It is sometimes part of exchanging pictures with a flirt. Also more piquant photos can change the owner, which you usually don’t want to share with everyone. That is why it is particularly important that both the interlocutor and the platform can trust that the images cannot get on the Internet. The security researcher Aras Nazarovas des Online magazines Cybernews However, it has now discovered a large vulnerability for five platforms of the provider Mad Mobile.
Private pictures unprotected and available
As the magazine reports, Nazarovas analyzed the code of the iOS apps “BDSM People”, “Chica”, “Pink”, “Brish” and “Translove”. He noticed that user images are unencrypted and unprotected via the Google cloud memory of the apps. The security researcher was able to access profile images, privately sent photos and even to the content of the services actually deleted by the moderators. In his opinion, it was often the image material that should not actually be open to the public. The estimated number of users of the services mentioned amounts to 800,000 to 900,000 people.
Risky leak for people of the LGBTQ+community
Because they are thematically special sexual preferences that can lead to drastic consequences in some regions of the world, the situation is to be assessed as particularly risky. The apps “Pink”, “Brish” and “Translove” are aimed primarily at people from the LGBTQ+community. In this case, images can be a real threat to life and life if you get into the wrong hands. In general, the risk of identity theft or blackmail by a data leak should not be underestimated.
