CheckPoint revealed its findings to OKCupid, and the developers have fixed the flaws within 48 hours. Fortunately, OKCupid says the vulnerabilities did not affect users. But as CheckPoint points out, this is a reminder that while dating apps contain confidential and personal information, they may not be as secure as we would like.
“Our research on OKCupid, which is one of the oldest and most popular applications in its industry, has led us to raise some serious questions about the security of dating applications,” CheckPoint said in a statement. “The fundamental questions are: how secure are my intimate details about the application? How easily can someone I don’t know access my most private photos, messages, and details?
OKCupid has also battled spam messages, and its similar apps have battled everything from catfishing to creeps. Bumble asks users to verify their identities with selfies. Earlier this year, a study accused Grindr, OKCupid, and Tinder of sharing confidential data. OKCupid was specifically charged with sending data on drug use, ethnicity, and political views to analyst firm Braze.
In a statement shared by CheckPoint Research, OKCupid said:
“Check Point Research informed the developers of OkCupid about the vulnerabilities exposed in this research and a solution was implemented in a responsible manner to ensure that its users can continue to use the OkCupid application safely. Not a single user was affected by the potential vulnerability in OkCupid, and we were able to fix it within 48 hours. We thank partners like Check Point that with OkCupid prioritize the security and privacy of our users. ”
