Tea Dating Advice, a popular dating app, has confirmed that 72,000 images, including 13,000 user images submitted during account verification, were accessed in a data storage breach. Rachel Tobac, CEO and co-founder of SocialProof Security, told CNN that selfies, while seemingly innocuous, could be used to hack bank accounts and other programs when coupled with government-issued identification. Tobac recommended that Tea users consider freezing their credit, using data brokerage site removal tools, making social media accounts private, using a password manager, and multifactor authentication.
Identity verification or age verification has become increasingly popular but is a risky choice for companies. Albert Fox Cahn, founder and executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, recommended that consumers think twice about sharing data with companies because “opting out is really the best protection we have.” Tea is hardly the first dating-related service to have a security breach, with Tinder and Ashley Madison having similar issues in 2014 and 2015.
AI-driven attacks can also be used to train facial recognition spoofing, biometric bypassing, and deepfakes. Richard Blech, CEO and co-founder of AI security, said that anyone whose images were accessed should be more diligent with their credit reports because biometric data “isn’t going to expire.”
