A database arrest records of ten of millions of users of various date apps has beenfound in public accessible , according to a researcher who says it remains undecipherable who compile the datum .
In a blog Wednesday , security measures research worker Jeremiah Fowler saidhe discovered the databaseand that it was not protected by so much as a password . The 42.5 million records , which appeared to belong to to multiple apps , were stored on a U.S.-based host and largely contain the IP computer address and location data of American users .
The apps to which the data belong to admit Cougardating , Christiansfinder , Mingler , Fwbs ( friends with benefit ) , and “ TS , ” which Fowler speculates is likely short for “ transsexual . ”
Photo: Matt Rourke (AP)
The database also contained Chinese school text , he read , leading him to believe its owner is also Taiwanese .
“ What really struck me as odd was that despite all of them using the same database , they claim to be break by separate companies or individuals that do not seem to match up with each other , ” he write in ablog postdetailing his findings . “ The Whois registration for one of the site use what appear to be a faux savoir-faire and phone bit . ”
Gizmodo attempted reach out to Christiansfinder for gossip , but the email address heel on its website bounced back . The other app developers could not be contact .
Fowler toldCyberScoopthat while he was n’t implicating the developers behind the apps of doing anything villainous , the fact that they ’d gone to such lengths to conceal their identities was inherently untrusting .
In increase to IP and location information , the database includes drug user ’ account epithet and ages . However , there was no personally identifiable information , or PII , a term that encompass information such as actual names , strong-arm addresses , and Social Security numbers .
Fowler note that a lot of the great unwashed tend to reuse account gens and that can be used as a type of fingerprint . “ This piddle it passing easy for someone to bump and identify you with very little information , ” he said . “ Nearly each unique username I hold back appeared on multiple date site , assembly , and other public place . ”
Researchers generally look until exposed databases are taken down before going public . But at time of composition , the database remain online , despite Fowler attempt to give notice the host . He let out his discovery to raise awareness among users of the apps that their individual data is leaking online .
data privacyDating appsleaksSecurity
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