IBM reports vulnerable dating applications, Tinder and OKCupid not on the risk list

According to a recent IBM report, a majority of dating services and apps we use on our smartphones are vulnerable to hackers for them to exploit and steal the personal information. But apps such as Tinder, OkCupid, and few others aren’t among the set of risky apps that might land you in some serious cyber problems.

IBM reported that these applications hold vulnerabilities that can easily be exploited to gain access over the users’ smartphone and then to open and the camera and microphone to retrieve personal and confidential information. They can be easily used to gain access to the contact list, messages and more. IBM said that out of 42 apps the company tested, 70% of it were favoring the firm’s claim.

“This means an attacker can eavesdrop on personal conversations and even confidential business meetings without the user knowing,” IBM warned.

The technology giant also included that apart from the fact that these applications are a home to vulnerabilities, hackers can also pose with a fake personality to lure the innocent users into opening and sharing the URL that might contain malicious code.

IBM said its their duty to inform everybody about the vulnerabilities, company took the responsibility and secretly told all the dating application developers with a six-page document explaining how their app is vulnerable to these attacks.

The area of concern here is that there are people who have same phone at the work as well at home, and at that time compromising a smartphone can be rewarding for the hacker, however, a disaster for the employee.

However, IAC/InterActive Corp, that owns almost every dating application in the country said that their apps are not in the dirty list of IBM. All of their apps have successfully passed the tests done by the firm.

“IBM tested IAC’s dating apps — including Match, OkCupid, and Tinder — and they were not among the apps found to exhibit the cited vulnerabilities,” the company said in a statement. “We are confident in the continuing security measures we take to make sure our products meet the highest security standards.”