Tea app, built for women's safety, suffers major data breach
(Photo by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images)
Tea, an app created to help women safely share information about the men they date, has suffered a data breach, exposing thousands of user selfies and photo IDs, the company confirmed Friday.
404 Media, which earlier reported the breach, said it was 4Chan users who discovered an exposed database that "allowed anyone to access the material" from Tea.
What they're saying:
"While reporting this story, a URL the 4chan user posted included a voluminous list of specific attachments associated with the Tea app. 404 Media saw this list of files. In the last hour or so, that page was locked down, and now returns a "Permission denied" error," 404 Media reported Friday.
Tea said that about 72,000 images were leaked online, including 13,000 images of selfies or selfies featuring a photo identification that users submitted during account verification. Another 59,000 images publicly viewable in the app from posts, comments and direct messages were also accessed without authorization, according to a Tea spokesperson.
"Tea has engaged third-party cybersecurity experts and are working around the clock to secure its systems," the company said. "At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that additional user data was affected. Protecting tea users’ privacy and data is their highest priority."
Why you should care:
No email addresses or phone numbers were accessed, the company said, and the breach only affects users who signed up before February 2024.
Dig deeper:
Tea presents itself as a safe way for women to anonymously vet men they might connect with on dating apps such as Tinder or Bumble — ensuring that your date is "safe, not a catfish, and not in a relationship."
"Tea is a must-have app, helping women avoid red flags before the first date with dating advice, and showing them who’s really behind the profile of the person they’re dating," reads Tea's app store description.
Tea said in an Instagram post this week that it has reached 4 million users.
The Source: The Associated Press contributed to this report. The information in this story comes from a report by 404 Media, which first revealed the breach and detailed how 4chan users discovered the exposed database. This story was reported from Los Angeles.