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Tinder Leaks Users' Locations For Months, Doesn't Tell Public
By
Lauren Evans
Published Feb 19, 2014
Modified Feb 19, 2014
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By
Lauren Evans
Published Feb 19, 2014
Modified Feb 19, 2014
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Tinder is a great tool if you're on the hunt for a random hookup, or if you'd like the exact geographic location of Your Prey. It turns out a security snafu in the popular dating—sorry, hook-up—app exposed its users' exact locations for several months with nary a word of warning to the public from developers.
According to researchers at Include Security, Tinder was exposing its users' locations down to 100 feet for between "40 and 165 days," Bloomberg Businessweek reports, noting that while the information wasn't exactly broadcasted, it was accessible to anyone with "rudimentary" hacking skills—possibly the same people who possess "rudimentary" breaking-and-entering skills and "rudimentary" kidnapping skills!
Include Security Founder Erik Cabetas told the magazine that his company notified Tinder of the issue on October 23, but didn't receive a response until December 2. The problem was fixed sometime before January 1, and yet, the company never made the vulnerability public.
“I wouldn’t say they were extremely cooperative,” Cabetas said of Tinder's response.
That's fine, though, since it's not like Tinder has access to your Facebook or...oh wonderful.
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dating
tinder
Lauren Evans
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