Sara Yin reports:
A man in Syndey hacked into the popular gay “hookup” app Grindr, leaving the personal information of hundreds of thousands of members vulnerable.
Grindr CEO Joel Simkhai acknowledged the breach on Twitter and has been “reassuring” users that an app update will be released “in a few days.” No further details have been given on the scope or method of the breach.
But it’s already too late for some users. The hacker reportedly spoofed several accounts in Sydney, sending messages and changing profile pics to explicit images without the real user’s knowledge. At least one victim was banned for violating service terms and conditions, Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Read more on Security Watch.
SFist breaks the news this way:
Forget about SOPA! Homosexuals across the land should be more than a little concerned this morning as news of a major security breach at Grindr and Blendr reaches the wires. It turns out the iPhone-based hookup apps (Blendr is the straight one, for those who didn’t know it existed) didn’t have any real security at all, according to an Australian hacker, who built a website on which you could search for any Grindr user, regardless of whether they were online, view their favorites, nude pics, chats, etc., and even impersonate them!
Read more on SFist.