Social networking app Path has been updated to provide users with enhanced security, after it sparked an app privacy debate which extended to include well-known brands including Facebook, Foursquare, Gowalla and Twitter.

According to the company, it is now hashing user contact data so that it is anonymised. This includes last names, phone numbers, email addresses, Twitter handles and Facebook IDs.

Path found itself in the spotlight earlier this year, when it was found to be uploading the content of users’ address books, without explicitly stating that this was the case. The intention was to be able to inform users when an existing content joined the services.