In the News
Vulnerabilities in dating apps allow outside individuals to snoop on not only your profile, but on the profiles of those you swipe right and left on. In App Flaws Allow Snoops to Spy on Tinder users, Researchers Say, Christopher Kanaracus discusses the vulnerabilities in the Tinder app and the way that hackers can obtain information from a plethora of profiles with little effort.
Our Take
The most common threat from social media is oversharing, posting very public answers to common security questions such as the make and model of your first car or pet’s name. Dating apps often contain less information than Facebook profiles, but they also often contain information of a more sensitive nature, which can lead to cyberbullying or blackmail if users are not careful. Even if you are not the one whose account is accessed, if your profile is visible to another user, your profile, pictures, or private messages to that user may be stolen.
Recommendations
So how can you protect your your profile and information?
- Take care when posting text or images to semi-public apps, even and especially in private messages to other users
- Make sure that any websites you are uploading or downloading content from have a green lock next to the URL, indicating use of HTTPS
- Refrain from using public wifi to conduct sensitive business on computers, tablets, and smartphones