Technologies

Discord Security Breach Exposed Government ID Photos of 70,000 Users

A third-party service provider was compromised, and information from people who had communicated with Discord’s customer support and trust and safety teams was exposed.

Hackers have stolen user information from Discord, the popular voice, video and text communication platform, through a third-party customer service provider, and government ID photos were among the information stolen. Discord posted about the breach on Oct. 3 and updated the post on Wednesday.

In the statement, Discord said that about 70,000 users may have had their government ID photos exposed. Those ID photos were shared with the third-party vendor to help review age-related appeals. You must be at least 13 to use the Discord site in the US and Canada, and other countries have different age limits. Specific age-restricted content is available only to those who are 18 and over.

«No messages or activities were accessed beyond what users may have discussed with customer support or trust & safety agents,» the statement said. «We immediately revoked the customer support provider’s access to our ticketing system and continue to investigate this matter.»

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While Discord specifically called out the number of 70,000 affected users, Yahoo News cites a report from cybersecurity research group VX-Underground stating that «the attackers claim to have exfiltrated 1.5 terabytes of data, including approximately 2,185,151 images tied to age verification appeals.»

A representative for Discord reiterated the online statement and said, «the numbers being shared are incorrect and part of an attempt to extort a payment from Discord.» They added that the company, «will not reward those responsible for their illegal actions.»

Ransom wanted

It’s becoming more common for criminals who breach websites to demand payment to keep the information they have stolen private, and Discord said this is happening here.

«An unauthorized party targeted our third-party customer support services to access user data, with a view to extort a financial ransom from Discord,» the statement said.

The statement said law enforcement is involved in the case.

What information was taken?

The Discord statement says that stolen information may include names, Discord usernames, email addresses and other contact details that people may have provided to customer support. Messages shared with customer support, including those government ID images, were also stolen.

Discord says that «limited billing information,» including the last four digits of credit card numbers, was stolen, but not full credit card numbers or CCV codes. The site also says that password and authentication data wasn’t stolen.

It seems likely that this kind of theft will only grow as more sites must comply with age verification laws in certain US states and other countries that are cracking down on verifying users’ age to use a site. Those provided government IDs may be enough for the site to grant people the right to see certain content, but once those IDs are in the site’s databases, they can be stolen.

What do I do now?

The Oct. 8 message says Discord is «in the process of contacting impacted users,» who should look for messages from noreply@discord.com, and that the site will not use the phone to reach users.

It sounds like there’s not a lot Discord users can do at the moment, except to keep an eye out for suspicious messages or calls that could use the stolen information to try to trick or phish users. Enable two-factor authentication if you don’t already have it enabled.

User reaction

Some Reddit users say Discord never responded to their age-verification appeals, even though they were then notified that their information was compromised.

«Discord ignored my ID verification ticket for 2 weeks just to tell me that the same ticket has been involved in a data breach,» wrote one Reddit user. «I’m honestly happy that I didin’t give it to them, got blocked access to half of the servers I’m in but it’s better than having my ID leaked I guess.»

Another person said something similar happened to them, too.

«Got the same email just now,» one person wrote on Reddit. «I appealed my age determination in August. Got a few emails back, but long story short the robot on the other end never accepted my ID. Nearly 2 months later, I’m told my data was leaked on the internet because Discord management doesn’t have its priorities in check.»

Technologies

Google’s Pixel 10A Is Coming to Japan With an Exclusive Blue Edition and Special Wallpaper

This model comes with creatively designed stickers and a special look for Pixel’s 10th anniversary.

Don’t be blue: Google is releasing an Isai blue edition of the Pixel 10A to celebrate the Android phone line’s 10th anniversary, setting it apart with its own sticker set, specialized wallpaper and custom icons. But it’ll only be available in Japan.

Announced Tuesday on the Google Japan blog, the Isai blue Pixel 10A has a dark blue look and includes bonus decorations designed in collaboration with Japan’s Heralbony art company. These include an exclusive bumper case and stickers for customization.

This edition of the Pixel 10A will arrive in Japan on May 20, following the April 14 release of the Pixel 10A in its original colors of lavender, berry, fog and obsidian. The Isai blue model costs 94,900 yen, which roughly translates to $595, and includes 256GB of storage.

This makes it slightly less expensive than the US model’s 256GB edition, but it comes with a number of fun extras at no additional cost.

Google’s creation of a country-specific model for Japan may also reflect strong sales in that market. In 2023, the IDC analytics firm (via 9to5Google) reported that the Pixel 7 series accounted for 10.7% of the country’s market share, a 527% increase from 2022.

Technologies

Can’t Wait for New Emoji? Here’s How to Create Your Own on iPhone

Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhones can create custom emoji in a few easy steps.

Apple brought new emoji to all iPhones when the company released iOS 26.4 on March 24. The new emoji include «🫍» orca, «🫪» distorted face and «🫈» hairy creature — or as we might normally call it, Sasquatch. According to Emojipedia, there are 3,953 emoji with more on the way, including a pickle. But there’s no emoji for a dog wearing pajamas, a plate with burgers and fries and many other things. But if you have Genmoji on your iPhone you can create these emoji and many more.

Apple released iOS 18.2 in 2024 and the company introduced its own emoji generator, called Genmoji, to Apple Intelligence-capable iPhones at that time. The Unicode Standard, a universal character encoding standard, is responsible for creating new emoji, and approved emoji are added to all devices once a year. With Genmoji, you don’t have to wait for new emoji to appear on your iPhone each year. You can just create them as you need them.

Read on to learn how to use Genmoji on iPhone to create your own custom emoji. Just note that only iPhones with Apple Intelligence, like the iPhone 17 lineup, can use Genmoji at this time.

Note: The new emoji may not display correctly for Apple users whose devices aren’t on a 26.4 software version.

How to make custom emoji

1. Open Messages and go into a chat.
2. Tap the plus (+) button next to your text box.
3. Tap Genmoji.

You can then type a description of an emoji into the text box near the bottom of your screen and tap the check mark on your keyboard to enter that description into Genmoji. You can also tap different suggestions and themes that are right above the text box. And with iOS 26 or later, you can also combine and use emoji to create others rather than describing a new emoji or using suggestions.

Your iPhone will generate a series of new emoji for you to pick from according to your description, and you can swipe through these new emoji. When you find the one you want, tap Add in the top right corner of your screen and the new emoji will be available to use as an emoji, tapback or a sticker. Now you don’t have to wait for the Unicode Standard to propose, create and bring new emoji to devices.

For more iOS news, here’s what to know about iOS 26.4 and iOS 26.3. You can also check out our iOS 26 cheat sheet for other tips and tricks.

Technologies

Save Over 20% on This Handy 10,000-mAh Anker Nano Power Bank

Keep your devices charged on the go with this Anker Nano power bank, now down to just $46.

We’ve just spotted the Anker Nano 45-watt portable power bank for just $46 at Amazon right now. This saves you $14 — a 23% discount on its list price. Though it’s $6 more than the lowest-ever price we saw during Black Friday, it’s still a solid discount when you take the rising cost of tech accessories into account. It also matches the lowest price we’ve seen in 2026. It comes in four colors: black, green, pink and white. They’re all on sale for the same price.

This Anker Nano portable charger weighs approximately 8.2 ounces and measures a compact 3.21×1.99×1.42 inches. Despite its small size, it has a retractable cable and supports fast charging in compatible Apple, Samsung, Google Pixel and other smartphones. It also has a large 10,000-mAh capacity and a smart display so you always know how much juice is left in your power bank.

The Nano can charge an iPhone 17 to up to 50% battery in an estimated 20 minutes, and is powerful enough to charge tablets and laptops. Need to charge your devices while charging your power bank? You can do so safely thanks to pass-through charging so you’ll never have to go without battery life.

We’ve also compiled a list of the best power banks for iPhones and for Android, in case this deal isn’t quite a fit for you.

Why this deal matters

If you travel, have a long commute time or are otherwise always on the go, a portable charger can help you keep your devices fully powered. This 45-watt Anker Nano power bank is compact, includes a loop that lets you keep track of it easily and has a built-in cable so you don’t have to keep up with extra cords. Amazon’s $14 discount makes this a solid deal for anyone looking for a compact power bank.