Women's Special Dating Application, Tea, Experiences Data Leakage, 72,000 User Images Stolen

Illustration of the women's special dating application, Tea (photo: x @Zirk_9)

JAKARTA Dating apps specifically designed for women, Tea, are experiencing serious security breaches resulting in a leak of 72,000 user images. Tea has confirmed to Reuters that hackers managed to gain unauthorized access to their systems, causing thousands of private photos to spread.

In an official statement, a Tea spokesperson explained that about 13,000 of the leaked images were selfies and photo identifications sent by users during the account verification process. Meanwhile, another 59,000 images come from uploads in posts, comments, and direct messages (DM).

"We have involved a third-party cybersecurity expert and are currently working around the clock to secure our system," said Tea. They also confirmed that no email address or phone number was leaked, and this incident only had an impact on users who registered before February 2024.

Initial reports of this incident were first revealed by 404 Media on Friday, July 26 local time.

Tea is a popular app among women because it offers a unique feature: female users can review the men they meet anonymously, similar to the review system on Yelp. This platform emphasizes the safety and comfort of women in the world of digital dating, with the motto: Women shouldn't sacrifice their sense of security while dating.

To register in Tea, users are asked to upload a selfie as part of the verification process. Tea previously stated that this selfie will be deleted once the verification process is complete.

However, despite these security promises, this data leak incident sparked major concerns about privacy protection in dating apps, especially those targeting vulnerable groups such as women.

The Tea app has experienced a surge in popularity in recent days, and says that more than two million people have signed up or submitted requests to join via Instagram.

This incident serves as a serious reminder that even apps that focus on the safety of users remain immune from cyber attacks. Tea has not provided details on whether leaked data has been spread on the internet or used for specific purposes, but investigations are still ongoing.

Cybersecurity experts suggest that users immediately update credentials and be careful of potential fraud or misuse of data after this incident.