Grindr gay-dating app exposed millions of users’ private data, messages, locations

Faybert

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Jan 8, 2017
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According to an NBC report, the Grindr gay-dating app was affected by 2 security issues (now patched) that could expose the information of its more than 3 million daily users.

An attacker could have exploited the feature to access location data, private messages to other users, and profile information, even if they’d opted out of sharing such information.

The security issues were identified by Trever Faden, CEO of the property management startup Atlas Lane, while he was working at his website C*ckblocked that allowed users to see who blocked them on Grindr.

Faden discovered that once a Grindr logged in his service, it was possible to access to a huge quantity of data related to their Grindr account, including unread messages, email addresses, and deleted photos.

NBC noted that C*ckblocked exploited a “similar security loophole” to one that was recently used by Cambridge Analytica to create a profile of more than 50 million Facebook users.

“Grindr makes public the location of many of its users, but allows for users to opt out of this feature. Faden found that he could find the location of users who had opted out if they connected their Grindr profiles through his third-party website.reported NBC.

“One could, without too much difficulty or even a huge amount of technological skill, easily pinpoint a user’s exact location,” Faden explained.
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