The data breach alert came in a statement published by Vine’s official account on Friday. According to the release, the Vine Archive site was affected for around 24 hours. The statement warns that the bug may have exposed users’ email addresses and phone numbers tied to Vine accounts to third parties.
However, Vine has attempted to quell worries by detailing that users’ details may have been exposed only under ‘certain circumstances’. Also, all of the accounts believed to have been affected have been notified and the company has found no evidence that any data has been misused. The statement claims that users who have not received an email have most likely not been affected by the incident.

Video Microblogging Service

Founded in 2012, and acquired by Twitter the same year, Vine was an incredibly popular video-based microblogging platform, where users could upload and share 6-second looping videos. In the Spring of 2016, the app had grown to over 200 million monthly active users, and audiences had watched more than 1.5 billion ‘loops’ per day. However, as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram expanded to provide similar video capabilities, Vine struggled to compete. In late 2016 Twitter announced the closure of the Vine community, limiting users to sharing videos through Twitter itself. The Vine App, now renamed Vine Camera remains on the iOs and Android app stores. The Vine website now provides an archive of loops created from 2013-2016.

Professor Bill Buchanan, the head of Napier University’s Cyber Academy said that the incident was symptomatic of a firm ‘winding-down’.

Data Breach Probability

Professor Buchanan said: “Vine Creators has been running down for a while, especially now that users can use WhatsApp to distribute their videos to their true circle of friends. When a company is running-down, and losing staff, it is always in danger of a major data breach, especially as the moral of the staff will be low.
“When a company is winding-down, it is likely that security will be reduced, especially when key staff leave the company. For the company, they were trying to find new niches, and security was unlikely to be one of their top priorities. With the rise of WhatsApp, and Twitter targeting the application, it was only a matter of time before the company ceased to exist. Users should always be wary of using applications where the company are having financial problems, as their data might be not protected as much as a healthy company.”
Vine’s official statement concludes that the company will only contact users from the @twitter.com domain, and will never send emails containing attachments or requests for users’ passwords.