This article was published on May 6, 2014

DrawQuest closes down after suffering a security breach


DrawQuest closes down after suffering a security breach

DrawQuest, the iPad app that lets users channel their creativity through drawing, has been living on its last legs since early this year and now it has closed down with immediate effect after suffering a security breach.

Founder Chris Poole, who also started 4Chan, first announced the closure of DrawQuest in January but there was later optimism that it would be able to continue running for users for “as long as possible,” despite its team all moving to new work. A hack on its Amazon-hosted servers has proved to be the final nail in its coffin, however.

A blog post explains that it is unclear exactly what information was accessed by the hacker, but since its database may have been compromised, the service is closing down to be sure.

“With no full-time employees on staff to repair our infrastructure and ensure its integrity, we feel the only responsible path forward is to notify our users of the breach, and retire the service in order to prevent future breaches,” the post reads.

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Users are advised to change their email passwords and passwords for any services that were connected to DrawQuest to be safe. Poole and others are working to create an archive that will let users export their drawings, but it’s unclear when that will be available due to the lack of staff.

It’s certainly a sad way for DrawQuest to bow out since the service had been successful in many ways. Poole previously revealed that it had racked up more than 1.4 million downloads, and had 25,000 daily active users and 400,000 monthly active users — yet the team was unable to monetize it effectively.

Image via STEVEN CHIANG / Shutterstock

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