A new study makes you think: maybe it's better to look for a soulmate offline?
A large-scale new study reveals security threats in popular dating apps that use geolocation data. With the help of such systems, you can find a soulmate in your city, district, or even among your neighbors. But despite the fact that you can only see the approximate distance to the interlocutor, and not his exact address, the security of this function raises questions.
Experts from Check Point conducted an analysis to determine how well users ' personal information is protected from unauthorized access and possible abuse.
The team studied what measures developers of dating platforms take to protect lonely hearts. For example,it was found that one of the services rounds geographical coordinates to three decimal places, thereby reducing the accuracy of the location to a rectangle of approximately 110 by 110 meters.
In the study, special attention was paid to the Hornet platform, which, according to experts, sends exact coordinates to the server. At the same time, the developers claim that the app randomly modifies the distance that other users see, that is, it intentionally changes it and leaves errors.
To demonstrate the vulnerability, the researchers came up with their own method for estimating distance, which works even if the user has hidden this information in the privacy settings. In the experiment, a list of people was used, automatically ordered by the proximity of their location. The team created a control account and methodically changed its geo position, recording changes to the list.
For further experiments, the method of trilateration was used — calculating the exact location of an object based on its distances to three or more known points. Experiments using virtual accounts as test coordinates yielded good results. That is, the whole secret lies in the careful selection of reference points and performing multiple measurements.
With this strategy, the accuracy of determining the location can be extremely high - sometimes up to several meters. This means that the existing security measures are not sufficient.
In addition, the study highlighted how important it is to adjust the measurement methods and take into account errors that may occur due to inconsistency of GPS signals.
The discovery highlights the need to take a critical approach to the use of personal data in dating apps. Experts strongly recommend that users pay close attention to their privacy settings and, if necessary, do not forget to disable geolocation. These simple steps will help you maintain your privacy in the ever-evolving digital world.
A large-scale new study reveals security threats in popular dating apps that use geolocation data. With the help of such systems, you can find a soulmate in your city, district, or even among your neighbors. But despite the fact that you can only see the approximate distance to the interlocutor, and not his exact address, the security of this function raises questions.
Experts from Check Point conducted an analysis to determine how well users ' personal information is protected from unauthorized access and possible abuse.
The team studied what measures developers of dating platforms take to protect lonely hearts. For example,it was found that one of the services rounds geographical coordinates to three decimal places, thereby reducing the accuracy of the location to a rectangle of approximately 110 by 110 meters.
In the study, special attention was paid to the Hornet platform, which, according to experts, sends exact coordinates to the server. At the same time, the developers claim that the app randomly modifies the distance that other users see, that is, it intentionally changes it and leaves errors.
To demonstrate the vulnerability, the researchers came up with their own method for estimating distance, which works even if the user has hidden this information in the privacy settings. In the experiment, a list of people was used, automatically ordered by the proximity of their location. The team created a control account and methodically changed its geo position, recording changes to the list.
For further experiments, the method of trilateration was used — calculating the exact location of an object based on its distances to three or more known points. Experiments using virtual accounts as test coordinates yielded good results. That is, the whole secret lies in the careful selection of reference points and performing multiple measurements.
With this strategy, the accuracy of determining the location can be extremely high - sometimes up to several meters. This means that the existing security measures are not sufficient.
In addition, the study highlighted how important it is to adjust the measurement methods and take into account errors that may occur due to inconsistency of GPS signals.
The discovery highlights the need to take a critical approach to the use of personal data in dating apps. Experts strongly recommend that users pay close attention to their privacy settings and, if necessary, do not forget to disable geolocation. These simple steps will help you maintain your privacy in the ever-evolving digital world.
