Hackers breach women’s dating safety app, exposing personal images and data

Tea Dating Advice, a women-only dating safety app based in the US with 1.6 million users, was recently hacked, exposing sensitive data of its members. The breach affected 72,000 images, including verification photos of women holding IDs. Tea, which focuses on helping women perform background checks and share red-flag behaviors about potential partners, reported that the breach impacted users who signed up before February 2024. The company assured that the exposed images couldn’t be linked to posts within the app, which blocks screenshots to prevent sharing outside the platform. However, a second wave of 59,000 images, including posts, comments, and messages from over two years ago, was also accessed. The app’s rise in popularity has been controversial, with critics accusing it of being anti-men. Despite the breach, Tea stated it is working with cybersecurity experts to resolve the issue. The app was founded in November 2022 by Sean Cook, who was inspired by his mother’s online dating experiences. While the app aims to protect women from scammers and catfishers, it has drawn legal challenges, including a recent case against Meta regarding defamatory statements in a group chat related to online dating. Tea’s breach highlights the vulnerability of online dating platforms and the importance of robust cybersecurity.