Earlier today, we found a flaw in the system we use to allow people to unsubscribe from our newsletters. We are alerting you, our users, because we think you should be aware that this flaw may have caused some user email addresses to fall into unintended hands. We want to ensure you that no accounts or personal data were compromised and we have corrected the error. No action is required by users.

At around 1 a.m. PST, we learned that a security researcher in Russia discovered that the tools we were using to process unsubscribe requests could be compromised to expose the email addresses of other people who also received the same newsletter. We fixed the problem as soon as we were notified about the flaw, but there was a roughly 12 hour period when email addresses could have been retrieved.

There is no evidence of a large-scale compromise, but an analysis of our log files during the affected time period shows that up to 536,613 email address of people who received our last Russian-language newsletter and up to 72,406 email addresses of people who received our English-language newsletters may have been seen by an unauthorized third party. Possession of an email address is not enough to compromise an Evernote account or access other private information, so you can be assured that all of the data in your Evernote account is safe and cannot be accessed by anyone other than you. However, it is possible that some of the exposed email addresses may have landed in the hands of spammers.

We take security and privacy very seriously at Evernote which is why, even though there was no apparent breach of account data in this incident, we think it’s important to describe the details of the situation. We apologize for this mistake and hope that it does not burden our users with extra spam. As always, please be careful about responding to email communications from people claiming to be employees of Evernote. In particular, remember that no Evernote employee will ever ask you for your password, credit card number, or other personal information.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please contact Evernote Support.

Evernote’s global community of users, fans, and developers is growing amazingly fast.  We’re seeing great integration ideas coming from developers all over the world, so we decided to hold our first-ever Hackathon in Korea. The two-day event, which started on March 16th, brought together 30 college and graduate students who worked through the night to build some really awesome applications using the Evernote API.

We joined forces with sponsors Yonsei University, Korean Productivity Center, and Seoul Space Incubator, to organize the event.

On Friday, March 16th, teams gathered in Seoul to brainstorm initial ideas, and socialize. Troy Malone, our General Manager for Asia Pacific, introduced the teams to the Evernote API, and our partners Fujitsu and GreenMonster came to discuss their Evernote integrations. From there, participants formed seven teams and worked around the clock. They received technical guidance from our team, and enjoyed a talk given by Evernote’s CEO, Phil Libin.

The winning application and some big prizes

The team who took home the grand prize was HotSix, who created Biscuit, an application for real time co-editing and chat among multiple users. The team walked away with a free trip to this year’s Evernote Trunk Conference (to be held later this summer in San Francisco), and a 6 week training program at the Korean Productivity Center that includes global launch help.

The runner up team, First Journey, created a travel log featuring a transcription service that was able to recognize signs in a note and translate them into note titles. They took home the prize of a mentoring session at Seoul Space.

Other integration ideas that came out of the Hackathon included: applications that display your notes to you at random, an Evernote integration with iMDB, and applications that visually present your notes to you. You can watch the winning team’s presentation (in English).

You’ll be seeing many more developer events in the months to come; in fact, we already have Evernote Hackathons planned in Brazil and Europe (stay tuned for details!).

The Evernote Ecosystem

The Evernote ecosystem now includes nearly 300 products, services, and applications inside the Trunk, all of which help users get even more out of their Evernote experience. Also be sure to check out our recently-launched developer site to help guide anyone interested in building on the Evernote API. Millions of Evernote users are waiting for your amazing applications.

Join Phil Libin (CEO, Evernote), Roelof Botha (Sequoia Capital) and Gary Little (Morgenthaler Ventures) for a conversation with Wade Roush of Xconomy about what it means to build a 100-year company.

In a valley where the latest tech fads rule and venture funds often last a decade or less, how do you even begin to think about making your startup last into the 22nd century?

Register today to get the discounted rate »

The event will take place in Mountain View, California on February 7th.

When we built our learning app, Evernote Peek, our goal was to help you study for a test or brush up on your language skills. The ingenious folks at VisitEurope have come up with a whole new reason to use Peek: you could win a trip to Berlin!

How to enter

Install Peek on your iPad (now it even works without a Smart Cover). Get all the notebooks created by VisitEurope and start studying. Next, go to the VisitEurope site and take their Peek-inspired quiz.

One lucky entrant will win a 4-day trip to Berlin, Germany furnished by Monograms. Make sure to read the rules on the VisitEurope site before entering.

We can’t get over how cool this is. Good luck!

Get Evernote Peek for iPad »

Siri, the iPhone 4S digital assistant, does so many useful things; it helps you find the nearest pizza joint, reminds you to buy bread and even quotes 2001: A Space Odyssey. Did you know that you can also use Siri to dictate notes into your Evernote account? It’s true, and best of all, you probably already have it configured.

The set up is very straightforward. First, make Evernote a contact in your address book with your incoming Evernote email address. You can add the email by going into Evernote > Settings > Evernote email address.

Launch Siri and say “Send email to Evernote.” Next, dictate your email and send it off. The message will show up in your default notebook. Even cooler, you can say “Send email to Evernote. Make apple pie for family reunion,” and Siri will send that note into your account.

It’s the hands-free way to create notes. Perfect for when you’re driving, jogging or just not in the typing mood.