Discord users’ data swiped in a sneaky customer service hack

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Look who just joined the “we got hacked but not really” club.

Discord is scrambling to send damage control emails after cybercriminals decided to take a scenic route through their third-party customer service provider, rather than attacking the platform directly.

In a press release published on the company’s website, the company explains how an unauthorized party breached Discord’s customer service contractor and made off with a smorgasbord of user data.

We’re talking names, usernames, emails, and the last four digits of credit card numbers that somehow always end up being more useful than they should be.

The cherry on top? The hackers were apparently trying to shake Discord down for ransom money.

What got yoinked:

• Basic user info (names, usernames, emails)
• Last four digits of credit cards
• A”small number” of government ID images from users who had to prove their age

What didn’t get stolen:

• Full credit card numbers
• Passwords
• Your dignity (that’s still intact)

How do you know if you were affected?

Discord is notifying people directly if their information was included in the breach.

If you previously contacted Discord’s support team and shared details like your name, email, username, the last four digits of your credit card, or uploaded an ID for age verification, check your inbox for an official message from Discord.

If you don’t get an email, chances are your account wasn’t affected. The breach only impacts users who provided that kind of sensitive info to Discord support.

Discord’s response has been textbook corporate crisis management: revoke access, notify authorities, send apologetic emails, and promise to do better.

They’ve cut ties with the compromised provider and are allegedly beefing up their security screening process.

The real kicker? This whole mess could’ve been avoided with better vendor security protocols. But hey, hindsight is 20/20, and Discord users are 100% exposed.

Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com.