Tea app. Credit: Instagram @theteapartygirls
Women-only tee apps are suffering from major data breaches, and hackers have leaked thousands of sensitive images and identities online, sparking global privacy concerns.
Major security violations have caused tea apps to sway only for women with the virus.
On July 25th, TEA, designed as a platform for women to flag toxic behaviors from men, confirmed that hackers violated a database containing more than 72,000 images, including validation selfies and ID scans from the user base.
The platform, which recently ranked the Apple App Store, has become popular because it allows users to search, rating and comment on men anonymously.
“Protecting user privacy and data is our number one priority. Tea takes every step necessary to ensure the security of our platform and prevent further exposure.” NBC News.
How did the tea app get hacked?
The leak appears to be tweaked through 4chan threads, with users seeking a “hack and leak” campaign against the app. On Friday morning, 4chan users posted a downloadable link to the stolen image database, and the identified photos began to circulate quickly on both 4chan and X.
The TEA condemned the violation of an old database originally created in line with cyberbullying prevention requirements. Nevertheless, user selfies were to be deleted after confirmation, blocking screenshots of in-app content.
Shawn Cook, the creator of the platform, previously stated that Tea was inspired by her mother’s traumatic online dating experiences, including dating a man with no criminal history.
We also compromised on the message and location of tee users.
On July 28, 404 Media reported that the second vulnerability now has access to over 1.1 million direct messages (DMs). Some of it contained very personal information that could identify users.
“As part of an ongoing investigation… I’ve learned that some direct messages (DMs) have been accessed recently,” Tea said. NBC Newsadded that the affected systems had since gone offline.
Kasra Rahjerdi, a cybersecurity researcher who discovered the DM breach, said others had accessed the database, but it remains unknown whether they downloaded the data.
Additionally, we used Google Maps to share a map showing the locations of expected tea users linked to the leak. In particular, the coordinates were anonymous and no names were included.
The company has identified affected users and said it will offer free identity protection services. The TEA also claims to donate 10% of its profits to the domestic domestic violence hotline in the country, which confirmed the company as a legitimate donor to NBC News.
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