Tea app data breach exposes thousands of user photos

Tea app data breach overview:

• Who: Tea is addressing a data breach affecting approximately 72,000 images from its dating app.
• Why: The breach exposed personal images due to a compromised legacy data storage system.
• Where: The Tea app data breach affects users in the United States.

Tea has announced a significant data breach involving its dating app, which is designed to enhance women’s safety by allowing background checks on men. 

The breach, discovered on July 25, compromised a legacy data storage system, exposing around 72,000 images, including 13,000 selfies and photo IDs as well as 59,000 images from posts, comments and direct messages.

The Tea app data breach specifically affected users who signed up before February 2024. Tea has since implemented additional security measures and resolved the data issue, according to the company’s statement.

“There is no evidence to suggest that additional user data was affected. Protecting our users’ privacy and data is our highest priority,” Tea said in a statement, adding that the breach occurred because some legacy content was not migrated into a new, more secure system during the app’s early development stages.

Tea app data breach sparks concerns over stolen personal data

The breach has raised concerns about identity theft as some images, including drivers’ licenses, were reportedly posted on 4Chan and Reddit, according to media reports. 

Tea is actively working with third-party cybersecurity experts to investigate the incident. “We have taken the affected system offline altogether,” the company stated, emphasizing its commitment to user privacy and data protection. 

The app, which recently gained popularity and became the top free app on the Apple App Store, offers features like reverse image search and background checks to help women vet potential partners.

Tea is offering free identity protection services to users whose personal information was involved in the breach. Users concerned about their data can contact Tea’s support team at [email protected] for assistance. The company is also working to identify affected users and strengthen its security measures to prevent future incidents.

Tea says it has not received any reports of identity theft or other issues related to the breach so far. The company is not currently facing legal action over the data breach, but Top Class Actions follows such incidents closely as they sometimes lead to class action lawsuits.

Earlier, department store chain Belk Inc. faced a class action lawsuit alleging it failed to protect customers’ personal information in a data breach.

Are you affected by the Tea app data breach? Let us know in the comments.

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