IBM says hackers can hijack your online dating profiles and pretend to be you
The weaknesses let strangers change your content and images, communicate with other app users, and even leak private information about you that's inadvertently stored on your smartphone, IBM says.
The study doesn't cover 41 dating apps on Apple's competing iOS system. By amazing coincidence, IBM and Apple have a major business partnership - but we're sure that has nothing to do with the quality of this survey! For the record, IBM tells us it's not a platform issue, but a developer one. So chances are there are the same issues on iOS too.
Because apps used by people to find love use phone features such as cameras, microphones, storage, GPS location services, and billing information, it's not just your identity that could be compromised.
The researchers say hackers can upload malware to devices, track your every movement through GPS, steal bank details, and take control of your phone camera and microphone. According to the analysis, 73% of 41 dating apps use location information to operate; 48% have billing details. Although they are not named in the survey, Tinder now charges users for certain functions; Hinge requires people to set their location to find people to match with.
One in 10 Americans have used a dating site or app, up 66 percent over the past eight years. There are 200,000 Londoners alone using the new app Happn to find love.
IMB Security VP Caleb Barlow said in a statement that dating apps give users a feeling of "trust that gives hackers the opportunity to exploit vulnerabilities". Hackers aren't just getting into the back end of the apps via software vulnerabilities, in other words. They're also pretending to be daters and phishing for your personal details, which they can use to reverse engineer your login identity and passwords.
"Consumers need to be careful not to reveal too much personal information on these sites as they look to build a relationship with another user on these dating apps."
IBM's suggestion is for users to "be mysterious," which basically means don't divulge too much personal information until you're comfortable with the person your engaging with, and to check app permissions and use only trusted WiFi networks.