US based women-only app 'Tea' hacked, private images including women’s IDs and selfies leaked online
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A massive data breach has hit the Tea app Photograph: (Freepik)
A major data leak has affected the Tea app, a popular platform where women share stories about men without revealing their identity.
A massive data breach has hit the Tea app, a fast-growing platform where women anonymously share experiences about men. The app has recently gained popularity on the Apple App Store and was promoted as a safe and private space for women. However, a cyberattack has now exposed tens of thousands of private photos of the users, including selfies and government IDs.
The company has confirmed that the hack was happened on Friday (July 25), in which around 72,000 images were accessed by the hackers and out of these images, 13,000 of them are being verification selfies and official ID photos uploaded by users during the sign-up process. These photos were required to confirm the identity on the app that the users are women. Tea had also claimed that these images were deleted after the review.
The app works like a “virtual whisper network,” letting users to search for the men by the name, users can post photos and mark them as "green flags" or "red flags" based on past interactions. It also offers tools to identify fake profiles using reverse image searches.
According to the company, the hacker got into a database that was over two years old. The Tea spokesperson said, “This data was originally stored in compliance with law enforcement requirements related to cyberbullying prevention.”
The Tea spokesperson further said that the company has hired third-party cybersecurity experts and is “working around the clock to secure our systems.”
“Protecting our users’ privacy and data is our highest priority. Tea is taking every necessary step to ensure the security of our platform and prevent further exposure,” the spokesperson added, according to the NBC News.
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The breach was first reported by the 404 Media. A post on the website 4Chan reportedly included a link of the stolen files. Some of the leaked images, including ID cards and verification photos have now been seen on 4Chan and X (previously Twitter).
Making the things more worse, an unknown person also created a Google Map that shows the locations of some affected users of the app and even though the names and addresses of the users are not listed on the app. This breach has raised major safety concerns for women.
