Hackers leak thousands of photos and IDs from users in Tea app data breach

Data Breach Overview - Tea app, marketed as a safe dating app for women, experienced a massive data breach [1] - Approximately 72,000 images, including 13,000 verification selfies and government IDs, were leaked online [1] - The breach also compromised some private direct messages, leading to the function being disabled [1] - The app had over 4 million users and surged to the number one spot in the Apple App Store prior to the breach [2] Security Vulnerabilities - The Tea app failed to adequately encrypt or protect user data [1] - Legacy content was not migrated to the new fortified system, creating a vulnerability [1] - An unauthorized actor accessed the identifier link where data was stored before February 24th, 2024 [1] User Impact and Concerns - Users are concerned about their personal information being exposed, including addresses [3][4] - The breach affects users who signed up before February 2024 [5] - Users have lost trust in the app due to the data breach [4] Remediation and Recommendations - Tea app has engaged third-party cybersecurity experts to secure their systems [5] - Impacted users are advised to freeze their credit [6] - Users should lock down information from data brokerage sites, either individually or through a removal tool [6][7] - Users should use long, random, unique passwords and change them frequently [7]