One of Japan’s most widely used dating apps recently suffered a cyberattack, potentially exposing the personal information of close to 2 million people, a new report from Bloomberg shows.
Omiai (which translates to “matchmaking” in English) is a popular dating service wherein men must pay a monthly fee — ¥3,980, or $47 — while women are allowed to set up accounts for free. The app, which has close to 7 million users, is run by the media company Net Marketing Co.
On Monday, the firm disclosed that on April 28, someone had gained unauthorised access to several of its servers that house data related to Omiai users’ age verification data. It’s unclear just how many accounts were accessed, though the nature of the data exposed seems pretty sensitive: users’ ages, photo ID, driver’s licence, passports, and insurance cards were all apparently included in the breach. Credit card data was specifically not leaked in the hack, the company said.
Net Marketing said that after discovering the intrusion it subsequently blocked the hacker’s IP address and implemented a number of other security procedures. However, the incident nevertheless caused an evaporation of confidence in the company, with its stock dropping nearly 20% on Monday, according to the Bangkok Post.
Dating sites are pretty natural targets for hackers because of the bounty of personal information they provide. Aside from the large Ashley Madison data breach in 2015, many smaller dating sites have experienced similarly turbulent data kerfuffles. Just several weeks ago it was Manhunt, a gay dating site, that suffered a cyberattack and got some unknown amount of its user data pilfered, while other recent hacks have included the recent MeetMindful dump, and others.
So, stay safe out there, swipers. At least when you meet someone the old-fashioned way, no one tries to steal your passport info… right?