The database is just sitting in the open, but there is no one to claim it Credit: Reuters/Regis Duvignau Applications, as well as the companies that develop them, will come and go. But once the spark has gone, what happens to the users?In at least one instance, they’ll have their account information exposed to the public by a seemingly abandoned database.Chris Vickery, a security researcher working for Kromtech (the company behind MacKeeper), has discovered a database with 198,000 records sitting in the public. The database contains email addresses, usernames and hashed passwords.The exposed records are connected to an iPhone application called Kinotopic. The app’s website says it allows users to create and share cinemagraphs, a trend that was popular a few years back. Vickery finds databases quite frequently, but this one is different; the product appears to have been abandoned and emails to the company bounce.“I have tried to get in touch with the Kinotopic developers in several ways. All were unsuccessful,” Vickery wrote in a blog post explaining the situation. He also reached out to Apple, but they advised him to contact the Kinotopic directly, leaving him back at square one with few options.Faced with a dead end, he’s asked that anyone with information on how to contact the company reach out. His goal is to assist in getting the database pulled from the Web.“Once I’m confident that they are the proper people to speak with, I can provide the exact IP address and port number of the exposed database,” he said.Update: In an email on Thursday, Vickery says that he was able to make contact with the lead developer of Kinotopic and secure the database. Related content news Gwinnett Medical Center investigating possible data breach After being contacted by Salted Hash, Gwinnett Medical Center has confirmed they're investigating a security incident By Steve Ragan Oct 02, 2018 6 mins Regulation Data Breach Hacking news Facebook: 30 million accounts impacted by security flaw (updated) In a blog post, Facebook’s VP of product management Guy Rosen said the attackers exploited a flaw in the website's 'View As' function By Steve Ragan Sep 28, 2018 4 mins Data Breach Security news Scammers pose as CNN's Wolf Blitzer, target security professionals Did they really think this would work? By Steve Ragan Sep 04, 2018 2 mins Phishing Social Engineering Security news Congress pushes MITRE to fix CVE program, suggests regular reviews and stable funding After a year of investigation into the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) program, the Energy and Commerce Committee has some suggestions as to how it can be improved By Steve Ragan Aug 27, 2018 3 mins Vulnerabilities Security Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe