It seems just about everyone has written about the dangers of online dating, from psychology magazines to crime chronicles. But there is one less obvious threat not related to hooking up with strangers – and that is the mobile apps used to facilitate the process. We’re talking here about intercepting and stealing personal information and the de-anonymization of a dating service that could cause victims no end of troubles – from messages being sent out in their names to blackmail. We took the most popular apps and analyzed what sort of user data they were capable of handing over to criminals and under what conditions.We studied the following online dating applications: Tinder for Android and iOS Bumble for Android and iOS OK Cupid for Android and iOS Badoo for Android and iOS Mamba for Android and iOS Zoosk for Android and iOS Happn for Android and iOS WeChat for Android and iOS Paktor for Android and iOSBy de-anonymization we mean the user’s real name being established from a social media network profile where use of an alias is meaningless.
Source: Dangerous liaisons – Securelist
Robin Edgar
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