Discord says hackers stole government IDs of 70,000 users

Discord has reported a significant security breach, revealing that images of government-issued IDs belonging to approximately 70,000 users were compromised. This requirement for ID verification is part of Discord's age verification process, which mandates users to submit a photo or scan of their driver's license or other official identification to confirm they meet the minimum age criteria in their respective countries. In instances where users are suspected of being below the legal age, Discord permits an alternative method for age verification by allowing users to submit a selfie. However, the effectiveness of this method in proving age has raised questions among users. On Wednesday, the platform disclosed that the data breach originated from a third-party service provider that Discord had engaged to manage customer data. The compromised information mainly involved users who had interacted with Discord's Customer Support or Trust & Safety teams and had submitted identification as part of age-related appeals. “This incident occurred due to unauthorized access to one of Discord’s third-party customer service providers,” the company stated. Following the breach, Discord promptly severed the vendor's access to their ticketing system and is now in the process of notifying affected users via email from noreply@discord.com. They clarified that communication will not occur through phone calls. This incident highlights an ongoing trend where online platforms, including Discord, Roblox, Steam, and Twitch, increasingly require users to provide official identification. Recent legislation in 19 US states, as well as in France and the UK, mandates adult content websites to verify that visitors are of legal age, prompting many sites to implement ID verification processes, though compliance remains inconsistent.