IT House reported on February 18 that a user recently disclosed on Reddit that the photo sharing platform Flickr had been hacked, resulting in user information being leaked. As a victim, he received a notification email from Flickr.
According to the content of the email, Flickr noticed a vulnerability in the platform system on February 5. Hackers exploited the vulnerability to illegally download platform user profile information, involving the user's real name, email address, Flickr username, IP address, general location (General location) and platform activity records. However, the user's password and credit card information were not affected.
Flickr stated that within hours of being informed of the situation, the company had closed access to the affected systems and removed all links to the problematic endpoints. It also required the supplier to conduct a comprehensive investigation. The company itself also simultaneously initiated an internal investigation and reviewed and strengthened existing security measures and third-party supplier management mechanisms. Users whose accounts have been affected should reset their passwords immediately and be alert to possible phishing email attacks.
IT House learned that public information shows that Flickr was founded by Stewart Butterfield in 2004 and was once a popular sharing platform in the industry. In 2005, Yahoo acquired Flickr. In 2018, Yahoo sold it to current owner SmugMug. The latter adjusted Flickr into a platform mainly for paid professional photography communities, while retaining a certain amount of free services. According to outside estimates, as of 2025 (last year), Flickr still has about 100 million registered users and 3.5 million active users.
