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Tinder dating app bug made geolocation data vulnerable to hackers

You may have swiped left on the last guy or gal, but a bug in the Tinder app would have allowed that person to potentially pinpoint your exact location.

By Ananth Baliga

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Security firm Include Security has said that popular dating app Tinder exposed members' geolocations without their knowledge for months, making them vulnerable to hackers.

The flaw, which was brought to the notice of the company last October, enabled any member with decent programming skills and access to the app's application programming interface, or API, to find out the exact location of other users.

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Once Inside Security discovered the bug, they built a web application which accessed geolocation data from the app's API, to an accuracy of a 100 feet. On being informed about the hole Tinder fixed the problem late last year.

The app, which is one of the top dating apps at present, helps you find a date by swiping through other member's pictures. A swipe to the right means you like the person and then the app proceeds to tell you how far the potential date is from you.

According to Inside Security, while members found this feature advantageous in finding a date nearby, behind the scenes Tinder was transmitting in an unsecured manner their precise geolocations.

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"Due to Tinder's architecture, it is not possible for one Tinder user to know if another took advantage of this vulnerability during the time of exposure," Include Security founder Erik Cabetas said in a statement. "The repercussions of a vulnerability of this type were pervasive given Tinder's massive global base of users."

[Include Security] [CNET]

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