←back to thread

I hacked a dating app (and how not to treat a security researcher)

(alexschapiro.com)
561 points bearsyankees | 1 comments | 12 May 25 16:39 UTC | HN request time: 0.421s | source
Show context
michaelteter ◴[12 May 25 17:34 UTC] No.43965514[source]▶
Not excusing this is any way, but this app is apparently a fairly junior effort by university students. While it should make every effort to follow good security (and communication) practices, I'd not be too hard on them considering how some big VC funded "adult" companies behave when presented with similar challenges.

https://georgetownvoice.com/2025/04/06/georgetown-students-c...

replies(10): >>43965600 #>>43965723 #>>43965782 #>>43966035 #>>43966222 #>>43966281 #>>43966578 #>>43967558 #>>43968803 #>>43969670 #
tmtvl ◴[12 May 25 19:18 UTC] No.43966578[source]▶
I vehemently disagree. 'Well, they didn't know what they were doing, so we shouldn't judge them too harshly' is a silly thing to say. They didn't know what they were doing _and still went through with it_. That's an aggravating, not extenuating, factor in my book. Kind of like if a driver kills someone in an accident and then turns out not to have a license.
replies(6): >>43966766 #>>43967142 #>>43967680 #>>43967819 #>>43968420 #>>43969894 #
dmitrygr ◴[12 May 25 19:40 UTC] No.43966766[source]▶
+1: if you cannot do security, you have no business making dating apps. The kind of data those collect can ruin lives overnight. This is not a theory, here is a recent example: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74nlgyv7r4o
replies(5): >>43966987 #>>43967081 #>>43967592 #>>43969837 #>>43970711 #
1. satanfirst ◴[12 May 25 20:09 UTC] No.43966987[source]▶
The claim that it should have come up in a government vetting process seems to be proof that one should publish one's own dating information before entrusting it to a site that might have lost it or worse might provide it to a government specifically.