Home » News » Dating websites get attacked by hackers, who then steal users' personal information

Dating websites get attacked by hackers, who then steal users' personal information

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10 high-profile cyberhacks still impacting consumers today (Image credit- CNBC)

According to cybersecurity expert Troy Hunt, founder of Have I Been Pwned, a website that alerts consumers to data breaches, also as per reports, hackers have obtained unauthorized access to the personal data of users from two dating services, CityJerks and TruckerSucker. Numerous personal information, including usernames, email addresses, passwords, profile pictures, sexual orientation, users' dates of birth, locations, and biographies, were taken from dating websites. Troy Hunt also found that a weak encryption algorithm was used to encrypt the passwords, which left them vulnerable to being cracked by hackers and giving them access to the real credentials. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="1280"]Fact check: Hackers use similar looking characters in phishing schemes Image credit- USA Today[/caption] There were explicit messages and user preferences in some cases. Another user stated a desire for larger men, while one user highlighted their planned business trip to Jackson and asked if anyone would be interested in meeting up. Overall, the information was exceedingly private and sensitive. Hunt was informed of the intrusion by an unnamed source who stated that the information had been offered on a hacking forum. According to the data thieves who sold the stolen information, the CityJerks database held data on 77,000 users, while the TruckerSucker database held information on 8,000 people. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="2048"]Protect Your Personals Photos: Can Hackers Access Your Selfies? Image credit- Online Profile Pros[/caption] Both dating services target the LGBTQ+ population, with CityJerks promoting itself as a venue for meeting people for purposes of shared sex enjoyment and TruckerSucker focusing on "real truckers and real men." Also read: YouTube Is Being Attacked By Hackers Using Vicious Malware Hunt stated that although the breach involved very sensitive material, it was a routine forum breach. Users are exposed to identity theft and extortion because the stolen data contains private information about them. The lack of proper encryption in the passwords put users' privacy and security at risk by making it possible for hackers to access user accounts on other platforms.  

By Raulf Hernes

If you ask me raulf means ALL ABOUT TECH!!

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