Zendesk hack a reminder of SaaS risk

The recent Zendesk hack that compromised user data from Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest reflects the risks in using third-party service providers.

Zendesk sells cloud-based customer service software for storing, organizing and answering email sent to clients’ support staff. On Thursday, the company reported that a hacker had breached its systems this week and siphoned the email addresses and subject lines of three customers, which were identified by Wired as Tumblr, Pinterest and Twitter. The tech site also reported that some phone numbers were stolen.

Zendesk provided no details of the break in, other than saying the vulnerability had been patched and the hacker no longer had access to its systems. “We’re incredibly disappointed that this happened and are committed to doing everything we can to make certain it never happens again,” the company said. “We’ve already taken steps to improve our procedures and will continue to build even more robust security systems.”