Your Tinder messages can be exposed to everyone in your contacts thanks to this security screw-up

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Your Tinder messages can be exposed to everyone in your contacts thanks to this security screw-up

This would END ME

I consider myself a pretty eloquent person — again, not to rub it in but I'm getting paid to write this shit — but if there's one place I dumb it down, it's my Tinder DMs. And that's exactly why the security flaw revealed by Indian security firm AppSecure is so goddamn terrifying.

Basically, AppSecure hacked into Tinder using Facebook's Account Kit, a service that allows you to log into certain apps using just a phone number or email address.

The hypothetical hacker could access a Tinder user's Account Kit with their phone number, and then use the data stored in the Account Kit's cookies to log onto Tinder.

It's honestly pretty confusing, so the firm made a video to explain it:

  • The good news is, AppSecure quickly alerted Facebook and Tinder and the issue has been resolved. Well, kind of.

    But it is genuinely horrifying to know that all that stands between my Tinder DMs and the light of day was my cell phone number, which I type into any given form online multiple times a day. Cool!

    My first instinct is to burn off my fingerprints and legally change my name. But I guess I could settle for deleting the app and trying to meet people in real life.

    Related stories recommended by this writer:

    You're probably not hot enough for Tinder's newest feature, Tinder Select

    Here are proven methods for successfully sliding into DMs

    I demand Tinder make these actually useful changes instead of that stupid new update

    @k80way