Security Breach Exposes User Data on Women's Dating App Tea

Tea, a mobile application designed to provide women with a secure platform to discuss their dating experiences, has reported a significant data breach that has resulted in the exposure of user information. The company disclosed on Friday that approximately 72,000 images were made publicly accessible, including around 13,000 selfies and photo IDs submitted by users during the account verification process.

In addition to these sensitive images, the breach also compromised around 59,000 images from posts, comments, and direct messages within the app. According to a spokesperson for Tea, the breach primarily affects users who registered before February 2024. Fortunately, no email addresses or phone numbers were part of the data accessed during this incident.

In response to the breach, Tea has engaged cybersecurity specialists to help secure its systems and mitigate any further risks. The company emphasized that their top priority is to protect user privacy and data integrity, stating that, at this time, there is no evidence suggesting that additional user data was compromised.

Tea positions itself as a vital tool for women looking to safely vet potential dates, ensuring that users can determine if they are interacting with genuine individuals rather than impostors. The app aims to help users identify red flags prior to meeting in person, providing dating advice and insights into the authenticity of profiles found on popular dating platforms such as Tinder and Bumble.

Reports from 404 Media indicated that the breach was uncovered by users on the online forum 4Chan, who discovered an unprotected database that allowed unrestricted access to the sensitive material associated with the Tea app. Shortly after this information became public, the exposed database was secured, and attempts to access it now return a "Permission denied" error.

In a recent update on its Instagram account, Tea noted that it has successfully reached a milestone of 4 million users, highlighting the growing popularity of the app among women seeking safer dating experiences.