Tea app takes messaging system offline after second security issue reported

Tea a dating discussion app that in recent days suffered a high-profile cybersecurity breach disclosed late Monday that particular direct messages were also accessed in the occurrence The app designed to let women safely discuss men they date rocketed to the top of the U S Apple App Store last week but then approved on Friday that thousands of selfies and photo IDs of registered users were exposed in a digital protection breach Media was the first to document on this second defense issue citing an independent safety researcher who located it was practicable for hackers to access messages between users discussing abortions cheating partners and phone numbers In a declaration posted on its social media accounts Tea announced it in recent months learned that particular direct messages DMs were accessed as part of the initial episode Out of an abundance of caution we have taken the affected system offline the app announced At this time we have discovered no evidence of access to other parts of our habitat It is right now unknown how multiple messages were left exposed by the vulnerability Tea revealed it is working to identify any users whose personal information was involved and will be offering free identity protection services to those individuals The company revealed Tuesday it will share more information as it becomes available Because of the nature of the app which allows women to anonymously discuss sensitive information about the men they date users may be particularly vulnerable to malicious actors who try to expose their real-life identities Mary Ann Miller vice president of client experience at identity verification company Prove commented the women who may have had their information compromised should consider making sure they have real-life safeguard precautions in place such as cameras locks and common sense things that you and I think about to be safe and secure in our own home The average citizen puts more out there in a public-facing view that can put their safety at peril And I think it s time for all of us to think about that more precisely she explained Companies meanwhile should look for machinery that utilizes other forms besides IDs to verify an identity and only store essential details and discard securely verification statistics that s no longer needed once a person is verified Tea has reported about images were leaked online in the initial situation including images of selfies or selfies featuring a photo identification that users submitted during account verification Another images publicly viewable in the app from posts comments and direct messages were also accessed without authorization a spokesperson disclosed last week No email addresses or phone numbers were accessed the company reported and the breach only affects users who signed up before February