From the previous[1] statement:
The unauthorized party also accessed a “small number” of images of government IDs from “users who had appealed an age determination.”
It makes sense they have to hang on to the ID in case of processing an appeal, which probably doesn't have the highest priority and hence stretches out in time.
[1]: https://www.theverge.com/news/792032/discord-customer-servic...
The funny thing about this is that it kinda makes it OK for Discord to still have the records. But...
1. Discord still got hacked despite being a company that must have passed some level of authorised audit in order to be able to store government ID cards. (who audits the auditors? Is there an independent rating of security audit companies? What was the vulnerability? Was there any Government due diligence?)
2. This is a great example of why "something else" is needed for proof of identity transactions over the wire, and this "something else" should exist, and have existed for long enough to develop a level of trust, before Governments start mandating that private companies audited by other private companies must undertake actions that require the storage of Government ID documents. Banking level security and regulation should be required for any aggregator of such sensitive data. That fucking Discord had Government ID docs at all is beyond ridiculous. More-so for Governments of countries other than where Discord was incorporated. A state-sponsored Russian / Chinese / North Korean / Iranian / <other> Discord-alternative would have been an interesting situation. The implicit trust in Discord, and any other "app publisher" requiring ID confirmation is just peculiar.
There is no reason for a company like Discord to ever see the ID. The owner of each relevant form of ID — usually a government agency/department — should provide an attestation service, such that users prove their identity to the agency and the agency tells the company "yes, this user is who they say they are".
It's not that hard. Legislators around the world are consistently dropping the ball on this.
Doesn't seem like they did. From the original article I referenced earlier:
One of Discord’s third-party customer service providers was compromised by an “unauthorized party,” the company says. [...] The unauthorized party “did not gain access to Discord directly.”
The third party company shouldn't ever need to see the IDs, either. Same issue.
When governments do things the wrong way around, like mandating age control before they have a method for doing that in a secure manner, what's a company to do?