Data leak hits dating safety app

NBC News reports that the Tea app, which touts itself as a dating safety application exclusively for women, had 72,000 images, including 13,000 verification photos and government ID pictures, exposed following a data breach.

Tea had a database from over two years ago that included data adherent to cyberbullying prevention requirements infiltrated by the threat actor, said a Tea spokesperson, who noted ongoing efforts to investigate the incident alongside external cybersecurity experts. Data from the app was purportedly posted on right-wing troll message board 4Chan following "hack-and-leak" calls from its users but there has been no sufficient evidence to indicate the legitimacy of the exposed photos. While another user had placed on Google Maps the locations of supposed Tea app users impacted by the incident, such map lacked the names linked to the coordinates provided. Such a development comes after Tea had incited misrepresentation or doxxing fears among men, who had moved to create a male-exclusive version of the app that has since been removed from the App Store due to the presence of revenge porn.