEO email scam

Snapchat’s HR department has inadvertently exposed confidential company data.

According to a blog post on the company’s website, a HR employee received an email from CEO Evan Spiegel requesting workers payroll information. However, the email was from an external address. The member of staff failed to recognise the message as a phishing email, and responded with the details requested.

The specifics of what was leaked are yet to be disclosed. Those affected have been offered “two years of free identity-theft insurance and monitoring”, the blog post said.   

This type of cyberattack is known as a ‘whaling’ attack; one which targets a specific, high-level member of staff within the workforce. With LinkedIn now home to most professional information for workers, it is easier to gather intelligence for such scams.