Knuddels

In September 2018 the major German social network Knuddels suffered a significant security breach. An unauthorized party gained access to the platform user database resulting in the exposure of millions of records. The incident was particularly severe because the service was storing user passwords in plain text format without any encryption or hashing. Following the discovery of the leak the German data protection authorities issued a fine to the company for failing to implement adequate technical measures to protect personal data. The breach included sensitive personal details such as real names and locations alongside account credentials.