In late May, two security researchers uncovered a collection of public Amazon Web Services buckets containing data from a variety of dating apps including 3somes, Cougary, Xpal, BBW dating, SurgarD, Herpes Dating, and others. The researchers found roughly 845 gigabytes of information and almost 2.5 million records representing data from hundreds of thousands of users.
The data in the AWS buckets included sexually explicit photos and audio recordings, private chats, and personally-identifying information including real names, birthdays, and email addresses. This information is particularly dangerous as it can easily be used against the victims whose information was exposed through extortion or psychological abuse. Although the data may have not been breached yet, a motivated hacker could have used the PII and photos available to identify victims.
Read More: Dating Apps Exposed 845 GB of Explicit Photos, Chats, and More
