One of the things that has soared in popularity while people have been stuck at home is 'Houseparty'. The app allows users to have group video chats, as well as play games and quizzes in virtual 'house parties'.
It has gained a huge number of users over the past few weeks, but some people have claimed that their downloading of the app coincided with a hacking of their data. A huge number of users have deleted the app as a result:
Houseparty absolutely popping off pic.twitter.com/h6uWZTiGV4
— Billie (@Billie_T) March 30, 2020
Got to delete houseparty because everyone is being hacked.. YOU’VE ruined my isolation time 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/eFiDPmht5G
— Gemma✨ (@gemmabristoww) March 30, 2020
Me when everyone has deleted Houseparty and am on me own playing trivia pic.twitter.com/SLuikh9Rr4
— Dan (@Dodge___) March 30, 2020
I’ve really had the Houseparty app since 2016! I’m really not gunna delete it now just because some girl on twitter says to... pic.twitter.com/gDK2CdJxb2
— Calum Ray (@calum_ray_) March 30, 2020
me having to delete house party after having fun because everyone’s getting hacked pic.twitter.com/Yp3kHcKtnx
— chantelle (@Chantelleelow) March 30, 2020
Me deleting my Houseparty account after seeing everyone tweet about getting hacked even though it was the only thing that brought me joy in the last 4 days pic.twitter.com/I385tTADOw
— Tayybah (@tayybah_) March 30, 2020
However, those running the app have moved to ease any fears that it had been used in such a manner.
All Houseparty accounts are safe - the service is secure, has never been compromised, and doesn’t collect passwords for other sites.
— Houseparty (@houseparty) March 30, 2020
Speaking to The Sun an Epic Games spokesman, the company who run the app, said there was no evidence to suggest that data of their users had been compromised:
We’ve found no evidence to suggest a link between Houseparty and the compromises of other unrelated accounts.
As a general rule, we suggest all users choose strong passwords when creating online accounts on any platform.
Use a unique password for each account, and use a password generator or password manager to keep track of passwords, rather than using passwords that are short and simple.
