Snapchat takes down its leaked source code from GitHub

In recent events, Snapchat's source code was posted on GitHub. The Snapchat source code is believed to be leaked by a hacker from Pakistan. It is also being said that the leaked code is for the iOS version of the app. The source code was soon pulled off from the website after it was served with a DMCA takedown notice by a Snapchat representative.

As per the prevailing practice, the website will not restore the leaked source code or the file until the file uploader makes a valid claim for the same. The listing page at present is displaying a notice which says 'Repository unavailable due to DMCA takedown'.

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It is being reported that a user who is identified as 'i5xx' had claimed that the code was originally leaked on some other platform. The contentious repo was originally titled as 'Source-Snapchat' when it was posted on the GitHub by the user 'i5xx'. It is also being said that i5xx had not identified the source of the leak. Now, some investigations are being made to verify the exact details regarding the source code leak. This is described as one of the biggest breaches that have taken place related to the copyright software as a core component of the iOS source code was leaked online earlier this year, which is quite concerning.

Snapchat, on the other hand, has not yet released any official statement related to the matter. It appears that the Snapchat's leaked source code could have been a part of the app itself, a cybersecurity researcher quoted this to NewsWeek. It is also being suggested that the code which was of 21 thousand lines spotted on the GitHub likely represents a small portion of the Snapchat's codebase.

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"It is plausible that the Snapchat app was shipped with source code, allowing @i5aaaald to browse the files with his jailbroken iPhone ... Considering the poor volume (21 thousand lines of code for a total of 2MB of uncompressed files) the whole code wasn't leaked".

As of now, there is not much information available about the hacker. However, as per NewsWeek, the hacker's Twitter handle is @i5aaaald, and some investigations have revealed that he could be hailing from a small town named Tando Bago which is in the Badin District of Sindh province in Pakistan. This is pretty much all the information we have currently on the situation and it is expected that more information on the same will be revealed in the coming days.