Eranet News on January 13th,2014.As reported, Snapchat on last Thursday finally apologized for last month's data breach. A website dubbed "SnapchatDB.info," which went live on New Year's Eve, published the user names and phone numbers of 4.6 million Snapchat accounts.

The breach was discovered by Gibson Security, which explained in an online post how the Snapchat service could be hacked.

The company has updated its Android and iOS apps, and it now allows users to opt out of the Find Friends functionality that harvested the leaked data, it said in a blog post.

Snapchat will continue to make improvements to prevent future attempts to abuse its API, it added.

Snapchat was less conciliatory in the immediate aftermath of the data breach. CEO Evan Spiegel previously maintained the company had done enough to remedy the problem, which he blamed on abuse of the API, in an interview on NBC's Today.

Snapchat differentiates itself by letting users share photos, videos, text and drawings that disappear within 1-10 seconds. The company's security woes are unlikely to vanish as easily.

Security isn't Snapchat's only problem. This latest debacle follows a legal brouhaha with ousted Snapchat cofounder Frank Reginald Brown, who claims he came up with the idea for disappearing content. Snapchat sought a temporary restraining order to prevent him from publicly discussing the case.

The company made headlines in November when news broke that it had turned down Facebook's US$3 billion all-cash acquisition offer. The rejection reportedly was due to competing interests from other investors and potential suitors, including China's Tencent Holdings.

Snapchat might be able to move past these early missteps and regain user trust if it can ensure users that the service is safe. Otherwise, the company's value could be very much in question.