How safe are online dating apps?
31 Oct 2017 3:56 PM GMT
Even as more and more youngsters use dating apps for fun or to find the love of their life, new research warns that these apps are vulnerable to hacks, putting the users at risk of getting their locations and real names revealed.
The study by global cyber security company Kaspersky Lab showed that many dating apps do not handle users' sensitive data with sufficient care.
"That's no reason not to use such services. You simply need to understand the issues and, where possible, minimise the risks," Kaspersky Lab said in a statement. In a survey conducted by Kaspersky Lab found that people turn to online dating for a variety of reasons. People share information with others too easily when they are dating online, with a quarter admitting they share their full name publicly on their dating profile.
The experts studied nine popular mobile online dating apps – Tinder, Bumble, OkCupid, Badoo, Mamba, Zoosk, Happn, WeChat, Paktor – and identified the main threats for users.
The researchers discovered that four of the nine apps allow potential criminals to figure out who is hiding behind a nickname based on data provided by users themselves.
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