Viber: No info compromised in glitch

MANILA, Philippines — Messaging platform Viber has assured its users that no information was compromised following a glitch in file transfers earlier this week.

In a statement sent to the media on Wednesday night, Rakuten – the Japanese technology company that owns Viber – said the slowdown in media file sharing last Sept. 26 was due to a maintenance upgrade of a media server.

“The upgrade included a configuration change that in turn caused an issue that
prevented us from catering to growing demand for sending and receiving media via the app. The result was that approximately two percent of our users in the Philippines were experiencing difficulties in sending and receiving media files for a period of four hours,” the company said.

“Once resolved, all services including file sending were back to normal,” it added.

The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center issued a public alert regarding glitches it detected in Viber. It was detected using the CICC’s consumer application monitoring systems, which it launched to monitor online applications to ensure consumer protection.

Responding to reports, Rakuten stressed that it has constant investment on security and privacy, adding that “no user information has been compromised because of this issue.”

“All private user communication is end-to-end encrypted, and once delivered, it’s automatically and permanently deleted from our infrastructure, remaining only on the users’ devices,” it added.

The company also reiterated its commitment to ensure that the experience of users in using the platform will “remain frictionless and secure.”

“Viber always seeks to deliver the best consumer experience for our users all over the world, including the Philippines, which the company